I spent all morning chatting over email with my husband about my Ruby. In case you don’t know, Ruby is my lovely 2007 Honda Element. I LOVE MY CAR. Seriously. No one should love a car like I love this car. I love the suicide doors. I love the non-carpeted floors. I love the clamshell back that is PERFECT for sitting on and relaxing. I love the fold-any-way-you-want-‘em back seats. I love that you can totally fit an air mattress in the “bed” and use the car as a tent (and oh yes, I HAVE done this). I love that it’s totally, 100% Riley friendly. I completely love my car.
Here’s the thing though. I’ve wrecked it once already. Yeah, I ran into a tree while living in the woods and did a good deal of damage. Thank you State Farm for fixing it right up for me after that unfortunate incident. The window is cracked from a random piece of shrapnel taken during one of my epic commute legs, but that’s totally fixable too. What isn’t fixable is that I got THE BASE model. So much so that I don’t even have a radio antenna. I have no bells. Nary a whistle either. My husband is appalled by the absence of arm rests or even a center console in which to sit your forearm. I admit that took a lot of getting used to! Now that we are using my car more and more, since the dog comes along for the ride more and more, the lack of any sort of amenities is becoming overly apparent. This might have something to do with buying my husband a fully-loaded, leather wrapped, alloy-wheeled, Bluetooth capable, XM blaring, iPod compatible beauty…or it might be that someone (ehm) started pointing out all my cars failings since he drives it more now after driving his new rad ride.
I’m a gal that likes (or perhaps is obsessed with) not having a lot of debt. In a fantasy world, I’d want ZERO debt at all times. But I do try to stay grounded in the real world, and that means that having no debt is less than likely. In that case, my goal is always minimal debt. My husband’s old Ranger was paid off when we met. I’d been making double payments on my year old Element, but I wasn’t all that close to paying it off. Once my husband and I joined our bills, he allowed me to use a lot of his excess income to pay off my car. I paid that Element off in three years. I was proud of us. We’d agreed to get my husband a car once mine was paid off so that we maintained only one car payment at a time. And so we did. Let me tell you, I LOVE driving a paid off car!
So why spend all morning talking about the new 2011 Element, you might be asking. Well, because the agreement now that the husband has his promised new car is that I can upgrade to an Element with at least a few bells and whistles once his is paid off. Since most of you know we bought his car this year, why would we bother looking so soon? To clarify, no his car is not paid off yet. I’m good with money but I am no miracle worker (though, our next payment isn’t officially due till August 2011, thankyouverymuch). I actually broke down and looked at the 2011s because Honda may be throwing a wrench in my plans. They didn’t release anything about the 2011s till just a week or so ago. When I had my oil change at the beginning of October, the sales manager told me he was just now allowed to order any. Then I read on some auto-based websites that the Element line is in serious danger of being discontinued. That means there is a chance that if I wait till the Sonata is paid off, there may be not more Elements in production. I’m not sure I’m okay with that! I know I do not want two car payments (at all!) but I also don’t want to give up on the idea that I can have a better version of a car I so very much adore. What’s a girl to do?!
Expect me to be toying with this issue and watching Honda like a hawk. I will not be denied my new Element!
So why spend all morning talking about the new 2011 Element, you might be asking. Well, because the agreement now that the husband has his promised new car is that I can upgrade to an Element with at least a few bells and whistles once his is paid off. Since most of you know we bought his car this year, why would we bother looking so soon? To clarify, no his car is not paid off yet. I’m good with money but I am no miracle worker (though, our next payment isn’t officially due till August 2011, thankyouverymuch). I actually broke down and looked at the 2011s because Honda may be throwing a wrench in my plans. They didn’t release anything about the 2011s till just a week or so ago. When I had my oil change at the beginning of October, the sales manager told me he was just now allowed to order any. Then I read on some auto-based websites that the Element line is in serious danger of being discontinued. That means there is a chance that if I wait till the Sonata is paid off, there may be not more Elements in production. I’m not sure I’m okay with that! I know I do not want two car payments (at all!) but I also don’t want to give up on the idea that I can have a better version of a car I so very much adore. What’s a girl to do?!
Expect me to be toying with this issue and watching Honda like a hawk. I will not be denied my new Element!
By the by....do you all like the Citrus Fire metallic......
Or the Polish Metal metallic....
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