Grocery Getter

It was a year of talking and planning and research, and it just took waking up one morning to make it happen. We've been talking about upgrading from the Hyundai Elantra for quite some time. With Max, it's become increasingly more difficult to make it work, and we couldn't take the dogs anywhere. Max's wagon had to go in the front seat, which just wasn't working. We looked for the best fit and most affordable and we found a 2008 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring with 65,000 miles that wouldn't break the bank, and we pounced on it. Voted best SUV/Crossover of the year by Motor Trend, I feel like we're driving a MUCH more expensive car. We're not used to so many niceties: heated seats, navigation, backup camera, dvd player, dual climate control, etc. After a string of blasé econo cars, it's really nice to go to the next level. It has a number of scratches to fix, all the plastic trim needs brightened up, and the headlights are yellowed, but nothing a $100 kit and an afternoon won't fix. Plus now there is plenty of room for Max, groceries, AND the dogs. Plus Max's wagon fits quite nicely.