First, allow me to apologize for my hiatus from posting. I kept trying to wait to post until I could add some pictures, but since I think the pictures I wanted to add have been deleted and lost forever, I figure it’s time to go ahead and post without them. (I’ll let you know if I add some pics later.)
The title of this post does not refer to the song by Yael Naim or God’s redemptive grace–it refers to our new vehicle, a 2012 Kia Soul!
As part of the deal, we traded in our white 1999 Chevy Lumina. Lulu the Lumina served us well. She was my second car (the first was a red Honda Civic hatchback). Lulu got me through my college days and my first two years of marriage without requiring any major repairs, a major feat considering that she had more than 170,000 miles on her at the time of trade-in. While it was sad to see her go, we had known for some time that her useful lifespan was almost over. She had a crack in her windshield that had been there since the weekend Jake and I got engaged in Summer 2009, a broken taillight from the time I ran into a pole while backing out of the MEP parking lot during my freshman year at Mercer, and an electrical issue that prevented the taillights from working properly without being rigged up. Throughout most of our marriage, Jake has insisted that I drive his 2005 GMC Canyon rather than the Lumina because of its age and condition. She was a good vehicle, but it was time for her to go.
After months of vehicle research and many visits to local dealerships, we narrowed our search to the Nissan Cube or the Kia Soul. Since the storms in Japan had caused the availability of new Cubes to be unreliable, we focused in on the Soul. Other benefits: Kia allowed us to take advantage of their military discount even on this popular vehicle (which Nissan would not have done) and Kia offers unbeatable warranties. At first, the Kia salesman tried to get us to purchase loaded versions of the vehicle, but since most of the additional features meant little to us, we didn’t want to pay the extra money. One day, we were close to making a deal on a basic Alien Green Soul (which is what I initially wanted), but the dealer couldn’t find one within hundreds of miles. For weeks, the dealer looked but could not find one. Finally, we told him we would consider other colors (figuring this would give us more leveraging power on price). Then, on a Saturday afternoon at the end of October, the salesman called and asked us to come to the lot to check out a Titanium Soul + (which is the next step up from basic). It wasn’t our favorite color, but since the dealer was trying to make the end-of-the-month quotas, we were able to snag it for a great price. I’ve always loved the vehicle’s features, but after a month of driving it, I have to say that it’s color has grown on me.
Jake and I think it’s funny that this is the vehicle we chose, since the commercials are geared toward hipper people. (We’re in the right age bracket, but definitely not the right coolness bracket.) We started out looking at used minivans since we figured a minivan would have plenty of space for us for many, many years, but we ended up realizing that used car prices are inordinately high right now. On a newer used vehicle, you only save a couple thousand (if that) versus the price of a new vehicle, but you lose the warranty, gain 10s of thousands of miles, and forfeit the peace of mind of knowing everything that’s happened to the vehicle and how it has been maintained. With an older used vehicle, you can expect that certain parts will wear out before long, plus you have most of the same issues you deal with on a newer used vehicle. We decided that a new vehicle was the best choice for us right now. The minivan was quickly crossed off due to price, gas mileage, and the fact that it’ll be quite some time before we need that much space. We then became interested in hatchbacks, particularly the Nissan Versa, but decided to focus in on the Soul and the Cube. We liked that these two had good gas mileage, good prices, and spacious interiors. Of all the vehicles we considered, the Soul had the most space (only a little more than the Cube and Versa, but hey, every bit counts).
Bonuses of waiting for the right vehicle at the right price? We got a bunch of upgraded features (cargo net, cargo tray, carpeted floor mats, center console, more powerful engine, eco fuel features, etc.), including built-in Bluetooth, which we love! Jake and I are not high-tech people, but we love the convenience and safety of having calls come through the vehicle’s speaker system. Additionally, if we had gotten a 2011 Soul, the fuel economy would not have been as good.
We are so grateful to have a reliable vehicle that we enjoy driving. We look forward to getting a lot of good use out of this vehicle in the years to come.
Life With the Lundays 