In Focus
The era of my Blue Cobalt has come to an end.
The latest repair to the Cobalt was replacing the timing chain. My checkbook really felt that one. It was time to hunt for a new car.
I bought my 2005 Chevy Cobalt in 2007. So I have had that car for some time. It had 27,000 miles at the time and had reached over 227,000 at this point. I had originally planned to wait until tax season to buy a new car but I feared my car wouldn’t make it. It was not the most ideal time to go car shopping during my busy season but I was on a mission and decided I just needed to do this.
I scoured the internet and talked to my mechanic and car friends about what I should look for in a vehicle. Toyota’s seemed to be their top pick. Then I discovered a Toyota Yaris. The thing was so ugly it was cute. I had planned to go look at it but the car was in Apple Valley. I also found a few other cars in Fargo and decided to start there.
I had my eye on two different vehicles out of the list of ones I wished to look at. There was a red 2013 Toyota Corolla and a 2012 Nissan Juke. Of course, when I arrived, the Corolla had just sold. I did look at another one but it had not been well cared for so it was an instant pass.
Nothing else was working for me. Then I came back to the Juke. It was very weird looking but I liked it. And the biggest thing was the very low miles, 57,000, compared to the others I was looking at. Also, I wasn’t thrilled with the price.
After some internal debating and haggling with the salesman, I got over $2000 off the original price, bringing it down to my price range. Knowing I would be trading in the Cobalt, I asked what they would give me for it, knowing it wasn’t worth much. They appraised it at a whopping $125 but gave me $1000 for it which helped knock down the price of the Juke.
This is the first SUV-type vehicle I’ve ever owned, and it has all-wheel drive, something I also have never had before. It was thoroughly put to the test driving home in the snow on icy roads. I’m just happy to be in a decent car that shouldn’t give me any major issues for a while. Plus it’s red and has Astro start, so those were nice perks.
We have always named our cars starting with a “B”. My previous cars were a 1994 GEO Metro (name not PG enough to type), Bob (Honda Civic), Baron (Chrysler LeBaron), Bruiser (Mazda), Bolt (Cobalt) and now the latest is Bug. Bug’s headlights come up by the hood and look like bug eyes. So Juke Bug is the name.
So, I just bought myself an expensive Christmas present. Merry Christmas to me!
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