{"id":964,"date":"2011-02-21T00:33:23","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T07:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecyberwolfe.com\/blog\/?p=964"},"modified":"2011-02-21T00:36:03","modified_gmt":"2011-02-21T07:36:03","slug":"so-long-holly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecyberwolfe.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/21\/so-long-holly\/","title":{"rendered":"So long, Holly"},"content":{"rendered":"

The time has come where the good ship HS Golightly<\/em> (AKA “Holly”) must be retired and a replacement brought in. The reasons behind the move are mainly financial – it was a terrible loan rate and the car was actually rated as worth only about $500 more than the cost of some needed repairs (some damage to the heads when the timing belt went and a power steering pump). There is also the idea of tourney season coming up, and we need more cargo room to haul our ever-expanding camping gear collection.<\/p>\n

Like most people, I hate car shopping. The entire process of buying a car from a dealer is not designed to make things easy for you. You only get to compare cars side-by-side if they happen to be at the same lot, so when you’re shopping for used you must resign yourself to a lengthy process as each dealer tries to coerce you into buying what they’re selling, never mind what you told them you’re actually looking for. (Yes Mr. A.M., I am talking about you and your damn Equinox.). Or (almost<\/em>) worse, you get a dealer with a huge selection – that is scattered over 5 different lots scattered across town.<\/p>\n

In any case, to chop several paragraphs of me griping about the process out of this post, suffice it to say that we eventually did find a car that was both A) worth driving and owning and B) we could fit into the budget. The surprising thing was the car we ended up with.<\/p>\n

Originally, I was looking at a 2004 model, but in the end it turned out that the dealership had spent so much money on the car already (trade-in value, repairs, etc.) that they wouldn’t be able to fit it into my budget as well as make my upside-down Kia loan go away. They could<\/em> do all of this, however, if I were to instead buy this 2009 model…<\/p>\n

Uhm, ok. Twist that arm there just a tad… newer car, a little more miles but in better shape and without<\/em> the leather interior. And it’s even silver!<\/p>\n

So, after about 150 signatures on the dotted line and a liter of my O-Positive, I am the proud owner of a loan that has the physical representation of an as-yet un-named silver 2009 Subaru Outback wagon.<\/p>\n

The differences, New Car vs. Holly:<\/p>\n