What is It About Me and the Color Red?

So, lately Melon Man has been telling me how he needs to go get the belts and hoses changed on his Durango and it's going to be about $700.  He's been telling me that this needs to be done for like 6-8 months or so.  I told him that I thought he'd already done that in the last couple years and he says no, he didn't.  I'm like, can you wait until after Christmas?  He said yes.  So, now it's after Christmas and he's all, "we need to get the belts and hoses done."  I finally relent and say fine - do those the month after you get the brakes on my truck done.  "Well, when are we going to get the brakes on the Titan done?" he asks.  I don't know...next week?  "Okay, that will work."  So, that was the plan.

Ring, ring.

FG:  Hello?
MM:  Hi.  It's me.  The window on the Durango slid down again.
FG:  Again?  This is the third time in 4 years.  What's up with that?
MM:  I don't know.
FG:  When are you going to get it fixed?  ...a discussion ensues...
MM:  Okay, that sounds like a plan.  I'll take it in now.
FG:  How much is it going to cost to get it fixed?  It was, what, about $125 last time?
MM:  Yeah, I think so.
FG:  Okay, let me know how it goes.

Ring, ring.

FG:  Hello?
MM:  It was $400.
FG:  WHAT?!?
MM:  Yep, $400.

This is freakin' ridiculous.  Money here, money there.  So that's when Mr. Rationale kicks Melon Man in the head (that's why he has that bump) and he decides it's time to look into a new vehicle.  Mrs. Rationale is very resistant to the idea, however.  She likes not having a car payment.  She likes being debt free except for the house payment.  She likes putting X number of dollars into the savings account every month and seeing it grow.  She does not want to buy a new car - wait - what happened to the old Fatty Girl who loves new cars?!?!

Well, Melon Man's thoughts start to add up and are well thought out.  They really do make sense.  The Durango is 10 years old.  It's got 113,000 miles on it.  It gets crappy gas mileage.  It's got a cracked broken middle console.  It needs a bunch of work, which, in turn, means more money.

So, I agree to consider a new car.  We really love Nissan vehicles so we agree to stay with them.  Melon Man wants one of these, in THIS color:

Yeah, not really my style OR COLOR, but I agree to look at it because it gets good gas mileage and after our down payment and trade-in, I figure we will have to make payments for about 18 months.  I can handle that.

So, we go look.  We test drive.  Since I'm the one that will be driving the new vehicle since I drive the farthest, I essentially get to have the final say.  Yeah, this one is just not doing it for me...at all.  So, we look at the Juke.  Nope, way too small.  We sit in a Rogue, not bad!  And, we try an Altima.  Everything else moving up from those is too much money for miserly me.  So, we take the Rogue for a test drive.  Fun.  Weird driving a 4-cylinder though after being in a truck with a V8 for the last 6 years.  Then, we test drive an Altima.  Way too low to the ground.  This particular one feels a little "old" for me - the color, the interior, etc.  Melon Man, of course, likes it...because he IS old.

One thing that I made clear in all of this is that the vehicle HAS to be red (or white if we just can't find the right one in red) AND it HAS to have a sunroof.  Okay, what is it about me that everything has to be red?  I don't know...I just love the color red.  Plus, I've always wanted a sunroof and this time I am going to get one. Enough said.

As we're heading into our fourth hour of being there and I'm still on the fence about the Altima versus the Rogue and the price differences between the two, a white Altima pulls in from a test drive.  It looks "hot"!  I head over to it, check it out, and still, again, just am not feeling it like I should.  The sales guy does the whole, I'm gonna ask you a few questions, answer what comes to your mind first, thing.  So, yep, it ends up that I really like the Rogue the best.  I sit in it again.  It just feels better to me.  It's higher off the ground, it's "fun", it's red, it's ME.  And while it gets 4 miles less to the gallon than the Altima, the Rogue still gets 28 on the highway, which is far better than the 17 I've been getting in the Titan.

So, we finally agree on the Rogue and go inside.  It's got the sunroof I required, navigation, bluetooth, a good amount of cargo room, a rear spoiler to make it even cuter, and it tells me what mileage I'm getting as well as how many miles I can still go until I'm empty...plus other stuff, ya know.  Zero percent interest - can't beat that.  The thing that sucks though is the cost of all the "extra" stuff of which some is not negotiable - taxes, doc fees - and then the necessities - special coating to protect the paint in the harsh Arizona sun and extended warranty which is totally needed nowadays with all the computers in these vehicles, etc.  Oh well, it is what it is.  After 6 hours there, we get the "exit walkthrough" and we're on our way home.  Melon Man has not been to bed yet and he's exhausted.  We stop by Barro's for some pizza and wings and then we head home and he goes straight to bed.

So, goodbye Durango.  Ya done us good all these years.  Fond memories of trips to San Diego and Utah.  Melon Man gets to drive the big manly truck now, and I get the cutesy red Rogue...'cuz I'm a "red" girl and I'm cute, and I'm a little rogue once in a while.  Meet Rogue...the newest addition to our family...(yeah, I know...I need to take a real picture of her, but this will have to do for now).