pimpin' our ride

The 3-year lease on our Subaru B9 Tribeca is up this month. Actually, it was up last month, and we had planned to extend it for another 6-12 months, but Subaru wouldn't let us extend it for more than one month. Seems stupid...it's not like used SUVs are flying off the lots these days, so it would have made more sense for them to let us hold onto it for a while.

So a few weeks ago we started the process of researching new cars. We had a couple of requirements--it had to be comfortable for both me (4'11") and Gerald (5'11") to drive, it had to have a good-sized back seat for the boys (Lane's already 5'7"), it had to have room in the back for the dog (that ruled out sedans, despite one of the boys suggesting that she could ride in the trunk), it had to get better gas mileage than the Tribeca (not a very high bar), and it had to be affordable for us to buy rather than lease.

We test drove two cars--the Scion Xb, and the Pontiac Vibe--and liked them both. They're both made by Toyota, and use identical 2.4 liter Camry engines, so it's not a huge surprise that they were comparable to drive. After giving it some thinking time, we decided that since we liked them both, there was no reason not to go with the Scion, which cost $3000 less, and to add some bells and whistles to it since it would still be affordable.

On Monday we drove down to the Scion dealership and put a deposit down on the first new car we've purchased as a couple (we've leased some new cars, but not bought one). What we ordered was an Xb in the quite elegant "Blackberry Crush" color, with an automatic transmission, built-in touchscreen navigation system, XM satellite radio, and remote engine start (we do live in the great white north, where remote start is particularly wonderful).

The car we put the deposit on is about a week away, which gives us time to get financing through the RIT credit union (much better rate than we can get through Scion).

Here's what the car will look like, courtesy of the Scion site:

The Xb has always proudly proclaimed its boxiness and iconocastic "ugliness." They had an ad running in the dealership listing pros and cons of the car--cons were "Boxy. Ugly. People will stare." Pros were "Boxy. Ugly. People will stare." :) But the earlier models of the Scion were a lot boxier and a lot uglier than the 2008 and 2009 models. They've softened the edges, particularly in the back, so it doesn't look so much like a cheap delivery van. I actually rather like the new design, and I like the interior even more (especially the dedicated iPod connector that allows you to control your iPod using the touchscreen stereo).

Owner reviews of the 2009 (and 2008) model on Edmunds.com are uniformly positive, and people are consistently getting combined city/highway mileage of 26-28mpg, which is substantially higher than the Tribeca gets. (And the Tribeca requires premium fuel, which increases the operating cost even more.)

We're excited! More on this when the car arrives in our driveway...