New... Wheels?

Mrs. G. has decided she wants a new car. Her Accord still runs fine, but it's starting to hit the point where everything needs replacing - brakes, timing belt, exhaust, shocks, etc. There's no one thing significantly wrong with the car, it's just that every few months something wears out and has to be replaced, putting the car out of service for a couple days or so. More of an annoyance than anything, but enough to get us to start thinking about a replacement.

Oh, yeah, and the fact that it smells like ten year old Cheerios doesn't help the "keep it around" argument, either...

She wants a Honda Pilot in the worst way. It's got four wheel drive, so it's good for New England winters. It has three rows of seats, so we can easily separate the children when they're being disagreeable or if they each want to bring a friend somewhere. It's a Honda, so we know we'll get another ten years out of it. I think I've managed to talk her out of the EX-L model and into the LX, which means we lose the sunroof but wind up with a price we can afford.

I'd like her to look at other options, though - I'd like to look at the Toyota Highlander as a less-expensive option that has the option of a hybrid engine or a four cylinder rather than only the six cylinder. About the only other SUV I'd consider would be the four door Wrangler, except that doesn't have the third row seat. I'd have to get the half-doors and take the roof off in the summer so we could have a modern-day VW Thing, but I digress...

Even though I drive a Ram, I have less-than-zero interest in getting a Dodge SUV. The Durango's too big (and the same price as the Pilot); the rest of Dodge's offerings are too small and/or chintzy to be considered. GM is right out, as I don't trust them to last the year. Ford, well, all they really offer is the Flex, which doesn't interest me, or the Freestyle Taurus X, which is so bland and blah and typical blue oval that I feel ill even mentioning it (and that STOOPID "Taurus X" name = made of fail...)

There's no other offering I can think of that might do what we want - Subaru Tribeca? Mazda CX-9? Hyundai Veracruz? In a word, no. Sure, the BMW X5 is a really nice ride, but I can't afford the sales tax on it, let alone monthly payments. Ditto the Mercedes M-class (or, dream of dreams, the G class...). It's really the Honda or the Toyota, and I've had a pretty bad experience dealing with Toyota Motor Corporation already...

Now it's a matter of the waiting game - in another month or two, once the dealerships come down off their "cash for clunkers" high and realize that, oh shit, they're not going to move any new cars for MONTHS, there might be some deals to be had.

That is all.