My Phat New Ride

Finally got rid of the SUV and bought something smaller. P and I had purchased an 02 Ford Explorer in late 2004 -- made sense at the time because we had 4 kids (our 3 girls and our nephew) and needed the third row, but also wanted something with 4WD. It had nothing to do with status, or keeping up with the Jones' or any of that silly shit -- it was just the most practical choice under the circumstances. Whoever had the kids with them took the SUV, and whoever didn't drove the sedan.

So that worked out fine for a while. Eventually, though, my nephew went back to living with his mom and we didn't really need the third row seating very often. And when P and I split up, I took the Explorer because the loan was in my name. More often than not, I was driving alone, and with all the time I spent out driving around to take photos, the cost of gas started to really, really hurt.

I checked around at 4-5 dealerships and searched around AutoTrader for a while, and as of this afternoon, (for about the same as what I'd have paid for an 04 Dodge Neon) I have an 01 Olds Aurora. I'm liking it a lot, so far -- it has those little luxury touches, like the unusually polite 'headlights suggested' message that popped up on the message display when I was driving at dusk. There are a few quirks I have to figure out yet, like the fact that the seat seems to return to some preset position (suitable for someone much taller than me) whenever I shut off the car. Overall, it seems to drive a lot like a Lexus that my brother used to have.

From Wikipedia: