A WHAT ?

We did something very unusual Monday.  Something we have only done one other time. We bought a new car.

We traded the Honda CRV for a new Toyota Prius Hybrid

No, it isn't IH red.

Nothing is perfect.

The Honda has been a good car.  We bought it 3 1/2 years ago and really haven't done much more than routine maintenance.  It never quite got the gas mileage I had hoped for, but it was pretty consistent about 24 MPG. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.

Recently it has been developing a couple quirks.  I kept feeling a ... not a vibration, more like a buzz. To me it felt like a rough bearing but I never could find it.  We've been smelling antifreeze inside the car and the windows have been fogging up slightly. And the transmission has been shifting much more reluctantly.

I had a pretty good idea what the antifreeze odor / window fogging meant.

I did a little online research.  It became evident you don't want to try replacing the heater core at home.  Especially in a Honda. 

It would have been difficult before air bags.  These days it is dangerous.

Monday we had planting caught up and it had rained, so Sue and I went to Terre Haute to the Honda dealer to get a repair estimate on the heater core and transmission.  They would be glad to diagnose our problem and give us an estimate.  It would be at least $58 for each item they looked at, possibly more.

Well, I don't want to take advantage of anyone.

"OK, go ahead."

"The first opportunity will be tomorrow morning if you wish to make an appointment."

I went ahead and made an appointment. I finally pinned him down a little on possible costs.

"I've NEVER replaced a heater core in a Honda."

Yeah, right.  "Well, what are we talking would you guess?"

He estimated labor at $1000 plus any parts. That kind of matched what I had read online.

I asked about the transmission.  Could it be as simple as just changing a filter?  He didn't think that would do it based on my description of what was happening.  He said the transmission would be at least $2500, possibly as much as $6000.

I thanked him and told him we'd be back tomorrow. And I intended to.

Sue and I got to talking about it.  We were looking at dropping probably at least $4000 in a car with 160,000 miles that wasn't worth $4000.

Was that the best choice?

So after dropping things off at Goodwill we went next door and wandered around the Burger lot.  Nice salesman/drummer (Yeah, he knew where we were from.  He played a gig at the 

 Corner Bistro last weekend!) showed us several cars to get an idea of what was available.

Sue's only real sticking point is seating.  She wants to sit more like a chair and with with your legs straight out in front of you like you are on the floor. So we looked at and tried sitting in several.

We left there and wondered through various lots.  Sue was ... amazed is not the right word ... to see a Cadillac with a sale price tag of over $70,000 in the window.  I was intrigued by the sales lot arrangements at some places.  A couple made it almost impossible to drive around and look at the vehicles. It's like they were trying to convince me not to shop there.

I said I only had one criteria: Not black or dark. I have a black grain truck and that is not a good choice in Illinois in the summer.  We pulled in the Chevy lot and she started laughing One row was nothing but black, charcoal gray, and dark blue or green.

We ended up all the way out of town at Toyota. I'd never even been on the lot before. We stopped and looked at a couple used Rav4's.  They were sitting next to a Prius C ( the smaller version of a Prius ).  Salesman came out and talked with us, got the key to a Rav4 so we could sit in it. I said "Hey! While you are doing that grab the key to a Prius.  I've heard a lot about them but never sat in one."

When he came back he talked us into taking a Prius for a drive.  I liked it, Sue was not to enthused.  Then he mentioned the Prius Sedan. OK, why not? 

Sue liked it.

It drives nice, it's quiet, gets fantastic mileage, has a good reputation.

We came back, talked to the salesman, left and ate lunch, played with some numbers, scratched our heads... Oh, and Sue said if we get one it has to be this or this color.

We went back, found the right color, got a trade in quote, and took a big leap.

Was it too much money?  Of course.

Can I afford it? Probably. I sure hope so. Because we're going to have this one a LONG time.

Oh, and no, it doesn't have all the geek features.  I'd kind of liked the backup camera but can't have everything.

Wonder if my TopCon 350 autosteer will adapt to a Prius?