And the Winner is.......!

The Honda Element!

This is not the car we thought we would have ended up with.  It wasn't even on our list of possibilities.  While we were in the Honda dealership looking at the CR-V, this little beauty was on the showroom floor.  While Brian was talking with our salesman, Nigel Diggins (I love that name!  Sounds like something out of Charles Dickens!) I was looking at this, mostly out of curiosity.  I was surprised at how much room there was inside and again, liked that 'bull dog' look.  I never really considered it since I thought that Brian would not like it.  Actually, when we would see one on the road, he would remark on how ugly it was.  

So, how surprised was I when Brian came over and took a look at it and started to warm up to it.  The last couple of model years, they have taken off a lot of the plastic cladding that was on the original and he was as surprised as I was at the room and versatility inside this thing.  There is so much more passenger room in this than in any of the others we looked at.  The rear seats don't fold like in most SUVs, but rather, lay flat then "flip" up to the sides, leaving a huge hole in the car.  You can cram a lot of stuff in there!  It also has "suicide doors"!  Just like an old Lincoln Continental.  It just has this feeling of no-nonsense, go anywhere, do anything, tough little car.  Spunky.  Quirky.

When Nigel saw us looking at it and taking an interest, he came over and started to tell us more about it.  The more we looked the more we liked it and what really sealed the deal was the price.  It was a couple of thousand less than the Kia Soul and so much more "car" than the similarly priced Toyotas.

So, we welcome Ely Mae to the fold here at Three Palms.  We picked it up today just in time to take her to the airport to pick up Jodi and Toner for their Spring Break visit.  I'm sure that is just the start of the adventures she will take us on.