Date Day

Most couples, when presented with grandparents insisting on taking their grandchild for a sleepover, would plan a date day/night consisting of a picnic or hike followed by dinner and a movie. Perhaps they would go to a concert or get tickets to a game. Maybe they would spend the day in antique stores or take a long walk on the beach holding hands. Chad and I decided to participate in the one activity that will either make or break you as a couple. Yes. That's right. We went car shopping.

Our poor little Prelude is getting close to the end of her time. Like Susie, the Prelude has been through a lot. While we're bound and determined to keep her off skid row, she's just not a family car. It's time for some kid to come along and give her a little TLC.

We've been looking at craigslist and photo ad trying to get a feel for what kind of cars are within our price range. (Since there seem to be very few free cars out there, we then had to re-evaluate our pricing criteria.) Armed with a solid knowledge of our budget and a good idea of what kind of mileage we want, we dropped off J and headed into SLO.

We went to a used lot and checked out a cute little Altima. Too bad the photo ad didn't mention that the previous owner smoked. (Eww) We looked at a Jetta and a Corrolla, then went to lunch to re-group. We grabbed bowls at Flame Bay and sat out on the patio listening to a great band belt out CCR and the Doors. Very date-like, yes?

We drove to the big car dealerships, parked and started walking. We looked at another Alitma that looked great but had so many miles it must have been used for several cross-country road trips. We came to the conclusion that as gas prices go up, used cars - with good mileage and within our price range - are starting to sell like hot cakes.

Side note: We also realized that car dealerships aren't detailing their used cars nearly as well as they used to. I remember being on a lot and having a hard time telling the difference between the new and used cars. Now the used cars are dirty inside and have so many dings and scratches, it's obvious they did a quick wash but no buff. I'm wondering if it's to combat declining car sales.

We wandered over to the good ol' Nissan dealership and met a nice young salesman by the name of Zack. When we told him our criteria, he led us to a really sweet looking used Altima. It was a 2007, low mileage and way above our price range. I started my spiel - the little monologue that caused Bill at Honda and Joe at Ford to cringe, shudder and pale.

"You see Zack," I began with zero sarcasm and plenty of fervent belief, "Chad and I are practising this thing called 'living within our means'." I held up my hand, "I know. I know. It's a revolutionary way of thought and borderline anti-American. But it serves us well."

He looked at me with a grin and said, "I've got the car for you." He led us across the lot to a little, black hatchback that looked like the Mini Cooper's curvy cousin. "This is a Versa. It gets 38 MPG highway and is low emission. It's been in Europe for a while but was just introduced to the US last year. What do you think?"

"It's tiny," I replied as I peered into the windows. "There's no way this could work. We need something with room in the back for a very large car seat."

"It looks like something we drove in England," dismissed Chad as his eye roamed towards the Altimas. Zack opened the back door and gestured us in. I sat down and realized, to my amazement, the back seat was a deep as the seats in the Altimas. With the front seat pushed all the way back, I still had plenty of leg room. "Chad, you've got to get in!" I jumped out and Chad prepared to cram his 6'1 frame into the tiny car.

"Wow. I actually still have some room." He looked at the car with new eyes. I looked at Zack.

"I'm not fond of hatchbacks...does it come as a sedan?"

"Wait..." Chad interrupted as he looked at the sticker price. "This is out of our price range."

Zack looked at Chad and said, "What if I can get you in to a brand new model for under $200 a month?" Chad and I looked at each other, skeptical. We followed Zack over to a little silver sedan. "Little" being the operative word. Zack opened the doors. Like the hatchback, it was roomier than we thought. The trunk easily had enough room for luggage, groceries or the jog stroller. I sat in the driver's seat and Zack hopped in the back. "Why don't you take it for a test drive?" Chad buckled up in the passenger seat while I fastened my seat belt. Waiting for Zack to hand over the key, I looked at the control panel. "Oh...did I mention that it's a key-less ignition? And, if you notice the controls on the steering wheel, it has Bluetooth plus steering wheel audio controls, an MP3 port and a six disc CD changer."

"For under $200 a month?" Zack smiled at me in the rear view mirror. I started the car (way cool) and pulled out of the lot. I was surprised how much pick-up-and-go it had. While it didn't have the Xterra's umph, for a small car, it didn't feel gutless. When I questioned Zack about it he explained CVT. By the time we got back, I was sold. Chad was still hesitant. ("It's just so small.") We followed Zack in to the dealership so he could run some numbers. He came back with $240.

"Sorry." Chad stood up to walk away.

"Wait! Let me see what else I can do." Zack returned with an offer of $220. Still not sure, Chad and I decided to walk to the other dealerships and see what they had going on. At each location, we looked at the used cars as well as their Versa equivalent. By the time we got back, our minds were made up.

No matter how ready you are, the actual buying of a car just takes way too long. Fortunately, I had a magazine and Chad had left over Flame Bay. He sat with his chopsticks in hand, eating while I flipped through a magazine.

So now we're the proud owners of a 2008 Nissan Versa. While not as highly rated as the Honda Fit, it drives nicely, is fully loaded, has great gas mileage, tons of space and, after looking online, we'll be able to refinance with our credit union for well under $200 a month. All in all...a nice date day.