Is Love Really a Subaru?

My lack of posts with personal life lessons, tied into what's currently going on, is due to a seemingly never-ending search for a replacement to our Santa Fe. Thankfully, I believe that search is over.

Looking online for weeks, sifting through cars in the $3,000-$5,000 range was pretty... educational. I learned that Volkswagen Jettas & Passats, BMWs (325i), Honda Civics, and many others are a dime a dozen- does that surprise you as much as it did me? I figured that with the Jettas and the BMWs, I'd rather be in a position to purchase a warranty of some sort to protect us from future issues, especially since we weren't finding many "single owners" of these vehicles.   I also found that our desired cars, a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord, are easy to come by. Unfortunately, the interiors aren't all well-maintained, and we haven't found one that we can see ourselves loving. But Friday night, I saw a posting for a 2000 Subaru Forester. It's 14 years old, but when I saw pictures, it looked immaculate. I saw the price, and it was well within our range. I saw in the description that it had only one owner, and all the maintenance records were preserved. We finally got a chance to see it today, and the owner wasn't lying- he had a big binder of all the maintenance records, hole-punched and stored in order by date.

We took it for a drive around the area, and we were convinced it was the car for us. It's super practical, has great ratings, good personal reviews, and many people claim it's longevity to be impressive. That, and the fact that we have a good amount of space in the car for our baby + 3 animals, we are happy campers. Oh! And did I mention it has all-wheel drive?! How awesome!

The beginning of our search for a car was daunting. I was disheartened a few times when I saw what our decided budget was getting us with our search. I was worried about being tricked into purchasing something with lots of hidden problems. Not to mention, it's a personal challenge to choose to own something that's older, a little worn in, and that doesn't have a new smell. It's silly, but the truth is, we chose not to entertain those stars in our eyes when it came to considering a new vehicle. We put our family, our commitment to school and work, and our financial freedom first.

And I only have one word to describe how I feel in our journey: free.