The lease on Adam’s convertible is up in 2 weeks, and this weekend we finally faced the fact that we needed to replace it. Soon. And with something better in the snow than either of our cars, and with more cargo room than my Mazda 3 hatchback. We definitely needed something bigger, but neither of us was thrilled at the idea of a gas guzzling, environmental nightmare of an SUV.

I had an old beat up Jeep Cherokee in college that I adored. I called her Black Cherry (which was the name of her paint color). She was great for hauling around paintings and art supplies through my undergrad years. You know how you always love your first car? I loved that car. I loved that car to death, literally. At ten years old, it finally died on me while driving down the NJ Turnpike to a 4th of July cookout. And how spectacularly it died. The garage we towed it to gave us $50 to total it. And I haven’t had a need for an SUV since.

I replaced it with a bright yellow VW Beetle, which was such a great single girl running around the city car. The Beetle was perfect for my mid-20s, and I still miss it. Then Adam and I bought the Mazda, which we still have. And that was fantastic when we lived in Hoboken, and has been pretty great here, too. Then Adam got his convertible, great in the summertime but a nightmare in the winter.

So now that we’ve become this super suburban couple doing things like trying to get patio furniture home and maneuvering terrible winters, suddenly we need an SUV again. So after a ton of research and some great Memorial Day weekend finance deals, we bought a Honda CR-V today. And drove it home off the lot. I’m happy to say that it gets exactly the same miles to the gallon as my Mazda hatchback, the best of any small SUV we found. My mom is on her 2nd, and my aunt has one, too (they are also librarians who quilt, I swear I’m becoming more and more like them with every passing minute).

Has anyone else had to deal with the crisis of conscience when you realize you’ve reached the point in life when you need a big car? We’ve been saying for years we would be the couple with kids in a perfectly reasonable hatchback, who needs all that space? Well, after 2.5 years of owning a house and no kids yet, we figured out quick how hard it is to get stuff home in a hatchback. We’ve desperately needed a taller ladder since we moved in, but we still haven’t bought one because we have no way to get it home. And renting a U-Haul for a ladder is just ridiculous. We ordered patio furniture and spent a fortune getting it delivered because we couldn’t drive it home from the store. And forget trips to IKEA. Sad, but true.

Anyway, here’s the car:

I love this dark blue color, and I never thought I would. There was torrential rain when we left the dealership, so we couldn’t pose for the happy smiling new car photos there. Is it sexy? No. But it sure is practical, and really fun to drive.

The two cars next to each other. I never thought our “big” car could look so small. Adam’s convertible could fit in the trunk of that Honda. Now it will be the around town car that Adam takes to the ferry and that I take into Manhattan.

At the moment we have 3 cars, we haven’t turned the convertible in yet. Adam’s saying his goodbyes these next 2 weeks, and as a former Beetle owner I completely understand. But it has made juggling garage space, EZ Passes, etc. really entertaining.

And at least now we can say “Take the Honda” or “Take the Mazda” instead of having 2 Mazdas and being constantly confused.