The New Car

Guys, guess what? We got a new car! Well, it's used actually, but somehow it still has less mileage on it than our '09 Honda. Our one requirement for the new car was that it a) work and b) have all-wheel drive since Sean has a 40 minute commute on windy country roads that don't often see the snow plow. We searched high and low and settled on a '08 Kia Sorrento which we picked up this Saturday.

I was excited to have an all-wheel drive vehicle since I regularly curse our driveway every time it snows and the little baby Honda fishtails up the steep incline, narrowly missing the retaining wall. Sometimes it just can't make it and our neighbor lets up park in her driveway.

Now we have a big manly man vehicle that can easily tackle a snowy driveway. I truly was excited about the SUV until I read the manual. Every other page has yellow warnings that say things like: "Drive at slow speeds around corners as this vehicle can tip over easily!" and "This vehicle may roll over when in all-wheel drive mode!" and the worst one "Do not steer using the inside of the steering wheel as it may adjust suddenly without warning and SNAP YOUR WRISTS LIKE MATCHSTICKS!!!". Okay, so maybe the wording was slightly different on the last one, but you get the picture.

No joking: Saturday night I kept dreaming that I was stuck in a parking lot with half sized spaces, trying to park without scratching the others cars. I also dreamt that I did in fact roll the car over and Sean picked it up like it was made out of plastic put in back on the road. Strange right?

It's not all bad though. Sure, it has all the maneuverability and turning radius of a Sherman tank, but I do get a sense of satisfaction from being able to look down on all the smaller cars on the road. Maybe that's because I'm all of five foot two. It's got amazing trunk space and tons of leg room. Although, I did go to step out of it and miscalculate the height which caused me to plummet to the garage floor.

I will definitely get used to it, but maybe I could use a step ladder and a signal crew in the meantime.