StandingWater Creations

Well, let's cut to the chase and announce what needs to be announced....

We found (and subsequently purchased) our new car. The car is a 2006 Subaru Legacy. We are very pleased with this mechanical addition to our family.

How did we decide on a Subaru Legacy? you ask.

Well, as previously stated, we'd test driven a Honda Accord. Since I'd owned and drove a '91 Honda Accord for more than four years with minimal mechanical problems and the only reason we had to find something new was because the '91 Honda Accord was now a totaled wreck (you should've seen it, anyone in my car would've, probably, been dead at the end of the accident), we had to find something new. Hence, when we started test-driving (and consequently looking for) new cars, I started with Honda and the Accord.

However, sadly, our experience at the Honda dealership and the information we were given (proven false) was rather negative and as a result we decided to look at other vehicles. Fortunately, at that same time the other drivers insurance company settled on my car for a nice hefty sum-o-money and we were able to afford a down payment on something else.

So, the other night (Tuesday, for those keeping track) we finally dragged ourselves out of the house and drove to American Fork to look at Subaru's. Since we like to discuss our plans of action, Erin had nixed the idea of looking at Toyota's (she doesn't know exactly why she doesn't like them) and looking online the VW and AUDI were not, dollar for dollar, or part for part, better than anything we wanted or were already looking at.

Keep in mind our requirements included:

• baby friendly
• four door
• safe
• and... within a certain price range

There was some wiggle room, while both Erin and I had some additional, personal, requirements for the car.

As a result of some online research into cars, power to RPM and speed ratios, customer satisfaction surveys, values, and etc., as well as spending some time on a variety of manufacturer and vehicle specific forums, we were pretty confident in wanting to go and test drive a few Subaru's. On our drive from our house to the dealer we decided:

We will not buy anything tonight. We are just there to look and get an idea of what we want.

Yeah. Uhm. We ended up buying.

We got to the dealership and started looking at Subaru's. This, in case you don't have the experience to know it, is a signal for a dealer to come out and hold your hand while you are looking at cars. The dealers job: a) answer any questions you have about the vehicle(s); and b) try to get you to agree to buy a car.

With that in mind we followed him to a row of pre-owned Subaru's having given the dealer what we were looking for. (note: I found it very interesting that, by default, Subaru makes all of their cars in a manual transmission, but for several hundred miles around the state of Utah (e.g. Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado) the majority of Subaru's for sell are automatic transmissions.) That dealership did not have any pre-owned Subaru's with a manual transmission, and since we were test-driving, we agreed to drive a Legacy and a Forrester to get an idea of how those cars drove (sans-manual transmission).

We drove the Legacy first. I drove it out of the dealership and along the Interstate. Erin drove it from where I got off the Interstate back to the dealership. The entire time was more of a conversation about our lives, the dealers life, and the car than it was pressure to purchase this particular car. However, at the same time, we both loved the car and how it handled.

Then we drove the Forrester. What can I say about this car? Well, the first thing I noted was a significant difference in how the transmission handled compared to how the Legacy ran. The second thing I noticed was that it made an odd metal shaking sound on the undercarriage. We drove it, Erin took her turn, then the dealer pulled both cars nose to nose and we started to go through the various features of each car and the differences.

The thing to note about the Legacy is that you can fit (at least) four bodies in the trunk. That is very important.

The Forrester, on the other hand, drove like an SUV, felt like an SUV, and had the sounds (mostly body) of an SUV. The seats laid down flat and, truth told, we could've slept in the back of the thing; but at the same time the features, feel, and driving experience of a Forrester was not that great. We didn't like it (collectively).

We did like (nay, we loved) the Legacy.

And then another dealer, showing another family, Subaru's wanted to test-drive the Legacy. Our dealer turned and asked what we thought and we got honest, fast. Our thoughts:

Ain't no one but us driving our Legacy.

At that point Erin and I got into the back seat. I got into the backseat to see what it felt like (comfortable, for anyone who is interesting-slash-wants to know) and the dealer drove us over to the office so we could talk numbers and see about financing.

What we thought was going to last, maybe, an hour or so ended up going til just after 9 p.m. Erin drove the car home. I drove Erin's car home.

Now, you may be thinking, "That was two nights ago," and, "Why didn't he update sooner?" And those would be two valid questions. Well, I started writing an update yesterday and never got around to finishing it. Moreover, I've now (officially) started the freelance writing gig which gives me less time to play at other things - though, admittedly, I was a bit out of it last night and multiple runs to the store and my being all around (and overall) tired didn't bode well for... well... who knows. Finally, Erin wanted time to tell her mother... I don't know why.

Anyway, Erin has already named the car, I put a BYU "Y" lot parking sticker in the windshield yesterday morning (another distraction from updating the website), and drove it quite a bit yesterday. One of the "cool" features of the car is a display that you can rotate through: outside temperature, miles since last fill-up, average MPG, current (real time) average miles per gallon, and others.

We still need to head back to the dealership to hand them a check, that will take place on Saturday; but at the same time we are very happy with the new car. It's nice.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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