After more test drives last night, long discussions, consideration given to a number of things and looking at total overall costs... hubby and I finally bought a car.


The Chevrolet Aveo LT in bright yellow is now ours. We pick it up tomorrow. It's loaded with features like power windows, power doors, keyless entry with fobs for two, a sunroof, a cute rear spoiler, MP3 playback on the CD as well as an AUX jack for an MP3 player, cruise control, 60/40 flat fold rear seating, and it's a four door model with a hatchback. I was duly impressed with the performance in the city on tight corners, uphill from a dead stop position and burning rubber on the highway. All very smooth. All very quiet. And God, but it's CUTE!!! I can't wait to get it tomorrow afternoon.


In the meantime, here's a pic. Just a stock pic; ours is a bit different. But it'll give you a good idea.






All in all we looked at the following:
Mazda 3 - beautiful car, lovely handling, not available for 0% financing though as most places are now and frankly, with a 2.0 litre engine and no four door model available at the dealer, we said "Meh."
Toyota Corolla - Not bad. Again, more car than necessary for us right now.
Toyota Yaris - VERY cute. Didn't like the dash though and the seat made me feel uncomfortable for some reason.
Nissan Versa - Ugh. Not impressive. The interior really turned me off. All the gauges are centrally located in the dash between driver and passenger. Makes it tough to glance down to see details!
Saturn Astra - You are kidding me right? No cup holders? And $200 to get one installed?! KTHXLA. *waves*
Kia Rio - Very nice. This one was high on our list but comparing prices, it didn't have all the features that the Aveo could give us and was still more expensive.
Pontiac Wave - Same as the Aveo really, but a little more expensive and didn't seem to handle as well. Additionally... NO bright colours were available. Bleh.
Hyundai Accent - LOVED the look of this car. Til I drove it. Would you believe that hubby, as short as he is, still hit his head? And the dash is angled along the side towards the driver so a passenger found it harder to even change the radio station or modify heat or A/C settings because they can't see it as easily. Noisier on the road too. I wanted to like this more than I did. But after driving it, I conceded... the Aveo was better.


My two coppers. Your mileage may vary. :D