Our faithful grey Nissan that brought us to Murphy got traded Monday afternoon.  We weren't really in the market to buy, thinking we would go a couple of years without any vehicle payments, but had walked around car lots off and on just browsing old and new.  Out of curiosity I drove an AWD 6-cylinder 2011 Kia Sorento and Cliff compared the feeling of a 4-cylinder on hills.  The 4-cylinder was out.  We sat with our Italian salesperson crunching numbers on the 2011, but when the CARFAX revealed it had been driven as a rental, Cliff said no and we started to walk out of the dealership.  After so many years of traveling with GenRad, he knew how rentals were treated.  So that was a deal breaker.  We were then told that Kia could put us in a new 2013 (with all the bells-and-whistles) for the same payments that we saw on the 2011 and I would have choice of vehicle color and interior.  Cliff showed no emotion, held a great poker-face, and told the salesman we'd go home and think about it for a couple of days.  That's when the deal got sweeter.  Cliff also added that fact that he wanted to use his Harley Dyna Wide Glide in the trade.  Sight unseen, the cycle was worked into the deal and someone from Kia would come to our house and ride it back to the dealership for us so Cliff wouldn't have to trailer it in.  We ended up with payments much lower than what we had for the truck and over a shorter time period.  We locked the deal in on a cobalt blue with grey interior.  Tuesday someone from Kia drove to Knoxville, picked up our new Sorento, and we drove it out off the lot that evening. 

It's a beauty and I love it.  I've never had so many features.  The Nissan was very basic, no cruise control, which was difficult on long trips to see the family.  The Sorento will be a great ride for our travels, plenty of room, good gas mileage, but I'll have to check the back and make sure no grandchildren have secretly been placed in the third row before returning home.