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Looking towards the future

With my last post behind me, I’m now in the process of shopping for a new car. I have been randomly looking for the last few weeks, but more or less got serious about it last night. Amber, Dad, and myself (and Richard via cell phone) went lot to lot looking for potential vehicles. My requirements were as follows:

  • Not a car
  • 4×4 if possible
  • Decent Gas Mileage
  • Reasonably priced (both short and long term)
  • Navigation System
  • Amber liked it.
  • Richard didn’t hate it.

After wandering lots til the sun went down, we had the list of possible vehicles narrowed down to 12. From there, we went to baker square for some late night food (we had all skipped dinner), and narrowed it down to 4 vehicles, they were: Ford F-150 (gotta love the truck), Toyota Scion (little small), PT-Cruiser, and Jeep Compass.

The next hours were the most painful for me. I’m rather indecisive, and if I can’t have exactly what I want, I refuse to stop until I can find it. All 4 of these vehicles had problems that I wasn’t sure how to deal with.

My leading choice had been the F150, which would have been great, except I was looking at a $35,000 price tag… Something you don’t want to pay when you have a house and wedding in your future. Even on payments, that would hurt. IT also didn’t lend itself overly well to kids. Can you imagine Amber trying to get a baby in and out of an F150… Can you imagine Amber getting in and out of an F150?

From there I thought about the Scion… Very affordable, decent mileage, a nav system… But it was small… I mean, like car like small. I also wasn’t a big fan of the way it looked. I remember all those ads we saw at sonshine that one year… but still, couldn’t bring myself to get something that small.

I won’t even go into how quickly Amber and Richard put the bash fest on the PT.

That left the Jeep, which Amber had said she wasn’t very happy with at the lot. We also were not able to find some of the features I wanted when looking online.

By the time I went to bed friday night, I was sure that we hadn’t seen the vehicle of my future. We had hit GM, Chevy, Pontiac, Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Subaru, Ford, Mercury, Toyota, and who knows how many random used cars that were on each of the lots. Nothing was the perfect balance.

After staying awake through a nasty storm we had, I woke to more online research. After another 3 hours of online searching, I had realize what vehicle I had to go test drive today.

It was the Jeep Compass.

Now before I start a bash fest in my comments, let me justify how I ended up here, and why I am now happy to say that I will most likely be buying one on Monday. Here’s what it has:

  • 20 to 26 MPG, which for a mini SUV that isn’t a hybrid is pretty dang good.
  • A LIFETIME warranty: As long as I own the car, I will never have to pay to have it’s transmission fixed. That could be a cost savings of 1000’s… IF only it breaks down once in 15 years. (and my old ford broke down twice, the 2nd of which we trashed it).
  • Navigation System w/Mp3: The first time we looked, it wasn’t an option, but after pricing out the higher end version, sure enough… It was there.
  • A built in 110 power outlet… No more annoying buzz box.
  • 4×4 CVT Transmission with autostick. This is the weirdest, yet probably one of the coolest things I will have to get used to… Basically, you can’t feel the engine shift (because it kind of doesn’t)… It’s a really different driving experience, because that certain “motion” you feel at certain speeds just isn’t there… at all. To compensate for people who need it, or for people who just want to have fun, they give you the ability to shift yourself in sort of a digital way… So for those times I want to have fun, I can still force it shift when I say so. Perfect balance if you ask me…
  • Large enough that I’m happy. Not so small that my passengers won’t be.
  • Amber’s sunroof.

So unless someone can convince me not to get one (and trust me, your going to have a hard time telling me to get something else when I have a lifetime warranty covering decision), this will most likely be the future “truck” Justin is driving around.

I look forward to picking you up in it.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Alex August 12, 2007, 10:14 am

    Congratulations! Be sure to check the towing capacity — if I recall correctly the CVT's can't tow as much as normal transmissions (all else being equal)… but I really don't think that will effect the usability of your soon to be vehicle! Woo!

  • Justin Gehring August 12, 2007, 7:23 pm

    It can naturally tow 1000lbs… But I guess there is a towing package to allow for more… But seeing as I don't have anything that could even connect to a hitch… I'm going to assume that this will never affect me :-).

  • Richard August 13, 2007, 1:20 pm

    Okey dokey, so I know the Jeep Liberty (pretty sure they are libertys and not compasses) is a piece of crap. We have those for work and I wouldn't take one for free unless it was to scrap them. I don't know if this same trend continues to the compasses. Also you keep talking about lifetime warranties. I don't understand this. No car company would truly offer that and I assume small print is somewhere to be found. But test drive is a good idea and if you like it then cool. My cuz has a Grand Cherokee and my uncle is a head mechanic for Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge.

  • Justin Gehring August 14, 2007, 8:01 am

    Richard: Why are the liberties pieces of crap? Otherwise, don't know how to compare them to the compass :-). It's a lifetime power train warranty… And yes, it's a huge selling point for them… It won't cover the rust/etc… But, that's not going to be the biggest expense if something goes wrong. And there are some catches… Non-transferable for example.