Mama's new car

Well we did it, we bought a new car. I know I know, I said we were just going to test drive... HA! The price was right, the price for my car as a trade in was right, and the salesman really knew how to do his job! So now I'm the PROUD owner of a 2011 Honda Pilot. OMG I am so excited....

So yesterday Grandma Debra came to stay with Natalia and off we went. Our first stop was Larry Miller Honda to check out the Pilots and Odysseys. Our salesman was named Kent, and he knew his stuff. He pulled out a fully loaded Pilot and talked us through it. I immediately LOVED this car. It had everything I wanted, plus it had all the extras I didn't think would be in our budget. Not to mention that I didn't think a brand new car would be in our budget. So we took it for a small spin just around the dealership, I didn't want to take up a lot of time because I had so many cars I wanted to see yesterday. He then took us over to the Odysseys... right away I knew I wasn't going to like this compared to the Pilot. We're lower to the ground and I can't see the nose of the car, I have no idea where it starts and ends. But, I drove it in the dealership and gave it a shot. I got Charlie to agree with me about the nose, and that in the end the Pilot was better! Ahhh (big sigh of relief!) We also checked out a 2009 Acura MDX they had in the lot, but it was the same price as the brand new Pilot but used... and just not as roomy. Plus one of my big musts was I wanted vents for each row, so that if I had little ones in that third row they weren't roasting! This car didn't have them, so I vetoed it after I saw that. We thanked Kent and said we would probably come back later in the week to test the Pilot out on the road since it was a top contender.

Then it was off to Toyota... ask anyone my heart was set on a Toyota. I love the 4Runners and Sequoias. I was pretty much set that one of those would be the car for me. We looked at the 4Runner that had the 3rd row seat... and although I love how they look on the outside it just wasn't very roomy. Plus there wasn't a vent on the 3rd seat! VETO! I also started up the engine and it was LOUD compared to the Pilot. So then onto the Sequoia, I was so excited to check this one out... and it was GIGANTIC! It was roomy all right, but it was a beast! I loved the old body style better on these anyway, and I'm convinced it's smaller then the new body style...but I test drove the new one out on the streets. It was a smooth ride and lots of room... but I couldn't help but think that it just didn't have the features the Pilot had. This dealer also seemed pretty clueless as to what he was doing and didn't know some answers to my questions. It's all they had too because they are on limited production since no one wants such a beast. I had thought I wanted to go find a used one in the old body style to test drive. But, after some discussion (I could get a used Sequoia with lots of miles and less features or I could get a brand new Pilot with a lot of features) we just figured it wasn't for us after all... Sad face.

Ford was next and it was just across the street from Toyota. We wanted to check out the brand new Explorer. My brother had shown us a cool video on it, and after looking at it on the Internet we thought it was awesome. It's been completely redesigned from the old body style. The third row seat is amazing! It's all buttons that move it, no work from us to fold seats. Anyway, we got there and our salesman had a thick British accent. Charlie says it wasn't that thick, but it was thick enough that I didn't understand much of what he was saying! He did say that they didn't have any of the new Explorers on hand, that they had sold what they had and because they couldn't keep up with it now it was more of a order what you want to buy type of situation. We got the chance to look at the managers, but it was just a look but not drive thing. I didn't want to blindly jump into buying a car we hadn't test driven! Of course this entire time Charlie's answering questions for me because he said I was just staring at the guy and he could tell I didn't understand. He said at one point I was like, "oh buttons" and just started pushing buttons... it's gotten a good laugh out of us now. The sales guy also tried to show us 2010 Explorers, that were marked down a lot because they were the old body style and they wanted to get them off the lot... but I had no interest. I was of the mind that if I'm getting an Explorer it's the new body style. Poor guy just got shot down a lot with all the cars he wanted to show us he he he.

So at that point I was thinking that nothing really compared to what the Pilot offered us... and I wanted to go back and test drive it for real. Back to Honda we went, found Kent, and took it out for a drive. Out on the freeway I told Charlie this is it... this is what I wanted. This particular model was Black interior and Black exterior though. Although it was beautiful I was worried about how hot it would be in the summer! Kent said they had a couple more at the lot that were the 2011 and fully loaded. So at the lot he showed us a white one (veto, I've had only white vehicles all my life and I wanted something different!) and a Charcoal Gray one, that had a light gray interior. LOVE! So we asked Kent to do some numbers for us. We wanted to know how much of a trade in my car was (to determine if we should use it as a trade in or just sell it on our own) and what the financing was.

Now began the long drawn out process of the purchase.... ugh I hated this part with Charlie's car and I didn't like it much with mine either. They wanted to offer us a lot on trade in but not budge on sticker price. After some tough negotiations... both Kent and Charlie seem to get a kick out of it. Kent asked what he needed to do to make this sale happen... we told him what we wanted. Especially because we had walked in with no intention of actually purchasing a car yesterday!! So the whole show and production of going back and forth with prices went on, and we got what we wanted... with the promise of some cookies he he he. Kent of course dropped hints that he was up for salesman of the month and this would help a lot with that and his end of the month quota so he really wanted this sale! I feel bad for Charlie's coworker but the highest they wanted to pay for my car was $4,500 and we got more out of it for a trade in... plus now it gave us a discount on the tax of the car. Then of course once we had a deal it was another process of paper work. The financing deal was amazing so we didn't put any money down except my car as trade in.

Anyway, I'm super excited about this car. This is our "family" car, the one we'll take on road trips and will transport us as a family as we grow. I intend to keep it for many many years so I'm pretty pleased. It's fully loaded, so it has leather seats and power everything. It has navigation, which I wanted but it wasn't a must have. It has just been so convenient to have in Charlie's car that I thought it would be nice to have too. Another huge bonus is the DVD player in back! Definitely wasn't on my list of must haves but will be nice to have for road trips!! Natalia seemed pretty excited to see the car when we got home, she kept saying "go go" and pointing at it. He he he. Anyway here are my pictures of it, they are all out of order, stupid up loader!

Rear temperature controls, and where headphones plug into for the DVD player!DVD player for the back seats, it folds back into the ceiling. That little remote also pops out so anyone can control the screen:Picture of the back with the third row seat up:Picture of the front dash:Picture of the back with third row seat folded flat:

Better Picture of the front dash: One of my favorite features, which is pretty lame, but it's shades for the back windows that retract back into the door! So nice for Natalia!!

Tail end of the car:Side view:Front View:Other side view; wondering if I should go have the two front windows tinted to match the rest of the windows, I know it's standard to not have them done, but I like it better when they all match: