New car smell


Because renting a car turns out to be insanely expensive, today I went back to Lee Johnson Hyundai in Everett (where we bought our Ioniq 5) and bought a Elantra instead. It’s a mid sized sedan with a petrol engine rather than an electric car, which is an aberration for me, but given it will be months before another Ioniq 5 appears, and I want to be able to get my family to the airport this week with the minimum of fuss, I figured I’d buy something.
It took about four hours, including the hour to drive there and back, and otherwise was pretty simple. I tried every car they had (just a choice of colours and whether we wanted the Elantra or the Sonata, two slightly different sizes of vehicle) and then I had a car again.

It’s not as nice as the Ioniq 5 but it’s half the price, and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Everyone remembered me from the last time I was there, and understanding of my scheme to buy this car and then be prioritized to get another Ioniq 5 when one shows up. With luck, depreciation isn’t an issue (with the car market as it is at the moment…)

We have air conditioning at last, switched on by the HVAC engineer today. Now the house is cool and livable, and the solar panels cover concern about the electrical usage to cool the house. All of a sudden the house feels close to completion. Slowly, inexorably, we approach the end…


3 responses to “New car smell”

    • I’ve lost track. Since we bought the Kona in October of 2020, it’s been:

      Hyundai Kona
      Dodge Caravan (the haunted one that went backwards in drive and forwards in reverse)
      Ford mini baby SUV that some Porsche driver bust the windscreen wipers on
      Cadillac that smelt like an old barber shop
      Hyundai Ioniq5
      Mazda CX5
      Hyundai Elantra
      RAV4 that felt like driving a tractor
      … and now the Hyundai Sonata

      .. plus uncountable different rentals between June 2019 and October 2020. (the only agreements I can find are for a Nissan Rogue, a Ford Fusion and a Dodge Charger, but there were more than that I’m sure)

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.