Bought a new car today!

Well, the saga has finally come to a close. It all started when I decided to start window-shopping for cars. I saw a cute used one for sale in somebody's yard in the neighborhood on the way to work one morning, and it got me to thinking. My car is getting kinda old, and I should listen to dad's advice of beginning to think about a replacement one of these days. I think the time has come. Used car turned out to be post-wrecked, but I actually started thinking about buying, seriously. We (my dad & I) started looking and talking and it was fun at first but our ideas about things were clashing and it started to be a bit of a headache and I wasn't sure if I might just want to wait and not do this right now, since I didn't HAVE to.... but man, a new car, of my own choosing, for the first time ever.... and I know it needs to be done sooner or later... why not do it now, while I feasibly can... I definitely intend to keep a new one for long-term....

Well, next think you know, few days later, WHAM. My car's AC died. Turns out it had an electrical problem that would likely cost more to diagnose & repair than the car is worth. Sooooo..... the window shopping has suddenly turned serious. Good thing I was mentally prepared for this! Yikes. So another week of shopping, looking and thinking. Boy, did it get crazy and I was glad I had David to help me look and think. He knows cars, and he knows me. So he helped me find some cars to look at that were more along the lines I wanted. Then we figured out why it was so frustrating before! So I got my thoughts and numbers together, went web surfing, then got on the phone with a few places, armed with all my newfound knowledge and help, and I found what I wanted. And I got it for the price I wanted. :D My dad still wasn't crazy about the price but I got a few add-ons, so I was happy. And he is OK about it now too because I took him with me to help me make the purchase and he spotted and succesfully dislodged a hidden charge!!! GRRRR.

In the end, all is now well. ^_^; All that to say: I just bought a 2008 Mazda3!
- Copper Red Mica
- 4-door
- Automatic
- Moonroof, with the sun & sound package
- fog lights
- rear wing spoiler
- beige cloth interior; I really wanted black, but the beige still looks fine. It was more important to get the right exterior color with the desired features. So I can live with this. It'll likely be cooler in the summer anyway.


I'll post better pics when I get home, but here, for now:

Okay here we go! 

I present to you:  The Mazda3.  Zoom Zoom!

 

That is my moonroof. ^_^

Don't ask me why I just happened to have fuzzy 12-sided dice hanging around in waiting. LOL, I just did.

My car.. at my house... yay.....

For any interested car geeks, here's the rest of the specs.

It's a 2008 4-door automatic, Copper Red Mica, with rear wing spoiler,
in the iTouring "trim" so it has 17" alloy wheels, leather-wrapped steering wheel, 6-speaker audio system, and a sport AT manual shift mode.

It has beige interior; I would have chosen black, given the choice, but it was the least important feature (this was THE only feature not 100% matching my preference on this car), and it still looks nice, of course.  And will probably be cooler in the summer anyway, lol.  Definitely not a deal breaker there! ;)

I got the "Sun & Sound" package so it has a moonroof, and a 6-disk CD changer (plays data/MP3 disks too).

It came with the Compass/Auto-dim mirror, door edge guards, and Fog lamps, none of which I would have requested but all of which I got for the same price, so... cha-ching! hehehe.

Zoom Zoom!!!