Preliminary Farewells... or not

This may be the last evening my beloved Brian sits in the parking lot... then again it may not. LOL   I have an appointment tomorrow morning with Peoria Kia to investigate whether or not they may have a vehicle I can better afford.  With payments of close to $700 a month... and gas mileage that requires a Home Equity Loan to fund... I fear Brian's days are numbered.  He's been a great little truck.  I fell in love with him the first night I owned him... driving the freeways into the late evening hours.  But in the current economy, he's a luxury I can no longer afford.  Taking a 20% pay cut at work... and still having a behemoth of a monthly payment made him a very inviable means of transportation.

He really was an impulse buy to begin with.  Having been in a massive rear-end collision that totaled his predecessor, Justin, I really wanted a massive car around me... and Justin's younger sibling seemed like the perfect fit.  Justin was a 2001 Dodge Dakota Club Cab that made it 114,000 miles with no major mechanical defects at all.  Brian is at a mere 58,200 miles but I've owed him 1 year longer than I owned Justin.... and yet I still am starting to see the wear and tear on him.  Brian hasn't held up nearly as well as Justin did.  Too much plastic and economizing done by Dodge's corporate parents made their cars cheap... and it really shows on the resale values.

So onward, Tomorrow.  It all depends on what kind of deal they can offer me... and what kind of interest rate I can get... and if the numbers match up... I may have a new friend to name tomorrow night.  If that happens, I'll be posting again tomorrow asking for name suggestions for the new kid on the block. :)

As an aside... Some people have asked where Brian and Justin received their names from.  There are many possible references to both actually.   Justin came about because he was green... or jade in color... which led to named beginning with 'J'.  Also, Justin Timberlake was the crush of my boyfriend AJ at the time... and he helped name Justin the truck.  Finally, the hot show at the time was Queer as Folk... and as I was just coming out of my shell... Like Justin Taylor on QaF... Justin seemed to fit then too.  Brian on the other hand is Red... and thus Burgandy begot 'B' names.  Brian is also MY favorite Boy Band crush, Brian Littrell... and also Justin's love interest on Queer as Folk.  I didn't have a boy friend at the time... so Brian was all my idea for the name. :)

So what do you think?  Should I continue the naming convention and find another boy-band member/Queer as Folk Character?   Or start fresh?    Here's a pic of the model... but not necessarily the color... or the vehicle that I'm looking at...

Valley of the No-Sunroofs

So I've been browsing the car sites again.  I usually do it right after I make the $700 car payment every month.  Because not only is that a REALLY high car payment to be saddled with in this economy... the truck drinks gas like it's water!  I'm rocking 15.7 miles to the gallon combined city/highway driving.  The truck travels 26 miles round trip to the office each day... and 14 of that is highway miles.  Yet I still only see 15.7 combined.

Anyways... while shopping for a new car, the one thing I would REALLY love to have is a sunroof.  And a TON of new cars are touting their huge panoramic sunroofs.  I mean like basically the entire roof is glass.  First off , the reason I'm interested in a sunroof this time is because I've previously rented a convertible while the truck has been in the shop.  I've LOVED driving in the open air with the top down.  There is only one problem with a convertible, besides it's obvious safety factor of no roof in a rollover...  there is quite literally NO room for people in the backseat.   Unless your passengers are amputees,  they aren't fitting in to the backseat of a convertible.

Thus, the sunroof.  PREFECT!  I still have a roof over me for crash safety.  I still have a backseat for passengers.  AND I miss out on all that nasty road noise you get with soft tops!  CHAMPION!

Well... I live in Phoenix... supposedly the "Valley of the Sun"... great weather, warm and sunny a lot, and during the spring and fall, amazingly beautiful temperatures.   Sunroofs should be all over the place at the dealers here right?   WRONG!  You can't find them.  They are practically non-existent on every single model I'm viewing online!  Even the super-duper, top-of-the-line, leather interior, wood grain dash model of the car.... does it have a sunroof?  BZZZZZT!  Nooo... sorry....

What gives, dealers?  It seems like this would be the ULTIMATE place to have a sunroof!  Especially with all the auto manufacturers making them as large as the roof itself!