We bought Marci a new car!

Since I got my Ioniq 5 in November, it's been great. No gas stations, charging at home, all the benefits. Marci started asking about EVs so we drove a few in the spring. She checked out an ID.4 and a Nissan Ariya. She drove my car for the first time and that was that.

We let it go for a month or two, but then a couple things happened: gas prices went close to $6.00. Luckily the Alltrack is regular gasoline, but even so, it was costing us about $75-80 to fill that car up. Weekends we'd take the I5 out, so gas went longer, but it was still a bit of a shock. The AT was just paid off, so we were willing to ride it out.

Riley's Fiat 500 was paid off last year as well and his plan after graduating was to sell it for $2k or whatever he could get for it. It had pretty low miles, but the car was getting rough: trunk door wouldn't open, interior was a bit messy, stuff like that. We had just put new tires on it in February or something, so it was OK and maybe he could get a few bucks for it.

Until he got backed into in early May and the car was considered totaled. RIP F500.

If there was something good that came out of that, it was we got paid way more for the car than I expected, even more than if we sold it, and even a good chunk after they kept my deductible. They did us a favor by relieving us from having to sell it.

So then we had to make a decision. Do we let Marci keep driving the AT, give Riley my Jetta (also paid off) and move on with our lives? The Jetta had been at Mom's house for the past 6 months or so and needed some resurrecting. I think Riley would be happy with either, but in the end, we decided to give him the Alltrack and sit on the Jetta as a trade-in of some sort.

All during this time, Marci was researching a car for herself. She wanted an EV smaller than mine, but with AWD. Trouble was, anything crossover sized wouldn't have AWD, so she looked at the Kia Niro EV, which was just about the same size as her Alltrack. We drove a couple and she was pretty much sold on it. Price was decent and she could get the Wave trim, which was top of the line.

As she looked more, she found a Hyundai Kona EV Limited down at a small EV dealer in Renton. We ended up going there for a look and that was pretty much that. It was the chalk/cyber gray that I liked for the Ioniq. It had the Limited trim, with the 360 cameras, heated/vented seats, heated steering wheel. No HUD, which she actually liked on the Niro, but since she doesn't roll with normally, not something she'd miss.

We drove it around town and she seemed to like it. It was in really great shape and only had 7500 miles, 2024 MY. We had Genny, the salesperson/co-owner of the dealership, run financing for us and within a day or so, we were approved. I sent over pix of the Jetta and they offered me $2700 for it, before asking if the windshield had a crack, at which point they lowered it to $2500, which, considering its condition, I thought was fair, especially sight unseen.

Goodbye old friend!

We agreed to terms and picked it up last a week ago Saturday. Marci drove it around and got used to it over the next couple days, until I saw a weird thing on the rear right tire. Turns out the previous owner must have hit a nail and got the tire plugged. Problem was it was causing teh sidewall to bulge also. And since the dealership missed it, they agreed to replace it for us. So we picked it up yesterday, a week or so after getting it and now it's back.

Marci in the new car!

Driving it home!

Lots of bells and whistles on this car. Same as mine. I think she'll love it as much as I love the I5. Just need to finish setting up the Bluelink stuff so she can use her phone to cool/heat it, etc. And then when she charges, she's gonna love that! No more gas stations! And Riley's coming home tomorrow to pick up the Alltrack. Lots of changes, all for the better.