We had the quick trip to Mike and Brenda's house near Seattle last weekend. I'd mentioned in the previous post that it was expected to be about the hottest few days of the whole summer. It did not disappoint, but we sure wish it had!
On the drive out it was upper 90's and low 100's from Spokane out to the pass just outside of Seattle. It cooled down to the 90's then. We got to Mike's about 9:30 pm, and after a tour of the new place and a visit we all called it a night.
The next day it started out warm and humid. As these homes are supposed to be in an area that usually isn't hot, guess what, NO AIR CONDITIONING! So while I enjoyed the visit and getting to see most all of his home videos, it was just a bit of a miserable hot and sweaty day. By his temp sensor on his porch it got up to 95 by the afternoon. We had a great dinner, watched some Olympic coverage and that was the day. Sunday morning we all went out to a local IHOP restaurant and then we headed east while Mike and Brenda were heading home so Mike could see his recorded football game.
The drive home was way hotter than the drive out. Saw 102 to 108's all the way back and it was still 99 when we got home at 6:00 pm. Stuff in the back of the car was really toasty! We would have had to cancel if we'd been planning to ride the motorcycles out. We never liked riding back in California when it got that hot. Just wasn't fun to be sitting with a blast furnace blasting on you at 70 miles per hour!
Nope, we took the 'new' car.
Now, those that have known me for years know I've always liked sports cars. Don't know why really, but I've often thought that it started with my job as a kid at the Redlands Airport that I started at when I was 15. One of the owners I worked for, Fred Davis, liked Jaguar XKE's. Then he had two of them and those were his commuter cars to work most of the time. I got to ride in them occasionally. I guess that's where the sports car bug really started. Flying airplanes, riding motorcycles, and driving sports cars, ah... the good life!!!! right? Well I often thought so.
Over the years I've had a few sporty cars. I never really wanted to be a racy "go fast" kind of driver. If I wanted to go over 100 miles an hour that's what airplanes are for and it was so much safer! I've always liked the looks and handling of many of those kinds of cars. I've had a Triumph Spitfire, a 240Z, 5 Pontiac Fiero's, 2 runners and 3 parts cars. My fancy GT was a Mitsubishi 3000GT, a large stable great looking car that could cruise at 85 on the freeway like it was nothing.
When we moved to Idaho I decided then that the 3000GT would be an impractical car for Northern Idaho. So the day before the final move we traded it in on our GMC 1500 crew cab 4X4. So almost 2 and a half years later, got the job with the steady income over the sub-driver job, and Stacy in talking with me says we ought to go check out the Pontiac Solstice that's at the local GM dealer.
So we walk over after work one evening and take a look. It's a loaded model. Nice wheels, A/C, leather, 6 CD with XM (gotta have XM!), cruise control, just lots of nice stuff.
Now those not familiar with this kind of car, the Pontiac Solstice and its mechanical twin the Saturn Sky, are fairly small two seat convertible sports cars that have the looks with the top up of a kind of 1930's roadster. They debuted as a concept car that became a reality in just 2 years as a 2006 model.
So we test drive it, pretty nice! Doesn't handle bad at all and for being a sports car, it's really smooth on the road. Get back and Stacy starts talking about- how much? Well we really did luck out. Turns out it is the same 2007 that had been on the showroom floor since late 2006. I'd already sat in it a few times just looking longingly at it never in a million years thinking I'd have one, let alone this exact one! They want it gone because nobody buys sport cars up here! If we bought it it would only be the third Solstice they've sold since the car came out. We go home, we talk, do some checking, crunch some numbers. And go back the next day, a Saturday. We go get pre-approved at our bank, just in case. Go back to the dealer take it for another drive, talk price again with the sales people. Agree their loss will be our gain, and buy it! About $10,000 less than if we'd bought it back in 2006! They seem happy, I'm really happy! Thanks Stacy!!!!!!!!
I love it! It handles great, stable on the highway, perfectly flat in turns. Top up or top down it's really nice. Looks good, runs good and so far gets its EPA mileage of 26 highway. Okay, so there is a negative. Even in the Fiero, which was also a small two seat car, they could put in a 6 cubic foot trunk. In the Solstice, it's a weird shaped 5.2 cubic foot with the top up and only 2.1 cubic foot with the top down. So one packs pretty light. I think my Gold Wing can carry about as much or more in the trunk and saddlebags.
Now I've kept this all hush hush, because I wanted to kinda surprise Mike and Brenda when we went out to their place. So I didn't do what I wanted to do and blast all over a blog about it.
They even liked it also! Even Mike was surprised about how well the ride was. We took it for a drive after it cooled down to the low eighties on Saturday and had the top down. He was talking to me about maybe seeing if Brenda might think about trading in her car on one. I don't know about that though, she seems to really like her Cabrio convertible.
But, back to the trip! It was so hot we kept the top up and air conditioner on the whole trip. For a convertible the car is pretty quiet, and the top stayed cool inside the car. I found out it's supposed to have the better quality top on it that became the standard issue on the 08's.
So now I'll get some pictures together of it and get them in a post in the next few days.
Guess that's it for now! Tad
On the drive out it was upper 90's and low 100's from Spokane out to the pass just outside of Seattle. It cooled down to the 90's then. We got to Mike's about 9:30 pm, and after a tour of the new place and a visit we all called it a night.
The next day it started out warm and humid. As these homes are supposed to be in an area that usually isn't hot, guess what, NO AIR CONDITIONING! So while I enjoyed the visit and getting to see most all of his home videos, it was just a bit of a miserable hot and sweaty day. By his temp sensor on his porch it got up to 95 by the afternoon. We had a great dinner, watched some Olympic coverage and that was the day. Sunday morning we all went out to a local IHOP restaurant and then we headed east while Mike and Brenda were heading home so Mike could see his recorded football game.
The drive home was way hotter than the drive out. Saw 102 to 108's all the way back and it was still 99 when we got home at 6:00 pm. Stuff in the back of the car was really toasty! We would have had to cancel if we'd been planning to ride the motorcycles out. We never liked riding back in California when it got that hot. Just wasn't fun to be sitting with a blast furnace blasting on you at 70 miles per hour!
Nope, we took the 'new' car.
Now, those that have known me for years know I've always liked sports cars. Don't know why really, but I've often thought that it started with my job as a kid at the Redlands Airport that I started at when I was 15. One of the owners I worked for, Fred Davis, liked Jaguar XKE's. Then he had two of them and those were his commuter cars to work most of the time. I got to ride in them occasionally. I guess that's where the sports car bug really started. Flying airplanes, riding motorcycles, and driving sports cars, ah... the good life!!!! right? Well I often thought so.
Over the years I've had a few sporty cars. I never really wanted to be a racy "go fast" kind of driver. If I wanted to go over 100 miles an hour that's what airplanes are for and it was so much safer! I've always liked the looks and handling of many of those kinds of cars. I've had a Triumph Spitfire, a 240Z, 5 Pontiac Fiero's, 2 runners and 3 parts cars. My fancy GT was a Mitsubishi 3000GT, a large stable great looking car that could cruise at 85 on the freeway like it was nothing.
When we moved to Idaho I decided then that the 3000GT would be an impractical car for Northern Idaho. So the day before the final move we traded it in on our GMC 1500 crew cab 4X4. So almost 2 and a half years later, got the job with the steady income over the sub-driver job, and Stacy in talking with me says we ought to go check out the Pontiac Solstice that's at the local GM dealer.
So we walk over after work one evening and take a look. It's a loaded model. Nice wheels, A/C, leather, 6 CD with XM (gotta have XM!), cruise control, just lots of nice stuff.
Now those not familiar with this kind of car, the Pontiac Solstice and its mechanical twin the Saturn Sky, are fairly small two seat convertible sports cars that have the looks with the top up of a kind of 1930's roadster. They debuted as a concept car that became a reality in just 2 years as a 2006 model.
So we test drive it, pretty nice! Doesn't handle bad at all and for being a sports car, it's really smooth on the road. Get back and Stacy starts talking about- how much? Well we really did luck out. Turns out it is the same 2007 that had been on the showroom floor since late 2006. I'd already sat in it a few times just looking longingly at it never in a million years thinking I'd have one, let alone this exact one! They want it gone because nobody buys sport cars up here! If we bought it it would only be the third Solstice they've sold since the car came out. We go home, we talk, do some checking, crunch some numbers. And go back the next day, a Saturday. We go get pre-approved at our bank, just in case. Go back to the dealer take it for another drive, talk price again with the sales people. Agree their loss will be our gain, and buy it! About $10,000 less than if we'd bought it back in 2006! They seem happy, I'm really happy! Thanks Stacy!!!!!!!!
I love it! It handles great, stable on the highway, perfectly flat in turns. Top up or top down it's really nice. Looks good, runs good and so far gets its EPA mileage of 26 highway. Okay, so there is a negative. Even in the Fiero, which was also a small two seat car, they could put in a 6 cubic foot trunk. In the Solstice, it's a weird shaped 5.2 cubic foot with the top up and only 2.1 cubic foot with the top down. So one packs pretty light. I think my Gold Wing can carry about as much or more in the trunk and saddlebags.
Now I've kept this all hush hush, because I wanted to kinda surprise Mike and Brenda when we went out to their place. So I didn't do what I wanted to do and blast all over a blog about it.
They even liked it also! Even Mike was surprised about how well the ride was. We took it for a drive after it cooled down to the low eighties on Saturday and had the top down. He was talking to me about maybe seeing if Brenda might think about trading in her car on one. I don't know about that though, she seems to really like her Cabrio convertible.
But, back to the trip! It was so hot we kept the top up and air conditioner on the whole trip. For a convertible the car is pretty quiet, and the top stayed cool inside the car. I found out it's supposed to have the better quality top on it that became the standard issue on the 08's.
So now I'll get some pictures together of it and get them in a post in the next few days.
Guess that's it for now! Tad
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