When I left the house this morning, I wouldn't have guessed...

...that when I got home, I would be driving my dream car!

  (Well, "dream car" as in the family car that I really wanted but didn't think we could afford, not as in some exotic sports car that I KNOW I will never be able to afford.  HAHA!)

After months of research, looking, crunching numbers, and a really weird case of a "missing car", we finally ended up with the car that I wanted from the very beginning...A 2013 Nissan Pathfinder. 

I've been driving a Pathfinder for the past 7 years and I've loved it.  However, with it reaching almost 200,000 miles on it, I knew it was time to move on to something newer.  We have been so fortunate that we really haven't had to do much mechanical work on it, but I knew that the time was coming where it was going to cost us more to repair it than to get something new.  Plus, with all the miles I drive back-and-forth to work, I have to have something dependable.

I've wanted a new Pathfinder since the very first photos were released to the public, which was about a year ago.  We not-so-patiently waited for them to hit the dealerships....which finally ended up being late November.  But holy-moley Batman, they were expensive!  We didn't think we would ever be able to afford one. 

We changed our focus to something more affordable, which had us searching for Toyota Venzas.  They are pretty difficult to find used, and way too expensive when bought new.  We thought we had found the "perfect" Venza last week....well, y'all know how that turned out.  BUT, the one good thing that did come out of that trip, was the gum-smacking, pushy salesman told us that Nissan was offering VERY low interest rates on their new vehicles.

So, I went home, started crunching numbers using used car interest rates (for someone with our credit) and then using Nissan's credit rates.  Surprisingly, I found that we could get a brand new Pathfinder for just a few dollars more a month than a 2009 Toyota with 40,000 miles on it.  It was a no-brainer!

I found a super fantastic deal on a base model Pathfinder at Jim Burke Nissan, which just happens to be the exact same place we bought our last Nissan.  Their prices were literally at least $3000 less than all of the other dealerships within a 200 mile area (and trust me, we've looked at them ALL)!  We looked at the base model, but the above little blue beauty was sitting right out front...begging to come home with us!  Fortunately, I had printed out the ad for this one and was able to get it for LESS than the base models at all the other places!

I won't deny there was a lot of negotiating to get the deal we did, and at one point, we got up to walk away, but we ended up pleased with the final result!

We are so relieved to be done with this process and so happy with our new car!  It's the color I've always wanted, and it drives like a dream!

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I was in no way compensated for this post by Nissan or Jim Burke Nissan.  Just sharing my positive experience!