Hurray for Hyundai!

Yesterday (21 July), we went downtown again, to the Avis office. We had to renew our car rental agreement. Avis has so far been very helpful to deal with. We are on to our fourth car. We wanted to try out a couple of different makes during our stay to give us an idea of what we might want to trade our old Saab in for. Our first car was a Toyota Prius, the popular hybrid car, just like Denise's but in bright red. It drove very well, was spacious and we felt very "green" and eco-friendly driving it.

When we needed a car in Delaware and Pennsylvania I thought we should try out an SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), since we were going to the mountains. It was a large white Ford Edge, which was very "antsy" and "edgy" to drive. Just too nervous. Big engine and huge inside but difficult to drive on curvy roads. I was missing our ten-year-old Saab!

So we were happy to change it when we were back in Chicago. We got a light-gray Hyundai Sonata. I was a bit sceptical at first because it was so low but I just lowered the seat. Perfect! It is large inside, big boot (or trunk as they say here) and a very smooth engine and transmission. The steering is great too. Of course we got a problem with it in Saugatuck (a small leak in the tire) and had to change it for a very unpleasant Mitsubishi Galant.

We had to go all the way to Holland to do that ... well, the town of Holland is only 20 minutes away from Saugatuck. The staff was very friendly there but we got a bit of a scare when the car keys got locked inside it with the engine running ... it was not any of us who had closed the doors though, luckily. In the end the man managed to get a long metal stick inside to open the windows/doors. Just like a proper car thief. Now we know how they do it (well, I had to do it myself once, a long time ago in Florida, but that is another story...).

The Mitsubishi was fiery red on the outside but had bad materials inside. We quickly changed it (faulty 12 V outlet) for another Hyundai Sonata. The new Sonata is dark gray and we hope to be able to keep it until our friends from Portugal come the last week of August. Then we will need a 7-seater van to get around!

(J)