Shiny new toy

Look at what we purchased yesterday!  

(It's a Ford C-Max.  No one paid me to promote the car in my blog.  I just figured people would want to know what it is.)

Yet another white hybrid vehicle for our household. This brings our vehicle ownership up to three. The black pickup truck you see in the photo was purchased by Zac back in 2003.  It has long since been paid for and it's great to have around for those times you need a truck.  However, like all pickups, it gets atrocious gas mileage.  We drive it as little as possible.  (Another reason we hang on to the truck?  That pickup is Zac's true love.  He's loved her longer than he's loved me.  If there ever comes a time that we have to part ways with her, it will be Zac's decision. I dare not get between my husband and his truck.)

Back in 2007, Zac and I purchased our first car together.  I had wanted a hybrid and I was able to convince Zac to agree to an Escape hybrid.  (He wasn't going to support getting a Prius.  He was too macho for a Prius.)  I used the Escape while Zac finished his time in El Salvador.  Then we moved to Hawaii.  Since I began working from home at that time, Zac would commute to work every day with the Escape, leaving me with the truck.  Each evening Zac and I would discuss who had to drive where the next day.  We'd figure out who had to drive more miles the following day and whoever was going to drive more got the Escape.  Usually this meant I had the truck.  In Hawaii it wasn't that big of a deal, because we only lived six miles from base.  Actually, I'd guess that 75% of our driving in Hawaii was within a 10 mile radius of home.  So even if I had to go to a doctor's appointment in Hawaii, driving the truck wasn't that big of a deal because it was so close.

San Diego is a whole different story.  It's a huge metropolitan area and things are really spread out.  (It's a lot easier to spread out when you have a whole continent to work with, as opposed to a small island.)  We live about 20 miles from Zac's job and from where I volunteer.  There are days in San Diego that we put 40-50 miles on both vehicles.  It's not that big of a deal for the Escape, but it is a really big deal for the pickup.  Guzzle, guzzle, guzzle.  $$$$.  This month has really driven the point home that while I work from home, I spend a lot of time (usually at least two days a week) volunteering in one way or another outside the house.  Plus there are errands to run, doctor's appointments to go to, etc.  Those miles were adding up when I had to drive the truck.  

The insanity of March really highlighted the fact that we needed a second fuel-efficient car.  I've had a ton of meetings, trainings, volunteer sessions, etc. this month.  (Happily April is pretty vacant of responsibilities besides working.)  Zac and I had been researching cars online for a couple of months and we finally decided to make the purchase this weekend.  I'm not a fan of having a car payment again, but I am happy that we won't have to continue to pay out the nose to fuel up a truck that gets 14 miles to the gallon.  And, frankly, I was growing tired of feeling guilty when I did drive the truck.  Even though Zac and I both knew that I had things to do and places to be, I didn't like constantly obsessing about how far I had driven on any given day.  Now that we have this new hybrid, Zac will use it to commute to work, leaving me with the Escape.  Now when I run errands or have to go volunteer I won't have to stress out as much about leaving the house.  I'm glad that Zac and I are conscious of our gas consumption, both for the planet and for our pocketbooks.  Now we just need to get rid of that toxic new car smell.  Ick.