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.

Latest obsession, car related

I forgot when or why, but I am obsessed with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV. Maybe it's because it looks like a hot hatch? Maybe because I'm tired of paying $60 or so for gas? Maybe because I've been in the GLI for 8 years and it's starting to show its age?

Not sure, but for whatever reason, I have been doing deep dives on it. I've been watching YT videos, and reading Reddit, trying to learn as much as I can about this car. Even the Ioniq 6 is appealing to me. But I think I'd prefer a hatchback style again, despite the higher price.

And then, there's the Ioniq 5N, which is so badass, but about $6-8k more than the standard Limited version of the I5. It's a little racery for me, but man, if I could afford it, I'd do it. Light blue, please!

But the Limited version, even a 2024 one, is about $53-55k, and with a lease with no $$ down, still about $4-500/month. No issue staying under the 10-12k mileage if leased. Got to keep insurance in mind as well. We are currently paying $550 or so for 4 cars. If I add another car, a new EV at that, I'm guessing we'd be close to $600 or more? No idea.

The good news is, Haley's car is about to be paid off; that should be done in the next month. That will save us about $200/month. However, that doesn't mean I can spend $200 more a month on something. I want to pay down our credit card. I want to pay off Riley's car.

Looking at the math, if I $200 from Haley's car to Riley's payment, we can pay his car off by October. Then we'll have $350 freed up. If I roll that into Marci's car payment, we can own our cars outright by early next year, maybe January.

That's pretty cool! And then that frees up $700/month to put towards a car?

Maybe? But what about investing in windows for the house? Every winter, we complain about how drafty the front room is. All those windows need replacing. Oh yeah, can't forget about the mini-splits, where we're paying the least amount possible, while it is our biggest loan. And how about Marci's master's program? Another big chunk of debt. :(

And we can't forget about my job status. Our building is closing in August and there are currently no guarantees as to continuing with our roles. It is trending positive and we have people advocating for us, but until something is in my inbox, I'm not holding my breath.

All that to say, as much as I want to buy a brand new 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5/5N, it may not be the most financially responsible thing to do at the moment. And I haven't even brought up the fucking president(s) and their raping of our government, society and financial systems.

I also forgot to mention that the old GLI is throwing some errors, having problems with the fuel pump (per my code reader) and possibly on the road. I have practice tonight and I'll take Marci's car to be safe (which is also fucked up; see my previous post).

It feels like I *might be able to pull off a car. I'm trying to save up some money to put down or for first few payments. Last month, we finished with $800 that I could still allocate; I ended up putting it towards CC and future use, I think. But that's good news. If we can keep that up, that's a good thing.

We have a tax refund of $1500 or so as well, but that won't all go towards a car fund. But it's good to think about these things. It puts things in perspective for sure. And it helps me get my priorities straight, and none of those point to getting a new car...

for now.

So damn hot

Car Fun: Narrowing it down

I've been driving the Hyundai the past two weeks since selling my GTI. The Hyundai is a perfectly acceptable car. It holds all my stuff, it looks great, it gets good gas mileage (on regular, no less), it gets me where I need to go reliably, and it's a big hatchback.

Trouble is, it's leased and it's up for turn in/purchase in a week or so.

I like it enough, but it just doesn't speak to me. Not like the GTI did, which I miss quite a bit.

Sure, the GTI had it's quirks, but I understood it. I knew how to get the electrical to work at the touch of a prong. I knew the driver's side door would squeak upon opening. I knew that the cupholders wouldn't eject unless you pressed on it *just right.*

Even with all those problems, I loved that car. I had it for 10 years, longer than I'd had any other car. But it's gone and there's nothing to do about it.

I've been looking around since selling the GTI. I've been looking on Craigslist, thinking I'd just hand over the $2300 I sold the GTI for to the next guy for a reliable car. However, after a few days of searching, it appeared that $2300 would buy me a scam, or something not good. Marci advised me not to do CL, to spend more money on a dealership used car or something.

What?? Spend more money? Well, OK.

I started looking on Cars.com and CarGurus.com and Autotrader.com. I started at about the $8k range, figuring that with a $2300 payment, it would reduce said car to $5700 or so, on which we could make small monthly payments.

I began by targeting price, then started looking at VWs of course. I found some Passat wagons, of the 2004-2005 era, going for $7k to $8k. I headed over to check one out last week, and it was gone. However, I saw a listing for a 2007 Jetta GLI, with about 48k on the odometer, going for $8998. I asked about it, they said it was sold. But it got me looking at the GLIs.

CarGurus.com showed a white one in Tacoma. I had a morning off this week, so I trucked down there to take a look. It was sort of a mess. Missing center caps on the wheels, spray painted taillights, big stain on the back seat, cracked windshield, it was a mess. It was hard to see all the detail in the pictures on the website, but needless to say, though I drove it, I didn't buy it. I also test drove an 07 GTI as well as a Mazda 3 hatchback, both of which were not great.

Fast forward to later this week and I come to find a nice little A4 Avant (2006) on BMW Seattle's website going for $12k (see how my price went up??). I was all excited about it, plus Knight said his boys there would hook me up, so I made an appointment to go see it on Sunday (tomorrow).

Then, after checking out this A4, I get a note about the first GLI going for $8998. Turns out they have it and it was getting cleaned up to be put out for sale. I took a look at the pictures and was pretty excited about what I saw. The car was in great shape and was in Bellevue. I talked to the sales guy a few times today and ended up going to Mercedes Benz of Bellevue to check it out.

I got there, ogled some AMG MB wagon, and then met with the sales rep, Evan. He brought me out back to see the Jetta and I was very pleasantly surprised. Dark gray, with nice 17" wheels. No major cosmetic defects other than some scuffs on the rear bumper, which for a 9 year old car, were to be expected.

I had a seat in the driver's seat, leather, and took a look around. Everything seemed to work. It had the moonroof package, leather seats, bi-xenon headlights, DSG automatic transmission, all the goodies! Inside had some wear and tear on the window buttons (peeling paint) and around the shifter (same), but nothing some black touch-up couldn't fix (maybe a Sharpie?).

He let me take it for a drive and it drove very well. Nice power (200HP) and that steering wheel felt great in hand. I only wish it was stick, but I'm sure I could live with it. He told me the previous owner had it shipped from Boston, where she went to Harvard. I'm not sure how accurate that is; Carfax tells me the car was bought in Boston, the relocated to CA, then up to WA in 2012. Regardless, the car is in better condition than my GTI was and I'm excited.

After driving the GLI, I was pretty much sold on it. We got back to the dealership and I had them put a 48 hour hold on the car. In other words, it's mine to buy or not; no one else can get it.

So, I want it.

And now I have to wait on the funding. I'll have to talk to Evan tomorrow to negotiate pricing. I'm looking to get him down to $8k or so. Then I'll slap down my $1900 ($400 has to go to Hyundai as the disposition fee for turning in the Elantra) and finance the rest.

Sounds easy for now. But a few things have to fall into place on the money side of things. I have the next two days off, but the banks aren't open until Monday. I'm hoping I can talk to Evan tomorrow, get him down to $8k, pay for the car, and have it by Monday. Then we just have to turn the Elantra in, and I'm back on the VW wagon!

Or, maybe not. We'll see what happens. Here are a few pictures the dealership took.

$200k sports cars are cool

This was just outside work. Drool.

This is cool

Fast cars and CG. Can't miss!