New Ride ... So Long Prius

This weekend, because it was the absolute worst weekend to spend in a car dealership (but that's just how we do these things -- we leased a car the weekend we got married, for pete's sake!), we turned in our leased Prius and bought a Jetta SportWagen TDI.

This Totally Looks Like Illinois!
The lease to our 2010 Prius was just about up, and while I loved it, there were two main issues we need to correct:

First, the Prius, which is light-weight for ultimate fuel economy, was not built for Illinois winters. A strong wind had me gripping the steering wheel. And the snowy, icy commutes home from work stressed me out. I wasn't confident I'd stop at lights or stay on the road. And when the snow piled up on the driveway, the sad little car no longer made it into the garage. One night, it got stuck midway so we just abandoned it for the night -- in the middle of the driveway, in a blizzard.

The other, is we simply need more cargo space. But not THAT much more. We weren't looking for a SUV, but we were willing to sacrifice a little MPG to be able to drive the team bag of soccer balls, PUG goals and coach's kit to practice, without half that stuff riding shotgun. Maybe even getting suitcases for our next family vacation to the airport without the girls resting their feet on all the carry-ons. You see my point.

Why a Jetta? We'd leased three VWs in the last 15 years and we've LOVED them. In all the cars we've leased, the VW Rabbit was my absolute favorite car. Fun to drive. Comfortable. Zippy. Well-built and cute. Raising and lowering the seat, for us short people, is just awesome. So I knew when we were ready to buy (actually OWN) a car, I wanted it to be a VW.

Lastly, it had to be a diesel engine. Why? Because while we were ready to sacrifice some fuel economy, we weren't willing to go down to the embarrassing low 20mpg that some of the other wagons get. Diesels burn cleaner and get better MPG -- sticker says 40, but I've read owners doing even better. (Be the change, people! You believe we need cleaner cars on the road ... buy them.)

So, yay!

I'll write a full review in a few days, after I've put the new car through a normal week and see how she does.

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