Archive for: vehicle

The snow blower saga

Last week we got quite a bit of snow and it fell on to about 6 inches that was already on the ground. Chris tried to drive down our very long driveway but couldn’t. Unfortunately our new vehicle is not as agile in the snow as our previous one. This left us with a dilemma – should we buy a snow blower? We have been in Canada for five winters and always got by but not anymore. So we made the decision, yes to a snow blower.

The ironic thing was we had to first clear the snow from our very long driveway in order to get the car out so we could go into town to buy a blower! So, dressed in layers we each grabbed a shovel and off we set to clear the driveway. It total it took us two hours and we were completely knackered at the end and knew we would suffer with our backs later, but it had to be done. Have I mentioned that it is a very long drive? Here is the result of our labours.

Next we went into town to find a snow blower. Of course this is the wrong end of winter to buy one as most places had very few models left. We ended up in Sears and chose one recommended by the sales guy who was very helpful. We paid for it and were told to pick it up from the collection area. This was fine until we realized it would not fit in the back of the vehicle. Remind me why we downsized our SUV? So then we decided to have it delivered. The guy told us we could have it delivered on Saturday (it was Thursday) and that it would cost $65. We then had to go back in the store to arrange this.

We had to wait at the cashier desk for ages whilst he dealt with another customer, then it turns out he didn’t know how to arrange delivery for an item that had already been issued a receipt. So we had to wait for another staff member to come over and help him. Eventually it was done and they told us they could deliver on Tuesday. We told them we had been told Saturday but apparently the person who told us this was wrong and shouldn’t have done so.

We really wanted the blower before that as we were forecast more snow over the weekend and would have to clear the driveway to allow the delivery vehicle access when it turned up. By this time (we had been in Sears nearly an hour) Chris was really fed up and decided to cancel the purchase and buy one from Lowes where we could hire a van for $20 and take it home ourselves. Unpon this revelation the sales guy phoned the manager and asked for help saying his customer wanted to cancel an order. Next thing we knew the manager was offering to deliver it himself that very afternoon.

This was great news, although one has to wonder why a store as large as Sears cannot deliver more than once or twice a week. Anyway, we gave directions to our house and drove home. About 40 mins later the manager turned up with the snow blower. We then realized we didn’t have any gas in the canister to fill it with, so whilst Chris read the instructions – well that is what he told me he was doing – but he is a man so he probably just fiddled with levers until he did the right thing! I went to off to get a canister of gas.

Within minutes of me arriving back laden with fuel the blower was up and running and off he went to try out his new toy.

Since buying the snow blower Chris has been out three times to clear the drive, so well worth the investment so far. Now he has his ride on mower for the summer and his snow blower for winter enjoyment. Boys and their toys!!

Oh, and yes we did suffer from the shoveling. Aching backs, aching arms and I am so glad we don’t have to do that again.

We have a new Hyundai Tuscan

If you skim back in my blog you will se we got a new Hyundai Santa Fe about two and a half years ago and have been very pleased with it. We had no intention of getting a new vehicle for another 18 months or so, because we had leased the Santa Fe for four years, However, last week Hyundai sent us a letter stating that they were in need of 2-3 year old cars and could offer great deals on new models.

I phoned the local dealership just to check that this was indeed the case and that the offer applied to leased vehicles and they confirmed that yes we could take advantage of the offer too. We made an appointment to pop in and discuss the options available. As we had not thought of a new car we hadn’t done any research on newer vehicles, so off to the internet we went.

We had no problems with the Santa Fe, but thought that perhaps we could get away with a smaller vehicle. We have a very long driveway that gets very deep in snow and we needed a vehicle that could cope with that so decided to stick with an SUV. That led us to the Tuscan.

It looked very nice on the website and it was a completely new design so would not look too old in a year or so. The Santa Fe is really due a new look, so the chances of getting a new one of those and then it being replaced next year or so was high. At least with the Tuscan we would get a new model.

We went into the dealership with all our original paperwork and they offered us a test drive in the Tuscan. We went out in a red one which had a brown interior that we did not like, but we did like the layout of of the interior. We also like the exterior very much. We decided after half hour drive that we would be very happy with the Tuscan as it offered all the things we like about the Santa Fe, but a bit smaller – I could actually put groceries in the back without having to climb in as it wasn’t as deep – yeah!

We drove back to the dealer and took a look at the models available. We wanted the GLS model with AWD and had a choice of several colours and much to our shock both chose the bronze. This was a colour we had dismissed from the brochure online as it didn’t look very nice, but in the flesh it looked much better. Also the interior was black which we loved.

Next we had to discuss the money side of things. We wanted to purchase this time rather than lease, so knew we might end up paying more per month, but they came up with an excellent deal which actually cost us less – that’s what I like to hear!

So we did the deal and are now owners of a brand new Hyundai Tuscan. Although we have only had it a couple of days we are very pleased with it so far. It is very comfortable, more so than the old car and it has an iPod connection which is a great bonus for me.

Here are some pics. The exterior ones are stock photos as it has been too damn cold to stand outside taking photos of it. But it is exactly the same as our model.

On a completely disjointed note, we have just spotted a chipmunk under the tree collecting nuts. Didn’t think we would see one of those again until April!