Current situation:
Me--0something Nissan Versa (50,000 miles)
Her--'99 Green Saturn tiny tim sedan (115K)
The Saturn is mine, but wife recently offered to switch and cleaned it out. She drives in town, I commute. I think she wants me to sell it on craigslist but will just be the most subtle passive aggressive possible and wants me to grab this sitch by the horns.
Probably going to be a slow and steady search for the next year + while I stalk the contenders and slowly devise a plan before I make the move. Have been consulting edmunds and have been studying up on the ways of the car salesmen breed. I hope to gain the deep knowledge this website possesses on the subject (particularly now that I don't have to wade through DS/Jeffy posts in my thread). All that said, this car is for me. The wife is fine with the Versa and after some quality time with the Saturn will be thankful for its return.
The Budget: as of now, undetermined. Will depend upon the interest rates (are we back at 0%?), COH and assumes the Versa is paid off (which it almost is).
Objectives:
1) Find a car that will provide me more joy than a 99 saturn or a 0something Versa
2) Must be a sedan at best, wagon at worst
3) Must get better than 25 mpg highway
4) Under $25,000 new
5) Under $20,000 used
Some thoughts:
Have considered everything from a used Cadillac to a new Mini Cooper Countryman. The hard rules are above. Ingenuity is to be encouraged but this is not Property Virgins where the budget is the starting point. Coming under is a good thing. Godspeed.
