The New Family Truckster
Greetings to everyone.
On Monday, we became a three car family. Xavier's skills with driving Hot Wheels has grown so tremendously, we decided to get him his own big-boy car to drive around.
This baby's got power windows, power brakes, power steering, power seats. It's got steering wheel tracking headlights, integrated phone, AM/FM stereo with CD player and USB port. It's got heated leather seats, a collapsible third row of seating, front to back climate control. It's got rear-assist parking, BLIS, computer-controlled gyroscopes to help prevent tipping. Everything a growing boy needs in a family truckster.
We've been discussing the need to replace and/or upgrade one of our cars, especially since Xavier is growing long and he needs leg room! He no longer can sit in a rear-facing seat; we turned his seats around a few weeks back. We wanted to have some grow room in the vehicle for family outings, trucking several kiddos (friends of Xavier, not siblings!), hauling sports equipment and lumber and camping tents.
We were massaging the finances to get into a place to afford a car in late February 2016. Something of a necessity given next year's expected docket of travel. We had a plan in motion, but several detail eluded us.
Then, Rebecca crunched some numbers and found a way to make a cash purchase sooner than later (she's become a Dave Ramsey addict). Still thinking of a January or February time frame, she called the dealership and asked about lease returns. As it happened, one had just come in an hour or so before her call. It needed to be cleaned, inspected, etc., so we waited a few days for it to "hit the lot." 2014 XC90s are a rare breed and in both short supply and high demand; Volvo did not produce any 2015's (factory shut down to retool to make hybrid XC90s).
We both took it on test drives, kicked the tires, asked the questions. Did some wheeling and dealing. Xavier explored the inside and got used to how the controls felt and what they controlled. After that, the three of us headed for a nearby pizza place to discuss the machine over a thin-crust pie. It looked like everything we needed, and a fair asking price, plus it was almost dropped in our laps.
After some back and forth with the dealer, we signed over a check and picked it up on Monday. So far, Xavier is quite satisfied with the purchase.