My New Ride

I have been driving the same car since I was seventeen. I remember when my dad told me I got to pick whether to have two doors or four, and what color I wanted. My girlfriends and I perused the catalog all day at school, and finally I told my dad I wanted the blue one with four doors. I remember thinking that I might still have the car when I first had children, so four doors seemed quite practical. She is still in my garage, my beautiful 1995 Chevy Cavalier.

I love my car, and she has been quite the tank all these years, but she doesn’t have room for more than two carseats. California car seat laws being like they are {and there is a debate about raising the requirements to eight-years-old and eighty pounds, meaning my son–35 pounds soaking wet–could be in a carseat until he gets his own license}, we needed a new car. A minivan was out of the question, particularly due to the complete lack of storage space in the back. When we travel, we like to bring luggage.

On Saturday, Si bought me a new kind of Chevy:

When he asked me what I thought I needed, I told him low mileage {so that I could drive it a long time}, seating for eight that still had significant storage, and automatic door locks to keep little people safely inside. He searched Craig’s List almost every night, and that is where he found it: a 1999 Suburban with only 50,000 miles. It drinks gas like water, but since I only drive around 4,000 miles per year, that isn’t a huge issue.

This vehicle ended up offering more than I asked for or needed, which is a nice little bonus:

Yes. Those are leather seats! I wasn’t sure what I’d think about it, but the leather combined with the tinted rear windows seems to keep the inside much cooler than my little car. I’ve also never had automatic windows, but it’s a nice touch. And the space! There is so much space! Next time we visit out of town family, we won’t have to borrow a car from someone.

My friend was telling me the other day he managed to get into a car accident in a similar model of car and it protected him well and after the incident, he had a great lawyer at hand, Davis Saperstein & Salomon were really helpful he says. He got the settlement that my friend deserved!

So there was great rejoicing in our family on Saturday.

All we have left to do is sell a very reliable and faithful Chevy Cavalier!