Car Snob Turns Car Buyer

I must have built a thousand cars in the past 4 days. I definitely built every SUV on the market today. Most were shit with the gas mileage and some were just too much money. We wanted to spent under 30 K and get at least 25 mpg on the highway.

We ended right back at Jeep.

I have spent the last several days obsessing about ground clearance. Like out of control obsessing. For some reason I need my truck to sit 80 feet off the ground to make me feel like its a good 4 x 4. Brian thinks I'm crazy and is getting more and more annoyed by me.

We went to a new Jeep dealer last night. The one we went to initially sucked and the guys there were doh-doh heads. We got a really good dealer this time around. He was on and ready to wheel and deal.

As we looked around the lot for Patriots and I started to become freaked out about how low I perceive it to sit off the ground. Oh man, is this going to be a huge mistake, will it make it down any dirt roads with any dips and rocks? I believe at some point Brian came close to punching me in the face.

So as it turns out the Jeep I want is hard to find. Actually only 2 in the country exist and they are black and khaki. No thanks. Guess we will have to build one. I was so excited about this. I don't have to settle, it will be exactly as I want. Built just for little ole me.

I picked red, with dark interior. Ive lived with a light interior for a long time and it blows ass. I added some extra airbags and everything power, which is a new luxury for me having manual windows in my car. I wanted to upgrade the stereo but it came with leather so that was nixed. Whatever. I also added larger tires with better wheels. Its nothing fancy at all, but it suits me well. Its a 5 speed manual with 4 wheel drive. It was under 20,000 and gets 27 mpg highway. That's about what my stupid Beetle gets these days. I'm feeling better about my choice. We get 2500 cash back and they want to give me 2500 for the car. That hurts a little, but we will see what Carmax will give us before I sell my girl for so little.

future me

We are breathing a sigh of relief because we can afford this vehicle, unlike the hybrid I still want. The look of the Jeep is growing on me, however, the embossed PATRIOT on the bumper will probably never be cool with me.

I will not be joining any Jeep clubs and buying Jeep gear. I hope no one ever tries to engage me in Jeep talk cause it will freak me out.

I will be getting this bad boy in 6-8 weeks. Maybe sooner, but most likely not. You can judge all you want my fellow car snob friends, but we needed a larger vehicle, something with 4 doors. We needed to get down some bumpy roads and we need good gas mileage. This happens to all come in the Jeep. Toyota I wished for, but I do think this little SUV is going to grow on me and I might even come to love it. I am still concerned about the ground clearance but to go bigger means I lose on a lot of other things and its not worth it.

-Nina