Cars

Currently Craving: Chocolate Almond Energy Bites from Ellwood's

so i guess it's Out with the Old


and In with the New




Last week we made the swap from my 03 corolla with 123K miles on it to the 08 outback with 8 miles on it.

i have some mixed emotions. i really loved my corolla. it was my first real car and i paid it off eventually and i drove the heck out of it as i commuted back and forth 100 miles a day for almost two years. and it was totally reliable, just the right size and GREAT for gas mileage. BUT as with everything, things must change when a baby comes along.

American babies require a lot of stuff. and hauling all that stuff requires a vehicle that can manage it. both of those statements make me irritated and annoyed. why does my baby have to have all this stuff? why do i have to get a bigger car just because i have a baby? in europe, people drive really small cars and their babies seem to do just fine. unfortunately our american life isn't really set up to walk many places so instead i'll bundle my errands... which means having enough room to bring back groceries and have a stroller in the car. i don't know. we just tried to be as eco-friendly as possible when making this shift.

so we went with the subaru outback. it's kind of the neighborhood car here where we live. and it's also the ultimate yoga teacher/mom car. i know LOTS of yoga teachers with this car. i guess it's good for hauling props and things. so guess i liked this car because of all the subliminal messages from the neighbors and yoga teachers. 'this car is cool' they said.
one of the real reasons i felt that i needed to step it up from the corolla was the concern about getting Babe in and out all the time. the back seat has a lot more space and the lift off the street is a bit higher so i won't be killing my back every time we go in and out. we also figure at times there will be an adult and the baby seat in the back and the corolla wouldn't really handle that and then if we wanted to add tyco to the mix... he doesn't go into a car trunk. in the outback... to haul tyco and Babe on a long trip we'd be ok. we could pack tyco in the back with a gate guard. Babe and an adult or luggage in the center seat and still enough space for the driver in the front seat. all done without having to drive an SUV and we'd get better gas milage. and the trunk of the station wagon is much easier to manage for getting groceries, stroller, dog, stuff into and out of than the deep trunk of the corolla. so we made the leap.

balancing my desire to be as green as possible and to be as comfortable and make life as easy as possible on us without going over the top is definitely a challenge. so i guess we just make the best choices when we can. and as far as i can tell subaru is a very good company, the car was made in the US, and it should hold its value and be very reliable for years so i won't expect to do this again in two years.

so far i'm not totally attached to the outback but i'm getting to love her more and more. and now that i know how to drive her without killing the engine (oops!) i think we're on the right track.