Judging a Book By It's Cover

We are thinking about buying a new car.  We have two compact cars and one is older and has some cosmetic things wrong with it.  We've been faithfully paying off our debt and living in a "small house" with "small cars" for three (plus) years now.  Michael is getting sick of driving the beat up car and we've decided it's just time to move on.  (Plus, my niece Lexi really wants to buy a car, so we are going to sell her ours for cheap!)

I've wanted an SUV for a long time now, and have really liked the Honda Pilots.  Honda's are such good cars, and I like the look of the Pilot.  I thought it was going to be the perfect car for us.

We found one online that we thought would work.  We went to the dealer to look at it, test drive it, and possibly even drive it off the lot.  (not the one pictured above)  Yeah.  Not so much.  One of the reasons I want an SUV is for the height.  I didn't feel high up at all.  Granted, I drive a Volvo XC90 every day at work and they are very high up.  It just wasn't what I was expecting.

It drove OK, but it didn't wow me.  The inside didn't thrill me either.  I don't know how to explain it, but the dash and set up felt a little cold to me... kind of harsh.

Online it--looked great.  Driving by it on the freeway--it looked great.  In person--not so much.  Don't get me wrong.  I still like the look, and maybe if I could afford a new one with all the bells and whistles I would be singing another tune.  But for what our budget is, and what I saw, I will not be buying a Pilot any time soon.  Who knew I could want a car for so long and then completely fall out of love with it withing five minutes of seeing it and climbing in.  We'll probably go back to our original choice, which is a Hyundai Santa Fe.  We've been saying for years that's what we were going to get.  It looks like it might be the one.  Time will tell.