So now that I’ve had my new car a few months, I figure it would be a good time to let you know if I like it or not.
Bottom line, I love it.. even though I’m not driving it at the moment (you’re welcome Liz) due to the fact that we’re looking for a new car for Liz.. I have taken it on all the things that I’ve intended me having it for, including to and from hockey rinks with my enormous gear packed in tow, it’s been to the dog parks and around town with the hounds many times, and it’s extremely good on gas.. better almost in town than out in the highway!
One of my favorite new features of it, is that you can ‘slide’ over the gear shifter paddle to down-shift when you need more power without touching the gas like you have to with most automatics.. don’t you remember having to really ‘tramp’ on it in order to down-shift for more power when you’re passing that car on the highway and an 18-wheeler is heading your way? Yeah, I don’t have to worry about that.. I just down-shift and more power is there! My Vibe averages over 510 kms per tank of regular fuel both on the highway and city… the reason they are close is that I usually ‘downshift’ quite a bit on the highway which would eat up more fuel, last tank I went to St. Andrews on I got closer to 600 kms on the tank. Of course these aren’t the crazy numbers you’re hearing from the Hybrids or Chevy Volts, but it is noteworthy that the tank is a full 4 liters smaller than my old car.. so it pretty much doubles my old mileage on the Cobalt SS (350 kms per 50 liters.. brutal!).
I am very excited about getting a new remote starter on sale somewhere for this winter. I’ve gone without for over 14 years and I’m now to the point that I really want one. I was extremely jealous of Liz being able to hop into a nice warm car on those Winter mornings heading to work. A few other things I want to would be to get a new set of rims (save up for next year), and get some winter tires for this winter. That way I’ll be able to sell my newer all-seasons which are on there now to perhaps cover most of the cost of the winters.
My mother also really loves the car.. (I’m still trying to decide if this is a good thing).. as I let her take it to Halifax the weekend of August 1st… she came back and seemed really impressed, if it had more room in it (for her two dogs), then she would want one for travelling back and forth to Florida once a year.. but unfortunately, they still need a van for that.
All in all, I’m extremely happy. No, it doesn’t have the power or the looks of my old Cobalt Supercharged.. but I really don’t mind that at all. Hopefully someday I’ll have a cool little sports car to zip around in for the summer, but until that time, I’m definitely glad I chose more practical this time around.