My love/hate relationship with my VW Jetta has finally come to an end. This morning I traded it in for a 2009 Subaru Outback Wagon. When the car left me stranded Tuesday morning, and with the economy like it is right now, we decided the time was right.
I had been considering the Outback as a replacement for quite some time. We rented one on our last trip to Washington State and it drove beautifully and was quite comfortable. I also like the versatility of being able to haul my kayak as well as other gear.
Wednesday was our day to test drive. While the Outback was our first vehicle to drive, it wasn’t the only one we tried. We also drove several Toyotas, all of which made Laura’s back hurt. We also drove a Honda Civic and Accord, both of which I would have taken. Finally, it came down to the Accord versus the Outback. Both were similarly priced, similarly equipped, and both have reputations of being dependable. The versatility of the Subaru finally pulled us in that direction.
So this morning I finished emptying out the Jetta and we headed over to the dealership. One more test drive and we sat down for business.
I always hate this dance between sales person and sales manager. The sales person makes an offer, we counter-offer, and he has to dance around to the sales manager for approval. This happens with every car I’ve bought. It certainly helps to have done some homework and know what incentives are available, what your trade-in is worth, and what you’re willing to pay. They initially wouldn’t offer as much on my trade-in, but I played the game and got them up to the price I needed. Then came the matter of financing. We had a significant down payment, and we able to negotiate a better financing rate.
Then we waited….
…and waited…
….and waited. It seemed like it took forever for them to get everything finalized and ready. Two and a half hours later we said goodbye to the Jetta and drove off in our new Outback.
Laura owned a Subaru when we met, and we had a Subaru for most of the 1990’s. We have found them to be reliable and comfortable. However, I think Laura really likes them because their logo is a stylized version of the constellation Pleiades.
We drove back home, picked up Laura’s mom, then took it for a spin up over Paris Mountain. So far we still love it, even if it is basically a brown station wagon.