Category: Car

2018 Subaru Crosstreak

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Friday Joe brought Beef Shack home for lunch before we went and picked up my new car – a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek in Quartz Blue Pearl!

You may remember how back in May I went car shopping and test-drove an Impreza but decided I preferred the Crosstrek. The issue was whether or not to wait for the 2018 models in the hopes they would have the upgraded technology the 2017 Imprezas already had. Boy am I glad I did wait because not only did they upgrade the tech, they changed the body styling which looks even sharper, the rims are more attractive, and they switched the yucky ivory interior to light grey. I call that a win win win win!

We test-drove a 2018 Crosstrek on Labor Day at a Schaumburg dealership after attending the nearby Septemberfest. I ended up ordering a car that day because they didn’t have the color I wanted on the lot. Nor did they have any vehicles in the exact configuration I was looking for – Premium (not Limited because I didn’t want leather seats) with the upgraded Rockford Fosgate audio system and Subaru’s EyeSight driver assist technology. I opted not to get a moonroof since I’ve barely used the one in the Jetta.

Since placing the order I’ve been getting emails from Subaru regarding my car’s progress, which apparently was built in Japan. Once it was on a train headed to their local distribution center I knew it was a matter of a week or so when the dealership would be contacting me. That text came on Wednesday but I was still sick and not in the mood so I told our rep we’d be by on Friday between 3 and 5 pm. I messaged our sales rep on the way to the dealership around 2 pm Friday and he was out to lunch so we killed some time looking for housewarming gifts for my brother (who recently purchased his first home) as well as home decor for our place because I’m tired of the stuff we’ve had up for the past 13 years and am craving a change. I found a cute sign at a store called At Home that I initially was planning on giving my brother but I like it so much I’m probably going to keep it for myself and either get another one for him or find something else. But I digress…

Despite the fact that we were paying in cash (or to be more precise, putting $2000 on our credit card (strictly for the points) and paying the rest by check), we were still at the dealership for two hours because they had two people handling paperwork and five sales simultaneously in progress. Apparently the new Crosstreks are flying off the shelves so to speak. They can barely keep any in stock. The manager, who ended up doing our paperwork when we inquired what was taking so long, claimed that one person tried to purchase a Crosstrek that was a specialty order of another customer by offering $1000 over sticker. If that’s true that’s pretty crazy. I think patience is a virtue. Not only did we get a great price (I paid less than I did for the Jetta), but I got everything I wanted by waiting for the new model. We were just happy they finally explained what was going on because we were both getting pretty grumpy that they had just washed the car before they got there and still had to run out and fill the tank with gas. They also temporarily misplaced one of the keys but found it before we were ready to leave.

In any case, once we went outside to see the car, which was the first time I had actually seen the color combo I chose in person, all my hesitation about replacing my beloved Jetta disappeared because the Crosstrek is even more beautiful than I remember. I truly made an excellent choice and I am even more excited about it than I was when I got my Jetta! Also, it only had five miles on it. How cool is that? Our rep took us for a drive to show us how all the safety features work. There’s definitely a lot of settings I will need to adjust to, particularly on the steering wheel. I love how stylish the car looks and all the updated technology inside. The only thing that I will need to adjust to is that it doesn’t quite accelerate like the Jetta does because it’s bigger/heavier and doesn’t have a V6 engine. Not that the acceleration is sluggish – it’s actually so smooth you almost don’t realize how fast you’re going at first whereas my Jetta has a very tight suspension and you feel everything. The Crosstrek rides smoother and you can practically steer with one finger. I also love how it’s higher off the ground so I can see better. Oh, and did I mention the car came standard with heated seats and has all-wheel drive? I can’t believe that for the price we paid we got so much!

Saturday afternoon we ended up taking my new car to my work so I could practice backing into parking spots. The car has a backup camera which makes it much easier since I’m not really great about backing in. However, I plan to start taking up the first spot in the lot which is easier to pull out of than back out of which is why I wasn’t parking there before. I want to minimize how may cars are parked next to my precious new car, hence why I plan to shift one spot to the right. No one consistently parks there now so it’s not like I’m taking someone’s regular spot or anything.

I wanted to drive my car around more this weekend but it’s been raining the past two days and I’m hesitant to get it wet/dirty. I know that sounds nuts since it’s inevitable but I want to drive it to work still looking spiffy tomorrow, although based on the updated forecast it might have to wait until Thursday since they are calling for possible snow flurries now. Ugh, why!?!

Here’s some more photos.

Christmas Cleanup, Car Troubles, and My Aunt

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The Christmas decorations have been taken down and packed away. Most of them, anyway. Joe has been working on my car since 10 am so the tree itself is still up, as are two things that too high up for me to reach. Once he’s done with the car he’ll be taking that stuff down so I can put everything away and we can go back to having a non-cluttered house.

We also have some errands to run but at this rate I’m guessing they will have to be put off for another day. We need to pick up some sweaters we dropped off at a local tailor to sew, get gas for my car, and visit the library. I’ll probably be hitting up the library tomorrow since it closes in less than an hour and Joe is just now finishing up my car. I’m sure he’d like a shower and something to eat; I know I would!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day too because I need to swing by the sleep center to pick up the sleep study equipment (assuming my doctor’s office faxed over the info and the center is able to get insurance approval quickly). Plus, once Joe gets home from work we have to head out to Bridgeview to attend my aunt’s wake. Apparently she had been in the hospital for awhile but no one had informed my dad so neither of us knew. She passed away the day after Christmas. It’s sad to think she died all alone without any family around. She’s the only aunt on my dad’s side that I kept in touch with.

Edited to Add – It turns out my aunt wasn’t sick in the hospital, my dad just didn’t relay the information accurately. She actually spent time with family every weekend, and the day after Christmas she collapsed, was rushed to the hospital, and couldn’t be revived.

Spending moolah & my leaky Jetta

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We are bleeding money over here!

I decided to go ahead and buy my parents a computer for Christmas this year and it’s turned into a bit of a hassle. I ordered an ASUS from NewEgg at the beginning of the month. It arrived a week later but I waited a week to unpack it so I could configure it, and then learned the damn thing wouldn’t even turn on! It was like the power button wasn’t actually connecting with anything inside the case. I would have opened it to investigate but that would void the warranty so instead I sent it back to NewEgg for a refund.

We ended up buying a Dell from Staples last Sunday instead. It was about $27 more since we had to pay tax, but has 2.5x the memory and the hard drive is twice the size, so it ended up being a great deal once the associate forced the system to give us the price advertised in the sales ad. Initially, he seriously asked me if I was ok paying $50 more than the price in the ad since the computer was giving him trouble. I told him absolutely not and that he should get a manager to give us the correct price, which he did. We had to have it shipped to our house since none of the computers in the ad were actually available in store. Hmmm… and you wonder why these office stores are having a rough time financially. Anyway, at least the new computer works. I installed Firefox and a bazillion Windows updates on it. Now I just need to install TeamViewer and test that it works with our PC so we can help them remotely when issues arise.

This week we spent money buying gift cards with bonuses to be used during the coming year. We bought:

Two $10 Savers gift certificates and received a free $5 certificate that is good through January 10th.

One $25 Buona Beef gift card and received a free $5 certificate that is good through the end of February.

One $100 Lou Malnati’s gift card and received a free $25 gift certificate that is good through the end of June.

Two $25 Culver’s gift cards and received two free value basket coupons that are good through February 22nd.

So in all we spent $195 but got approximately $53 worth of freebies which equates to a 27% discount at places we would have spent money at throughout the year anyway. I call that a win-win! The challenge for some might be to use those certificates before they expire (something each establishment is counting on), but I just added reminders to an app on my phone so we don’t forget.

We also hit up Omaha Steaks to use up the gift cards I had accumulated. We got $100 of food for $52 out of pocket. Included in our assortment are some steaks and pork chops I’ve never tried before, so I’m looking forward to that. If you would have asked me what I thought of Omaha Steaks a few years ago I would have told you they sound overpriced and I’d never buy anything of theirs, but after years of getting gift cards for Christmas for their products, I think overall they’re a pretty good value. If you think about what you’d spend on a nice steak dinner at a restaurant, they are actually more affordable. We really enjoy their burgers, hot dogs, and Italian sausages too. The only thing I’ve tried that I would caution against are their chicken cordon blue bites. They are just terrible! I actually ended up throwing away half of them. My mom gets some from Market Day that are eons better.

During all our running around today, Joe noticed my car was leaking fluid, so we brought it to the local dealership for a diagnosis. They told us the thermostat needs to be replaced and they wanted nearly $700 to do it. Joe told them no thanks, ordered the part from AutoZone, and will replace it himself which will save us over $500 even after paying the dealership $66 to look at the car. I guess it’s a good thing that a) I’m only working two days next week and b) my commute is so short (2.5 miles each way) I can safely drive the car before it’s fixed since it’s not leaking enough coolant to cause the engine to overheat.

I’ll be glad when my birthday comes and goes in early January since then we’ll be done with the spending for awhile!

Car Woes

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It might be time to say goodbye to my beloved Jetta which is 13 years old. Lately we’ve been having to dump more and more money into it that it’s not worth it anymore. This week the airbag light came on so we took it to the dealership which found a slew of things wrong with my car. The front airbag and harness needs to be replaced at the tune of $1100, the driver’s side lock is failing which will cost $500 to replace or eventually I won’t be able to lock my car, and there are other expensive repairs and maintenance work that needs to be done that will well exceed the blue book value of the car.

As it stands now I’ve been shopping online to get an idea of which cars I may be interested in so that we can go on some test drives Saturday. My choice of vehicles is a bit narrow thanks to my current must-haves which include heated front seats (can’t live without those now) and a price tag that doesn’t exceed $23k as cars are a huge waste of money and it sickens me to even pay that much. Also, I want 0% financing or forget it. My credit is excellent so I’m confident I’ll get it if anyone wants to actually sell me a car since there’s no way in hell I’m paying interest on one.

Part of me is pretty excited about the prospect of getting a shiny new car. Plus all the models I’ve been eyeing integrate the stereo with an iPod which is awesome (CD player? Who needs one of those these days? I haven’t used my 6-disc changer in years).

The other part of me is sad to be parting with my baby. My car handles like a champ, the engine packs a punch, and it still looks pretty damn fine for its age. I looked at a 2013 Jetta today but I’m not sure I care for the style now that they changed the exterior so much. Ironically, it bugs me how much the interior has remained by and large the same. I’m thinking if I have to get a new car why not get something different than what I’ve owned the past 13 years? Plus I’d prefer a car that isn’t so pricey to maintain and gets better gas mileage.

As it stands now, and keep in mind I’ve been researching for all of a couple of hours (another thing that irks me – I don’t have the time to do massive research like I normally would as I wasn’t planning on getting a new car anytime soon but have no choice now that my car doesn’t have a functioning airbag and I don’t want to spend any more money on it), the cars I’m interested in are the Subaru Impreza, the Kia Rio, and the Chevy Sonic. All of them get better gas mileage than my Jetta (including a new 2013 Jetta) which is fantastic, although I’m still keeping the 2013 Jetta in my back pocket, so to speak, in case I can’t find anything else I like.

Ugh, I just hate spending money! I’d much rather be saving it.

Car Repairs

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I’ve had my Jetta for over a decade and unfortunately it’s starting to cost more and more to maintain.

My latest trip to the dealership came with a recommended $2900 of fixes. Interestingly enough, the most important fix, $800 to replace my coil springs, one of which they claim is cracked, has not been an issue since the visit. If the crack was causing the clanging sound I was hearing how come I haven’t heard it even once since I took my car in? Not only that, but they claim the spark plugs need to be replaced even though Joe did that last year. It makes me wonder.

This has prompted us to start discussing whether it’s time for me to get a new car even though ideally we wanted to wait another five years.

The problem is I do not like the current Jetta because it looks like a Passat. I’ve been leaning toward a 2-door Golf because I like how it looks, plus it’s got the same engine as the Jetta so I’m pretty sure I’ll like the handling (although I’ve yet to take one for a test drive). The price isn’t bad at $20,090 and that includes heated front seats which I absolutely must have; I use mine constantly from October-April. With the Jetta you have to buy a more expensive trim (the Jetta SE) just to get the heated seats because it’s not available on the base model. In addition to that, it’s part of a “convenience package” that costs an additional $1365 and includes stuff I don’t care about (like Bluetooth capabilities), and the SE only comes with leather seats while I actually prefer cloth. Whereas on the Golf the heated front seats are part of a $225 cold-weather package and I’d get the cloth seats I like. Less price and all the features I want. That’s a win-win. I’m just not sure I’m ready to make the financial plunge that comes with it, however.

All things considered, if I do get a new car it will most likely be a Golf because I’m really not interested in going with another manufacturer based on price alone. Plus a lot of them don’t offer heated seats. Seriously? More money and a cold tushie? Where’s the sense in that?