Auto Woes

Any of you who truly know us and our situation will understand this post. The Nissan...it's a dyin'. While many people often remark how odd it is that I commute to my job, spending at least 3 hours a day in my car, many others know that I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my home, my hometown, and the peeps that are there. So instead we shop for a vehicle that is safe and fuel efficient. The Altima has fit the bill for the last 3 1/2 years, but honestly it is the most uncomfortable car I have ever owned. It has also started acting like a middle aged person, complete with limps and moans and groans. I will give it some credit though...it has 166,00+ miles on it. The weird thing is that it has never seemed completely "right". We have always had issues with the tires no matter how diligent and religious we are about rotating and balancing, buying high dollar and highway designed tires. Sometimes I just think that cars have flaws and they need a Car Whisperer to figure out what the heck the problem is.

So we are looking again. We did this several months back after a particularly long and uncomfortable road trip and were deterred by the fact that we were upside down on the car loan. Truth is...I guess we always will be at the rate I put miles on a car. At that time we test drove a bunch of crossover type SUVs. Knowing that we have a long-legged child who is doing nothing but growing, we realized that a sedan is not probably our best bet moving forward. But SUVs are not known for great fuel efficiency...until now. GMC and Chevy both offer vehicles that rival what I have been getting in the Nissan. So now we just have to pick one. And get it financed. And roll over the balance that I know they won't be able to meet on trade-in. Lovely!

Almost as lovely as this particular car episode from the summer of 2011!