So first of all, bye bye Impala!
We've had an Impala for a month as a rental, I was expecting it to be really bad due to the constant GM bashing on this forum, but to be honest it wasn't bad at all. OK, is was a bit wafty suspension-wise, and drank gas faster than I liked. The seats were crap, no side support whatsoever, and the amount of bings and bongs that go off in the car is just bloody annoying, yes I know I've got the keys in, the door is open, and I haven't got my seatbelt on, I'M FREAKIN' ADULT!
The really disoncerting thing is that the tyres squealed around every corner, and I mean every corner, like even at 5mph! It sounded like I was in Smokey and the Bandit, it was ridiculous. Are some of the tyres really that bad or is the suspension also to blame?
But, it had a massive trunk (see, I didn't say boot!), was easy to drive, loads of room inside even with a forward and a rearward facing car seat in the back. And the engine was pretty smooth, OK it's not a performance car but it's not meant to be. It's waftastic!
So, picked up the Outlander last week! It will be our only car for a bit, until I get one for me next year. I love it, supposedly very reliable, not bad handling for a CUV, I trust the brand, and being a 2006 model with only 12K on the clock it still has 150K of drivetrain warranty on it, which is impressive. Plus 3 years of other stuff warranty, it's essentially just run in. The other thing which made me choose it over a normal sized car/wagon is that when people come over to visit we can squeeze up the kids seats and fit one adult in the back temporarily.
It is actually much easier to drive than the Impala, feels much thinner on the road as it's not a big car at all, certainly not SUV size. Jen loves it too which is important to me.
K-W Mitsubishi served me very well indeed (especially given the temporary SIN), so I might be going back there in future!
Plus with the insurance quote of just over $1800, I am very impressed with how it all came together.
