Baby You Can Drive My Car

And baby I love you... Tootooot, tootooot ya!

I'm not sure what people really know about me, but what they might not know is that I don't like attention, therefore I do not brag. 

Enter BLAGGING.

As one can see, I have a scant following and those that periodically follow are located half way around the world and for some reason that makes them as good as anonymous to me (no offense) and so I'm going to take this opportunity to BLAG!  Yup, that my term for bragging and blogging.  BLAGGING!  HA!

After a few weeks of researching and test driving 7 passenger crossover vehicles I have finally purchased a new car! 

Drop confetti here.

The search was not fun.  I don't do well with making decisions (another thing you may not know about me) especially now that my decisions effect others.  I actually lost a lot of sleep over this whole car shopping ordeal (most of you know about my affliction with anxiety) and drove very badly the past couple of weeks ("I'm an excellent driver"-Rainman) because I was constantly checking out other vehicles on the road.  I ruminated daily about whether to buy new or used, or keep my current PAID OFF vehicle and continue to spend save extra money.  I couldn't stop worrying about what would happen if I bought a car and then it blew up, like so many have in the past.  I stalked Car Soup hourly in search of the perfect vehicle and prayed (jokingly, since I would never really waste a prayer on a material possession) for a sign so I'd know when I'd chosen the right wheels for our expanding family!  Ya think it wouldn't be so hard?

I learned a lot in this process, however.  The old me would be driving around in a lightly used Toyota Highlander right now, cursing that inflated monthly car payment. You see, I've wanted a Highlander for a few years and when I have my mind set on something....look out!  But the revised, somewhat reprogrammed me, is the new owner of a 2008 Mazda CX9 Grand Touring AWD. 

That's not the car, but mine looks just like it.  It has everything!  I've never felt so overprivileged and spoiled!  Heated leather seats.  6 disc cd changer with Bose speakers.  Keyless entry AND keyless ignition!  Automatic windshield wipers?  Who knew!  And so much more.  I should mention the Bluetooth technology on the steering wheel as well, since the sales guy really tried selling me on that, even after I told him I didn't own a Bluetooth.  HA! 

Unlike the Chevy Traverse that I also had my eye on, the only bad review I could find on this vehicle was from a person bitching that they hit their head often while getting in the driver seat?  HUH?  What a melon!  And, foreign car lovers might be disappointed by the fact that Ford built the engine.  But Ford and Mazda have been married for years (although I hear they are divorcing).  The Traverse had multiple consumer complaints of frequent repairs in the first year, even month of it's life.  The Buick Enclave was just waaaaay too fancy.  The Acura MDX too pricey.  The Mazda5, although very fitting, was just not for me.  Etcetera etcetera.

So now that I did some blagging, I have to throw in a little (teeny weeny) whining.  Cause it's not perfect.  In fact, this entire time I refused to look at anything that had over 40,000 miles on it.  Well my new wheels (Italian tires, btw, to keep up with the 3.7 liter V6 engine; blagging over now, I promise) has almost 77,000 miles on it.  I'm not excited about that.  But I'm willing to go with it.  My favorite man in the whole world helped me buy this car and although he did not FORCE me to go with high miles, he did sway me.  A lot of the low mile cars I was looking at had been rentals or had more than one owner in a short period of time with absolutely no service records.  "Keep looking", he'd say, "for a car with ONE OWNER that has all of its service records.  This car was that car.  It was owned by a traveling business man in St. Cloud, Minnesota, who drove all over the state putting on miles but had all of his vehicle maintenance on record with the dealership who sold it to him.  17 records in all for oil changes, tire rotations, brake replacements, you name it.  So that's my gripe.  But I'm coming to terms with it cause we've bonded, my Mazda and me.  And you know what they say...

Zoom Zoom

PS:  Sorry Mom.  I will no longer have extra cash to spoil you with, but a nice car to drive you around in!