So, just to update... WE HAVE A NEW VEHICLE!!!!!!! It was finalized last night, and we're now the ecstatic owners of a brand new, sapphire blue '06 Ford Explorer.
(Picture removed since it wasn't that great--see more recent picture! :)
That's a very bad picture of it, taken with my camera phone yesterday morning when it was cloudy. (You can hardly even tell the color, but it's a bright sapphire color.) Yes, we technically had it in our posession yesterday morning, but we didn't find out until 4:45 yesterday afternoon that we were approved and everything.
Ryan forgot to bring the camera home last night, so we'll take pictures of it tonight and over the weekend. :) We are SO. EXCITED! It had 43 miles on it when we drove it off the lot, and it has a tan interior, as well as some upgrades which we really didn't need, but we still got a great deal on it. It has the safety canopy, (basically airbags everywhere) 6-disc CD player, (which will tell you the name of a song on the radio too!) power seats, third row stow-and-go seating, (which we did request) upgraded tires and rims, (very sparkly) the towing package, (nice to have, but didn't need) puddle lighting under the side mirrors, etc.
Because of the third row seating, we'll never outgrow the thing. (unless we have more than 4 kids, but that won't happen, according to Ryan :)
It's downright gorgeous. We filled out all the paperwork and everything without even seeing it in person, because it was being driven to us from another dealer, and then had to be detailed all over again. We were given our keys, and we walked outside to see it. I literally squealed, it was so beautiful, especially under the sparkly dealer lights.
We were planning on buying a used '06 Explorer, same color, from Carmax for much cheaper, (obviously) but discovered that the interest rate on used vehicles is MUCH higher than you can get with a dealer on a new vehicle. My father-in-law actually suggested that we look at a dealership before we made any permanent decisions, so he's really the only reason Ryan looked at new ones in the first place! I'm so, so glad, because our monthly payment will be LESS than with the used Explorer, (because we got such a crazy low interest rate) and throughout the course of the loan, we'll only be paying slightly more than with the used one. For a brand new vehicle, (and extra saftey features) that teeny extra is worth it. Who knew?!
So, there you go.. probably more than anyone wanted to know about our new vehicle, but I'm just so excited. :) I've driven it twice, and just am in love with it, (despite being nervous at first, since it's MUCH bigger than my little Civic!) but it's going to be Ryan's vehicle until we have kids. At that point, it'll be mine, and Ryan will drive my car. He drove it into work, and was just thrilled about it. :) It all just ended up working out really, really well for us.
Oooh! Congrats! I know exactly what you mean about the difference between sizes...my last job I had to switch out between driving a huge Ford pickup truck and my Civic from time to time and it was always slightly scary. I'm glad it worked out well for you guys and that you're happy with your new SUV!
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posted by Anonymous :
9:52 AM, November 03, 2006
Congrats, that's a beautiful vehicle! That's so exciting. I drove my dad's Ford Pickup once and I thought I was going to run over everything, it was so huge.
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posted by Anonymous :
10:54 AM, November 03, 2006
fun! caleb and i are thinking about getting a new car in the next year or so, maybe two. we're moving up to chicago this summer and you don't really need a car all that often up there so we thought we'd either get rid of mine and keep his or trade both in and get something new. right now we're looking at the new dodge calibers.
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posted by Anonymous :
10:56 AM, November 03, 2006
What a spiffy car, buddy!! :) When I get my blue Escape I'll be your Mini Me! ;) hehe
