The new car

Well, I did get a new car.  And it's red, which is what I wanted.  The CR-V is gone.  To be perfectly honest, I really didn't like that car.  Black leather interior is horrible if you have big dogs that drool.  My Ipod wouldn't work, I kept getting USB errors.  The driver's seat belt never went back, you'd have to give it a tug just to get it to retract.  Road noise was loud - that was a major complaint back in the 2013 reviews.  The car just wasn't a good fit.  In fact, this is the 2nd Honda which wasn't a good fit.  Just because they tend to last forever, doesn't mean you're going to like the car.  This is why I lease.  When the lease is up, if I like the car, I just buy it.  I bought the first car I leased, a Saturn 2000 because I liked it.  The next two cars, both Hondas, I hated.
Anyway, my final decision was between a Subaru Forester and a Nissan Rogue.  I'd driven both over two weeks ago and had been doing my research.  Picking the options I wanted for both cars, I made appointments with both dealers.  I met with Mike at Faulkner Subaru first.  He noted down everything I wanted and then disappeared into a back room.  About 10 minutes later he returned and told me there were no Forester 2.5I Touring, Venetian Red Pearl cars to be had.  Sitting down opposite me, he said "now what options can you live without."  Not the right thing to say.  If I'm going to get a new car, I don't want to be told I'm going to have to downgrade.  He talked about having one shipped in on the "pipeline," of course these were all lower end models, less expensive but more poorly equipped.  I nodded and smiled and told him I still needed to talk to Nissan, and that I'd let him know what my decision was going to be.
When I got to Brenner Nissan, I sat down with my salesman Charlie.  He said, "let's go over again what it is you're looking for."  We looked at the options available.  And then he said, "let me go check my inventory."  He came back about 3 minutes later and said "I have a fully loaded Rogue SL in my lot, would you like to take a look at it?"  Of course, it had everything in it I was looking for.  Two hours later I drove out of their lot in my new Rogue.

The new car

I did sent Mike at Subaru and email notifying him of my choice in cars.  He asked why, so I responded:  "Availability.  When someone walks into your showroom and asks for a certain type of car, don't tell them "that's nice, but this is all we can give you."

Flyer hell

I always enjoy getting old fashioned snail-mail (do they still call it that?) because I never know just what's going to be waiting in my old fashioned, metal mail box.  Yesterday I received a brochure from Honda regarding their "Spring into a Honda Sales Event," which I found rather peculiar.  You see back in August of 2013 I purchased a brand new CR-V.  Now I know there are people out there who feel they need to get a new car every two or three years.  Not me.  When I get a new vehicle I plan on holding on to it for at least a decade, most of the time even longer.  Hey, if you're going to go into debt you might as well get your money's worth, right?  Yet after 7 months Honda seems to think I'm a prime target for a new car.  Actually, I know that isn't true.  By buying my CR-V I put my name and my address on their mailing list.  This means I will be finding their brochures in my old fashioned, metal mail box on a regular basis.  What a waste of paper and postage.  And it's not only Honda, Toyota does the same thing, as does Ford and GMC and every other car manufacturer who can access your information.  Now, through out the years, I have owned on various occasions a Ford Mustang and a Chevy pick-up but I've never owned a Toyota so why do I get crap from them?  I suspect it's because several years ago I paid a visit to Bobby Rahal Toyota in Mechanicsburg.

At one point I thought I might like to buy a Prius.  Of course the sales associate there, seeing I was driving an 11 year old Saturn, felt he should put me into a less expensive vehicle.  In fact, he pretty much came out and said the Prius was too expensive and I should look at cheaper models, cars I might better afford.  He did this without even asking about my finances. So I did what every smart customer should do, I walked, of course he already had my address.  What I ended up doing was going to Honda and buying an Insight, their version of the Prius.  I got great mileage but did not like sitting so close to the ground.  I also got the hankering to get another full sized Boxer.  I already had Gert and, weighing in at just under 80 lbs, she took up the back seat.  It was obvious another one just wouldn't fit.  So, even though I'd only owned the Insight for 4 years I started a vehicle search.  The idea of purchasing a Toyota RAV-4 never occurred to me.  I looked at a Jeep Compass, a Nissan Rogue and finally settled on the CR-V, and then got another Boxer.

Gert and Lilly watching me vacuum

As a result, I'm eternally going to be getting flyers and brochures from Honda about vehicles I have no intention of purchasing.  As I said, I hold onto my cars a long time.  Ford, GMC, Honda and Toyota are never going to wise up.  Oddly enough Nissan sends me nothing and I came really close to buy a Rogue.  Of course it doesn't really matter as it all goes into the recycle bin.  Twelve years from now, when I no longer have the dogs, I may trade in the CR-V or something smaller.  Or, maybe I'll just sell the house and move to the south of France where I can drink wine and ride my bicycle.