From Luxury Car to an Alien

I have driven 2 Lexus cars in the last 12 years. Lexus builds a fabulous comfortable car. The gas mileage is decent but they take premium gas which is very expensive. And they have crappy cup holders. Plus the back seats do not fold down. I was told this would not be very luxury-like however it prohibits me from making purchases. Or recycling hot water heaters that stayed in the garage for 3 years. Finally our garbage service was bought out and the new company took the hot water heater to be recycled. Yay for Five Jab!

When something does go wrong on Lexus it is very expensive to fix. I had 193.000 miles on my last Lexus. I scraped the back passenger side parking in the parking lot at Asurion the first week I worked there. And since the car was old I didn't bother fixing it. The back windows quit rolling down a while back much to Bryan's dismay since he was stuck back there with a camera and binoculars. But at $750 a window, I was not going to fix them. Then the check engine light came on. The mechanic ran the diagnostics and said I would spend $2500 for a new catalytic converter or I could have them turn off the engine light before getting the car inspected. Which I did. They also turned it off for me to trade the car in. Love the new Firestone in Tomball. Great mechanics, nice people. The have a great Lexus guy too. You just have to ignore the Fox news that is on in the waiting room. But they do change it for sporting events if you ask. So it was time for new license plates and I decided it was time for a new car.

I saw an ad for a Kia Soul in Alien (green) and fell in love with it. I checked the stats and it had what I wanted. Good gas mileage, leg room for Bill and a hatch back. The green car is very different for me. Middle age crisis? I commute a long ways so I did not want to spend a lot of money on an expensive car. Bill's Honda Insight is a great commuter car for him. He only has 2 complaints about it. His legs get cramped in the passenger seat (I tend to drive on long trips) and he has a tiny console. He loves the 48.4 mpg that he has averaged over the year he has had the car.

What I miss about my Lexus:

1. The sunroof
2. The heated seats
3. The leather seats
4. The smooth ride
5. The computer that tells me how many miles left on the tank of gas, the average mpg

What I love about the Kia:

1. Fabulous stereo system
2. Mood lighting for the stereo system
3. 2 plugs for things like navigation system and portable DVD players
4. 1 outlet to listen directly through the radio
5. 1 usb outlet that you can charge the iPod, iPhone and listen to the iPod iPhone through the radio and control the iPop and iPhone from the steering wheel
6. the fabulous cup holders
7. Hatch back with hidden storage for jumper cables and other small items
8. The color is Alien and I was born in the hospital in Roswell, NM where they took the aliens (and the color stands out)
9. Room in the back for Scott and Bryan and they are not completely cramped
10. Great gas mileage!
11. Regular gas!!!!!!! Think Hurricane Ike and there was no premium gas in this town. Plus it's so much cheaper.
12. Rides higher up, a plus in a city that floods.

Here I am picking up my new car at the dealer. Alex was a fabulous sales lady without being pushy. She is a lot of fun, and I got a free crawfish lunch too!! It was pouring rain/flooding while I was there.

Here is the car at home. Pardon the picture, it was very humid and the camera kept fogging up.




Another shot of the car. The tail of Bill's Honda Insight in the picture, we look like Easter eggs in the driveway.


My new purse to match my car (courtesy of Target on sale).