So that's the new car. It's the 2004 Saturn ION 2 in case you missed that. It's a good story too. You see I did alot of looking online during the weekend at a bunch of entry-level cars, and I needed something affordable. My first notion was to get a used car, but after searching the lots yesterday, I found that a nice used car in good condition is almost as expensive as a new car. So I decided to think on it and show Lindsay the cars that I looked at during the day. I showed her the used Civics I looked, and we actually agreed that one of them looked like a good deal. A 2000 civic with only 9,000 km for $11,000 (before tax and crap). Then I showed her the 2002 Mazda Protege5 I liked, but they were asking $17,000 (before tax) for a 3 year old car that had 70,000km already on it. Ridiculous. Then we ended up at the Saturn dealership where I wanted to show her a few cars that I just thought were cool, like the 2004 Saturn ION Coupe... Nice car. The crazy thing about the Ion is it's dirt cheap, but fairly well made. I've done some reading on it and I think the main reason it's so cheap is cuz they haven't cut it in the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra market, which is what they need to do. So I think it's a matter of pricing to get interest in the car. Almost every review I read looked positive. So anyways, the car I was looking at was the 2005 Saturn ION 1, which is $14,788 (before tax and crap). It's a bare bones, and I mean BARE BONES car, but it's cheap, drives well, and has the biggest trunk space of a sedan, no jokes, it's HUGE trunk space. There was no A/C, no CD player, no power windows, power locks or power mirrors. None of the conveniences. But I test drove and liked it alot. And for the price, you can't beat it. Lindsay agreed that it looked great and looked like a great deal and encouraged me to go for it. Thank you so much for your encouragement by the way, you rock! Anywho, I went in to talk numbers and with $0 down, it came to $335/month financing, which was in my budget. So I'm pretty much sold at this point and this is where the awesome stuff comes in... the Saleswoman, WHO WAS THE NICEST LADY IN THE WORLD, says to me, "You know, the 2004 Saturn ION 2 is only $340 a month financing, only $5 more and you get AC, CD player, power windows, locks, and a few other goodies." She explained the reason was, "the 2004's are on the way out and so they're making great deals to get rid of the stock. They offer 0% financing which makes them barely more than the 2005 Ion 1 WITH financing." At this point my jaw dropped and Lindsay and I looked at each other and were like, this is it, this is a definite steal. To top this ALL off, the deal with the car also comes with $0.20 off every litre of gas for 2500 litres worth at Petro-Canada. So with a 50 litre tank, everytime I fill up I save $10 freaking dollars!!!! A total savings of $500 for 50 fill-ups of gas. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. The cherry on the top is that because I've been driving with Secondary Driver Insurance for almost 6 years with no accidents, tickets or insurance problems and have my full G license, my insurance rates are in the $3500 area, which compared to most new drivers is HUGE savings.
So alot has happened in the matter of three weeks and I must say I'm totally pumped about my future now, things will tight for awhile, but it looks great :-) Anyways, lates ya'll. Keep it real.
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