That Brand New Ride

We are proud new owners of brand new 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited, acquired with only 32 miles on the odometer.

We had plans to replace our 2001 Nissan Maxima later this year, but it turned out we needed to replace the 2005 Subaru Outback L.L.Bean sooner because its frequency of mechanical problems was showing it to be the more unreliable transport. Our latest hint of a looming big repair had been a loudly ticking timing chain, which at 185k miles, meant an engine job that would have cost in the thousands of dollars. Still with original parts, many other small repairs would have been needed as well.

So earlier in the year, we started considering options. Our bottomline was that whatever vehicle we obtained, it'd need to be better than the Subaru we owned -- a bonified "upgrade". We considered the Honda Pilot, Toyota Versa, Audi Q5 kind, and Volvo XC90 kind, among others, and clearly avoided minivans. We wanted a newer model (2009 or later), something we could use over the next 15 years and give to Moses in his high school years. But as we looked at prices, they seemed to stick closer to new vehicle prices until after the vehicle is 6 years or older, when they start tapering down. So for the features we wanted, prices were close to $20k that eventually, we decided a new vehicle in that price range would make sense. The decision for the Subaru was augmented by its gasoline efficiency: 26mpg city/33mpg highway (28mpg effective). SUVs of this class are terrible at gasoline usage, yet another reason our old Subaru needed to go (it averaged 17mpg). I now drive 70 miles round-trip each day for work, so mileage was a high priority.

We started saving for a vehicle replacement sometime in 2013. As such, we were able to pay cash for this new Subaru. But even without need for financing, the purchase process was not straightforward: Heuberger (dealership) still presented me with paperwork for financing the vehicle (which I rejected), they still wanted to run my credit (which I originally refused but they made a condition for the trade-in), and they had me sitting around for 4 hours even when the vehicle was physically on the lot. As usual, they tried to sell me $1000-warranties that I had to decide on right there. Without the opportunity to think through them overnight, I ended up not getting any of the additional warranties. We spent an hour haggling over the value of my trade-in, which they unashamedly had estimated at half the blue-book value. Because of this, I had decided I wasn't going to purchase the car that day, until perhaps after I sell our old Subaru for a more reasonable price. But as I walked out, they called me back in and made a better offer for the trade-in. After "internet savings" (since I originally ordered the vehicle online), fees and taxes, we got the new car for about $26k (MSRP $32k).

So far, we are missing the V6 power our old Subaru had (the new one is an anemic 180hp 4-cyclinder), its small-car feel, and its smoother ride. This new Subaru feels very much like an SUV, humongous and tall. Without additional options (remote start, EyeSight and navigation), it has an not-so-modern technology package, the highlight of which is Bluetooth integration. Maybe down the road we will upgrade to these options. But by most accounts, it's a great replacement for our old Subaru. We are a Subaru family after all (a Colorado thing, I suppose).