PIR

We have a phrase in our family for problems that others would be delighted to have: Problems of the Idle Rich.  We have one of them right now.

We would like to give our daughter our 7 year old Prius, for use at college during her final year, and with luck for time after that.  However, we need two cars, because my wife takes a car to her job at school. Now we could just say Suck it up, either live without a car when she is at work, or bring her over/bring her back, if you need a car that day.  That's a possibility.  Not delightful, but possible.

But since life is just easier with two cars, we're looking.

We've said for years The next car is going to have some luxury in it. What's funny about that is that my second car did have luxury in it, though we didn't think of it that way -- it was a Buick Skylark with velour seats.  Very comfortable.  And afterwards we got a Buick Regal, also with very comfortable seats, and nice amenities.  But then we went to being socially responsible, which meant getting the Prius, which as a second car is not bad at all.  But for long distance drives, not desirable.  And most def not a comfortable car.   And now, since we might be about to lose it, we've poked around, and mulled things over, and came up with two possibilities --

1 - a new Ford Fusion.  I have to say, when my wife suggested it, I thought Are you kidding me?  Where in the Ford brochure of cars is their definition of luxury, because their idea of luxury isn't MY idea.  But we looked at it, and I was pleasantly surprised.  For a mid-sized four door sedan, it handled well, with decent looks, and lots of gadgets, including some that the more expensive cars didn't have, especially in the safety arena.  So - hmmm....     I was thinking Yeah, maybe this will be the one...until this morning, when -

2- a 2013 Lexus 350 became known to us.  This car was gorgeous.  It looked great, it handled great -- on the test drive, my wife had to punch it around a guy exiting his driveway, and the car just went --  and it had about 90% of the gadgets that the Fusion had.  Most of that 10%, I didn't really care about, like collision sensors and backup sensors and lane-change warnings -- nice to have, certainly, but I've lived without them so far, and I don't feel the need.  A couple, like their customizable seat/steering wheel /outside mirrors positioning, as well as the dealers optional (and free) loan of a relatively new car any time yours is being serviced -- and if you want, they will bring the loaner to you, and return your car at end of day -- those are nice.  But most of all, the Lexus has that plush feeling.  I sat in it and thought Oh man, this is nice.

So we're trying to decide.  The Fusion, which has useful gadgets like a voice command GPS, and a tire inflator tool, and a backup obstruction sensor,  all of that?    Or the Lexus, with most of the gadgets of the Fusion, plus that delightful feel?

Or should we just replace it with a newer Prius? Which, oh by the way, costs about 90% of what either of the others would, has excellent mileage, and is not nearly as comfortable as either?

PIR, baby.  PIR.