Got In On the 'Clunkers' Deal Just In Time

We had an old 95 Chevy Tahoe that I've owned for 14 years that we used as a company work vehicle, mostly for our mail pickups. It had 109,000 miles, and while it started and ran great, almost nothing else still worked. Electric seats - dead, A/C - dead, 4WD - dead. Not fun to drive in the summer heat, but none of these problems were fixable unless we wanted to spend more than the truck was worth (which I figure was maybe $500). It would have needed brakes and tires soon, it cost a lot to insure, and it got really shitty gas mileage (like 13mpg) which is why it was relegated to nothing but short trips. We've been knocking around the idea of getting a new 'company vehicle', something that is a lot smaller and has a better carbon footprint, and the cash for clunkers program created an irresistible opportunity, so Thursday evening we took the old Tahoe to Dulles Kia and traded it in for this:



It's a 2010 Kia Soul Special Edition Denim color with the 2.0 engine and the white racing stripe. It gets 30mpg, has a sunroof, A/C, Auto, fog lights, 18" Wheels, a spoiler (for what I have no idea), the upgraded sound system, a fairly big cargo compartment (for such a small car) and comes with 4 punk hamsters to drive it around. After the $4,500 clunkers trade in credit, the total cost of this vehicle out the door INCLUDING all fees, taxes, and tags was $14,835. I don't think we could have done any better than that.

We're thinking about turning it into an Itashi. :-)

By the way, the clunkers program will end on Monday.