Car adventure #3 and an anniversary

So...last we left our dismal piece-of-shit-cute-Mini, it was towed to our local mechanic for a look see as to why the shifter was again flopping in the wind!  (Just a slightly annoying thing to deal with when driving a stick-shift car!, but only if you are not just driving down hill!)

Anyway, at least the towing was free thanks to that company with all the A's!

As for the diagnosis, not so lucky in the financial department.  Seems that the shifter cables (not the technical terms, but what I'm calling them!) had snapped from wear. (which we had been warned could happen when the repair in June had been done).

$680.00.

Thankfully, we are lucky enough that my parents had left us the use of their car while they winter in Israel, so that as long as it's only one car in the shop at a time, we each still have a car to drive!

So with the game of musical cars in full force, when I picked up the Mini last Saturday, I left my parents' 2001 BMW there for an oil change and fluids check so that it's all set for the upcoming winter.  As I was paying the bill for the Mini, I asked my mechanic what he thought about the Mini and whether I should keep it or not.  He said, "Get rid of it."  He said that with the mileage at 60K now, he'd be surprised if the transmission would last past 75K.  So I left there trying to figure out our vehicle options.

Linda was driving the CR-V and I was driving the Mini all week.  And quite frankly, each time I got into it, the only thing I thought of was "I wonder what is going to go next on this car and when."  This is not what you should be thinking when you're driving around in a cute little Mini.

This past summer, Linda &I had been trying to decide on what car to get when the lease on the CR-V was up at the end of January.  We wanted something sporty, a hatchback, 4 door, not too big, but big enough.  We also didn't want it to be too expensive.

We headed to the Subaru dealer and fell in love withe the Subaru Impreza Outback Sport.  At the time that we went there in July, they didn't have the sport one and they didn't have any 5-speeds on the lot.  So we drove the automatic and fell in love.

Thursday, I went on-line to see what their Inventory was and lo and behold, they had only 1 on the lot and it was the 2-toned silver one.  JUST the color we had wanted.

So I told Linda about it and said we should go and check it out over the weekend.

Arriving at the dealer about 11:30 Saturday morning, we saw the car immediately.  Looking better than any picture could do it justice.  The only thing was that I didn't see the roof rack that I knew was part of the sport package.

Linda fell in love instantly, as did I.

What Linda didn't' know was that I was a woman with a mission.  A woman who had already looked up the trade-in value of the Mini and had the title to the Mini in my back pocket!  I had a plan.  I wanted to make a deal.

And so we did.  By 1, we had test driven the car (alone without the salesman!!), had the Mini appraised for trade-in  and already had the monthly payment agreed upon.  We were told to go out to lunch or something and that we could come back at 4 to pick it up!  They would put the roof rack on (it was in a box inside the car), wash & wax and prep it for pick up while we were gone!

And so it is that we are now the proud parents of this:

It drives like a dream.  My only complaint is that they don't make them with a sunroof.  But I'll get over it.

These pictures were taken today as I was Linda's helper on her 13 mile run that is part of her marathon training.  I stopped every mile and read the paper, talked to my parents and then started taking pictures of the car! 

Linda did the 13 miles in 2 hours 30 minutes and she looked strong all the way thru!  Way to go, babe.

Oh and yes, Linda will be the primary driver of the Silver Bullet.  So she's a very happy gal. 

And I'm a happy gal cuz 3 years ago today, Linda said "yes" when I asked her to marry me.  2010, baby!
 

Comments

[KMae]

It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!
No sunroof??? huh???
Well it's still really cool!

Can't believe 3 yrs have gone by. That was FAST!

[Kraftykay]

Yay for new cars! We just got a Forester and love it. I'm glad you won't have to worry about the mini stranding you anymore.

[weese]

sweet ride.

[Deborah]

Indeed, sweeeet.

[KittyLitter]

S-w-e-e-t
I'm so glad you got rid of the mini.
I so did not want to tell you the horror stories about those cars