I hate buying cars.

(originally posted 1/25/2007)
God, is anything more stressful?
We decided we needed a new car about 30 minutes after we purchased my old car in December of 2004. Let me take you back...
Ahh, the Jetta. When I got it I thought it totally rocked. It was beautiful - leather seats, 5 speed, great mileage, sunroof. Seriously, I felt like I had hit the freakin' jackpot. The first night I owned it I went to look at it in the garage about 50 times during the night - just couldn't believe it was mine.
See, my previous car was a 1990 Volvo, red (well it had faded to a shade close to pink) with black leather, no AC, windows didn't roll down, sunroof didn't always open (or close), tape player (constantly had a Waylon Jennings tape in it), and 1 speaker that thought about working most of the time. I freakin' loved this car. LOVED IT. But in July in Florida, it wasn't practical to have a constantly open sunroof with black leather and no AC. When I traded it in they gave me 35 whole cents for it.
Back to the Jetta (which I also loved)... a few months passed and Ashton grew about 9 inches and the car started feeling really cramped. Dan's knee was always in my way when shifting to 5th gear, Ashton's feet prints became embedded in the back of the passenger seat, and several times I had to pile groceries over the poor child because I had work stuff in my trunk. The car was just too small :(
When I got knocked up I thought: Yes! Now I finally NEED that new car that i have been dreaming of... I can't fit 2 babies, a bigg ole' hunk of man meat (Dan) and groceries into this go-kart: Let's go spend some of our hard earned cash!
So we have been perusing the classified ads and talking about what we wanted to get as our "mom mobile". Dan loves mini vans (weird, huh? fetish...) but I can't possibly drive one: to do so is to admit that I am getting OLD, and that just plain sucks (sorry Lori, but you are old. I kid!). I want a practical SUV that I can fit strollers, cases of wine, and my growing family into comfortably. You know, like a Mercedes or something :) haha.
Yesterday I test drove a Nissan Murano and I really liked, but it is the wrong color (white? too tame for this!) and it smells like smoke covered with an obscene amount of cherry air freshener. Other than that, the car is PERFECT (mileage, payments, etc.).
Well, today I am driving a brand new Xterra. It's a little sporty for my taste, but I love driving it. And it is maroon, which rocks. But I really didn't want to buy a 2007 anything.
And to make matters worse, my brother in law is our salesperson. You might think that it is a blessing to have this guy on our side, but it really isn't: Typically, you tell someone "hell no" and you walk out the door and that's it - you don't have to sit across from this man at every Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner for eternity and look in his eyes. And he has been extremely cool and worked so hard to make it happen that I feel even more obligated to say yes. He has moved mountains to get our payments where we want them and to talk his bosses into giving us the "family deal"... I am pretty sure he wouldn't even make a cent on this thing... and I don't want him to get bitched at by his bosses if he "can't even make a sale to his brother", you know?
So, I am friggin torn. I like both cars, I am not in love with either of them.
Any advice, faithful readers?