As some of you are aware, the government was offering (and may still be, it's kind of up in the air now) the Cash for Clunkers/CARS program, where you could get between $3500 to $4500 for your "clunker" (a vehicle that gets a combined 18 MPG or less) to be used towards a new car. Well, we so happened to have such a vehicle (a 2000 Montero Sport - 17 MPG). We were originally planning to do this in September (the program was slated to run through November 1st or until the money ran out) but when we started seeing articles online last week about how they thought they were already out of money after 4 days and may be suspending the program, we knew we had to make a move.
Knowing this was coming up, i've been looking around at affordable fuel-efficient SUVs since we've got the new addition to the family on the way. For a while I wanted the Nissan Rogue which was pretty nice looking and would get the job done. Then last week my wife pointed out an ad for the 2010 Chevy Equinox . I'm not really an American car kind of guy, but this one really did a number on me.
Not only was it sharp looking, it got 22/32 MPG with great cargo space, etc. Granted, it was going to be several grand more expensive due to adding the touch-screen navigation and rear entertainment (dual seat-mounted DVD screens) for the kiddie, but it was still pretty affordable considering the $4500 we'd get. Well, we sorely underestimated not only the popularity of the CARS program in general, but also that of this new vehicle. We called or visited all of the dealerships around town, all but one of them didn't have a single Equinox on the lot. One we called said they had just gotten one off the truck and we said "We're on our way!". Thirty minutes later, we walk in and the guy says "Sorry, I just found out that my boss already sold it." Wow. I won't get into what else he did to piss us off, but let me just say that i may not have purchased from this guy regardless. Well, after all this i'm pretty bummed out since i don't really want to settle for something else after falling in love with this ride. So finally we go out to eat and we're talking about what we're gonna do, and we start talking about the possibility of selling my wife's Beetle. She loves her car, and it's been a good one for the past 3 years, but the more we thought about trying to get a car seat in and out of it, the more we realized we'd need to get something else for her. Since she's not as particular as I am, I brought up the Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge matching deal we'd seen advertised. We knew they had a few cars that were relatively cheap that we could get for her that would give her the additional room she would need. We ended up thinking the Jeep Patriot would be pretty good, especially after taking $8000 off the price.
We headed to the Jeep dealership first thing Saturday. Within 15 seconds we find out they don't have ANY Patriots on the lot. We're then like, "What about the Liberty? Does it qualify?" The guy (Skip is his name, good guy) takes us over to one and we take it for a spin. Drives great, but I can't help thinking about the V6 engine it has and the fact that the combined MPG on the sticker was 18, only one more than my "clunker". So we get back and I ask him to double-check it in the system to see if it qualifies, cause if not we're not interested. Sure enough, it's a no go.
While he's checking, I notice a white Compass on the floor. Now, to give some background, about a year or so ago, we looked at the Compass, even test drove it, and HATED the interior. It was all monotone and looked like cheap plastic. Pretty terrible. So when I saw one on the floor, I didn't really think much of it until I poked my head in. Apparently they had revamped the interior for 2009. It was pretty decent now. I called Toni over and the more we looked at it, the more we liked it again. So we took one for a spin, liked the drive, and said "We'll take the white one on the showroom floor." It has a sunroof, the upgraded sound system, fog lights, a year of Sirius satellite radio included and a few other options. It's not as decked out as the Limited edition we test drove, but it's good.
Other than having to wait quite a while to get in to see the finance guy, the whole process was extremely smooth (I had my doubts, especially about the government part of the deal). We're even happier knowing that the CARS program may not make it much longer, so we feel we made a good decision doing this earlier than planned. Now we can put up Toni's car at our leisure, hopefully get top dollar for it, and put a nice chunk down on an Equinox whenever they become more readily available, maybe even later this year. Here are a few photos of our new ride:
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