Another OCD Confession . . .

I mentioned in one of my first posts that I have selective OCD and that some things bring it out way more than others. You can add car shopping to that list.

The summer of 2006 found us on our first two camping trips to the Columbia River Gorge and Yellowstone. These trips had two things in common: rain and a very cramped Subaru Outback. This started us thinking about getting a bigger car that could handle more camping equipment and would be a better "family car."

To me, that meant a minivan. I have lots of friends who just can't bring themselves to drive one because of the statement it makes about you. I say minivans say two things about the drivers: they are parents and they are practical. What's wrong with that? So we did some research and narrowed it down to the Toyota Sienna or the Honda Odyssey. We got a baby sitter and set out for the Southtown Auto Mall to do some test driving.

Our first stop was the Honda dealership. We asked to test drive an Odyssey. The salesman suggested we also drive a Pilot. Sure, why not. We are more minivan than SUV people, but what harm could a little test drive do right?

It was love at first drive. Suddenly, minivans seemed so yesterday and the Pilot was all I could think about. Besides, we only have one child and what if we never get another one? Do we really need a van?

But maybe it was just a passing thing and there would be another great SUV or crossover that could win our hearts over and cost a little less than then Pilot. We visited more dealership and test drove many more cars, only to discover that for us, nothing beat the Pilot.

Then rumors started floating around that Honda was going to redesign the Pilot for 2008 so wouldn't it be better to wait and decide if we like the new body style better? Meanwhile, I discovered that I had friends who were also obsessing about the Pilot and we would feed off each other and then start to convert others. Alas, when the 2008's came out, they were just like the 2007's and we all mourned together.

James just barely tolerates me when I get like this. Besides this went on for 14 months and still no new car. That is until last week when the stars aligned just perfectly. On Tuesday night I just happened on a listing for a used 2007 Pilot with leather interior and a DVD player with less than 10,000 miles on it for a steal of a deal. Turns out the seller had to have a Pilot in February, and then had to have a bigger house in October and her husband told her she couldn't have both. (I myself couldn't imagine picking a bigger house over a Pilot, but I guess there are some crazy people out there!)

It turned out to be the perfect opportunity for us. We were able to get an even nicer Pilot than we ever could have afforded new and we were able to get a loan for the full amount and still afford the monthly payments without touching our baby money. I did kind of have my heart set on an Aberdeen Green one, but turns out I like the Nimbus Gray just about as much. Who knew?

So now our Scubyroo has a new sister named Smokey (yes, we name our cars) and we love our new Pilot! Can't want to try it out on our trips to St. George in a couple of weeks for my Grandpa's birthday and to California for Christmas. It was definitely worth the wait! You'll have to ask James if it was worth all the obsessing!