Well, a Jeep Renegade actually, but I thought I'd just boot that particular elephant out of the room! Yes, I know it's a Fiat, and so does "She", but I don't care, and neither does she.
My wife's Qashqai had reached its 13th birthday and 84,000 miles this month, and we had owned it since 2010. In fairness to it, it has been a great car which has served its purpose flawlessly apart from needing a new battery a few years ago, and three new door mirrors which were not its fault...
There was no real need to change, it passed its MOT a couple of weeks ago, and it would almost certainly have continued to be a useful thing to have.
I've never really bonded with it, but, a bit like the fridge, the cooker and the washing machine, it was just good at being what it was.
But, she could hardly be blamed for fancying a change.
Many different options were considered, but ultimately some criteria were set, which included being an SUV, petrol, manual, three years old or younger, 20,000 miles or fewer, and a nominal but entire flexible budget of £12,000.
Dusters, Vitaras, Qashqais and so on were all considered, but the one she really wanted was a Renegade.
Managed to get a test drive in one and she just fell for it. That one was just a bit too tired to buy, but a few days later we spotted the one we ended up with.
It's a 1.4 petrol manual in Longitude spec. Black paint with a charcoal interior. 2018 with 14,000 miles and we got change from £10,000 after trading in the Qashqai.
Lovely to drive, much "smoother" than the Qashqai and noticeably quicker. 6 speed box that copes far better on the motorway than the 5 speed unit on the old Nissan.
Sat nav, DAB etc.
Have to say I really like it too ( apart from the EPB ) and I've never seen her so excited about a new to her car.
I admit, it's a bit daft, and I know it's a bit of a gamble, but it just makes us both smile. A bit like a big Panda in truth, which shouldn't really be too surprising I suppose.
It will be a ideal as a platform for our mountain bikes, and having a bit of ground clearance for accessing remote locations can't hurt.
In these miserable times, it has cheered us both up a bit, and don't we all need a chunk of that right now?
;-)
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