This weekend was the last straw for me. We made an appointment at Volkswagen to get our oil changed and have the check engine light that popped up on Monday checked out on Monday evening for the following Saturday as it was the first available appointment we could make with our work schedules. On Friday afternoon, the day before our scheduled appointment, they called to cancel and reschedule us for the following Monday morning -- ie. when we would be at work... We made the weekend appointment for a reason!
We had been casually looking at cars at that point, knowing we'd have to trade it in before the warranty expired, even going to the Honda dealership by our house the week before to test drive a CR-V (a great experience, I should add). On Saturday morning, instead of heading to Volkswagen to get our car worked on, we headed to Mazda to check out the CX-5. We spent 4 hours at the dealership, going as far as to have our credit checked so we could get an accurate idea of how much we'd be spending each month, but after lots of promises to work with us on our trade and on the price, we were disappointed to have a nearly $400 monthly payment quoted to us, before the interest was even factored in! The car was great, the salesman we worked with was nice, but it just wasn't a fit for our budget. We took a Steak'n'Shake break and then headed back to Honda to test drive the Mid-level Honda CR-V. Here, we had more great service -- and broke down and bought our family friendly SUV. We got a great price, they paid off our trade-in, and the service was great. In Jason's words, "first comes love, then comes Bennie (our second pup), then comes marriage, then comes a CR-V." Our fast, fun car is gone, but our family friendly, safe, reliable SUV is an excellent replacement and we look forward to having it for years to come, as we have kids & shuttle them off to daycar, school, soccer games, and beyond.