New Car ...

Just returned from the dealership, where Annie and I bought a Daytona Blue Chevy HHR to replace my aging Geo Metro. It gets great mileage (23 miles city, 30 highway, and a 16-gallon tank, for roughly 450 miles on a single tank), has a lot of cargo space, and is just slightly bigger than a PT Cruiser. It sort of reminds me of the Durango we used to have where the styling is concerned, but at about half the size (it's much smaller than the photo would suggest).

I'm not wildly enthusiastic about the color, but we got a fairly good deal on the car, and to be honest, the Metro really hasn't been safe to drive for quite some time (and the repair bills would be more than the cost of the vehicle). I'm going to be in the car so much between work and school over the next couple of years, and with the promotional interest rates, it seemed like the right time to do it.

There are a couple of small amenities that will really make the car nice to deal with. The automatic transmission came default with a Remote Starter, and since I'll be going to work at 4:30AM, having a warm car when I get out there will be very nice. There's an auxillary jack on the stereo for my iPod (and I could even hook my cell phone into it, though it lacks Bluetooth), and the radio features the same RDS (Radio Data Service) that my cell phone has, so apparently that's becoming more standard. There was an XM radio option, but it wasn't in this model, and I'd have never used it anyway. There's an in-dash six-CD changer which can play MP3 discs, but again, with the iPod I probably won't use that feature much. The cup holders are in a really awkward place, though.

Still need more time with it to really give it the full verdict, but so far, so good.