Truthful Tuesday... Big News Edition!

Different blog name, same blog themes.  I love them too much to just abandon them.  It feels weird doing my Truthful Tuesday post today - because it feels like a Monday.  So, here goes...

To be honest... I didn't just make a trip out to Wal-Mart yesterday to escape the treacherous heat in my house.  Hubby and I also made a few trips to some car lots to look at the possibility of getting a second vehicle.  Well, third vehicle - but his truck really isn't road safe, so it doesn't count.  We ended up at the Kia dealership.  And, after several hours of walking around, test driving, driving away to think about it, and then driving back, I came home with (in my best game show host voice) A NEW CAR!  This one, actually...

A 2013 Kia Sorento

To be honest... I had absolutely NO intention of buying a brand new vehicle.  My intention, if we decided to go ahead and buy a car would be to go with a pre-owned.  One, because I didn't think my credit would be good enough to get a brand new car, and two, I thought it would be a lot cheaper.  Well, once the credit was ran and the numbers were crunched - Hubby and I found out that there wouldn't be too enough of a difference in our payments with this or the same model, but about 5 years older. 

To be honest... I never in a million years thought we'd qualify for zero down... but we did.  Not only that, but I never thought I'd hear the words "You have great credit".  Urm.  Four years ago when Hubby and I tried to buy the Mazda, we couldn't put my name on the title because my credit was so bad.  Now, I'm being told I have great credit.  That's awesome!  I can actually own a car and have my name on the title to prove it.  And the payments are only a little over what we had budgeted ourselves to be able to afford.  Plus with all the incentives such as a 10 year/100,000 mile power train warranty, 5 year/60,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, roadside assistance, sales tax included, 4% APR, and a full tank of gas... we just couldn't say no.

To be honest... I fell like I've finally gotten my dream car.  When we bought a "new" car four years ago, I settled for a 2008 Mazda 3 because it was cheap.  Plus, we couldn't beat the gas mileage and stuff.  It was preowned, and had 18,000 miles on the clock - even though it was less than a year old when we bought it.  It served it's purpose, and I'm happy that Hubby now gets a decent car to use when he needs it.  But, I'm also glad that I don't have to drive it anymore - because the kids just didn't have enough room, and the bottom of the car was getting destroyed from our dirt road.  Not only that, but because our credit wasn't so great back then - we ended up with over 8% APR giving us a price pretty close to what I'm paying for the Kia.  Another reason why this is such a great deal!

To be honest... I've wanted an SUV for as long as I can remember, but it just wasn't an option because how expensive gas is.  Thanks to this new beauty, I don't have to worry about that.  The Sorento is a 4 cylinder, comes with an ECO boost that provides the best possible gas mileage, and averages about 24 miles to the gallon when using the ECO boost.  Plus, I love that I have an odometer that shows how many miles I have until empty...so I can see if the car is performing to par or not.  Something that IS covered in the warranty if it becomes a habit of the car getting significantly less gas mileage than advertised. Do I sound like a car salesman?  WOW.

To be honest... I feel like a kid in a candy shop with all of the bells and whistles I now have.  Sirius Satellite radio free for 3 months.  Hands-free/bluetooth calling through the car's stereo system.  Power locks and windows.  Rear seat heat and air.  Hidden storage in the back...it's under the huge trunk area, and perfect for breakables or keeping stuff hidden out of sight.  Tinted windows.  Nitrogen filled tires.  The Mazda is a standard, and has standard everything.  Manual windows and locks.  No power anything.  And the Kia comes standard with everything I just mentioned.  I didn't pay extra to have any of it.  Plus, being that it was Labor Day, I got an extra $5000 off the asking price.  AND it only has 300 miles on the clock - which is all test drive miles.  I can honestly say I've never owned a car with less than 18,000 miles on the odometer.  Yep, can definitely hear car salesman talk coming out of me.

To be honest... Hubby is a little nervous about our financial ability to keep up with all the payments.  And I don't blame him.  Taking on a new purchase - especially as big as this one - is huge.  But, I didn't just jump in to it, either.  I crunched numbers, crunched numbers, and crunched numbers some more before we went back to the lot.  I called our insurance company to see how much more that will cost us.  I budgeted for food and other expenses.  And, OK, we won't have tons of money left over each month - but we won't be broke, either.  Hubby down right refused to max ourselves out.  Which is smart.  He is the leveled headed one when it comes to stuff like this.  But, even after he saw what I saw with the number crunching - he had to admit that we could make it work.  There might not be any more shopping sprees in my future, or dining out, or throwing money away on stuff we don't need... but that's a blessing in it's self, really.  Right?

To be honest... I could tolerate the nasty hot of our house with no AC a lot better once I came home from the lot.  And being that we had no out of pocket expenses with the car, we can still afford to get the AC fixed...hopefully today.  I don't know if I can stand another day of my house being in the 90s.  Thank goodness for cold showers! 

And lastly,

To be honest... I know that taking on the new car will mean some sacrifices now and then.  I know that my dreams of a new house in the very near future are gone...at least for another couple of years.  I know that things like Christmas won't be as big.  I know that there won't be any dream vacations coming up.  But, I also know how desperately we needed another vehicle.  And OK, we didn't need something as elegant or lavish as this... but I'm thinking of investment, too.  Sure, I could have gone to a used car dealership, bought a car that was half the price of this one (if not less), paid smaller payments each month... but how long would that vehicle have lasted?  Would I be right back in the same boat as I was in a year from now, two?  At least with this car I get some peace of mind.  I know that I have several years of being able to keep the car safe and maintained from any form of damage - and it not costing me a penny.  I think we made the right choice.  No, I know we did.