Sorry for the late post today, it’s been one of those mornings for sure. Now I’m going to use the blog for something a little selfish right now.. I always give you guys advice about color choices and design dilemmas, so now it’s your turn :) And it’s totally un-design related.
For the past [almost] year Derek and I have been searching high and low for the perfect car to replace LaFawnda Honda. She’s been a steady car that is filled with memories and road trips and journeys back and forth to Lubbock. But the time has come to replace her with something shinier. We’ve looked at Fiats [to small for babies], Volkswagens [too unpredictable according to friends who have them], Minis [that's a whole other story that Derek will get to at a later time], Hyundais [the dealerships in SA are absolutely ridiculous], Hondas [not loving the new body styles], Fords [don't have enough features], Volvos [too expensive with barely any features], and Acuras [no wiggle room in the price]. Clearly we’ve been searching. I’ve test driven several cars at all of these places and had it narrowed down to the Fiat 500 Lounge, Volkswagen Passat TDI, Mini Countryman S, Volvo S60, and Acura ILX. Then after careful consideration and realizing I missed my window to drive a Fiat [married = babies in the future], and the warranty for the VW isn’t very good, and the Mini was going to cost an arm and a leg for the features I wanted and I’d have to custom order it and wait 10 weeks without driving it first [boo.], and I’d have to get a CPO Volvo in order to make it worth the money and up the warranty. And then there was Acura. I’ve loved the ILX ever since our friends at Gunn tweeted at me telling me how perfect it would be for a “young modern couple” like ourselves. I test drove it earlier this summer before it was released on the market and I loved it. But it made me nervous that it was the first generation of the ILX so it didn’t have any reviews or feedback from all of the car magazines and blogs. So I waited.
Fast forward to last night when I had it narrowed down to a Mini Countryman and an Acura ILX and my heart was completely torn. When I got home Derek said “we need to talk about my car and why you shouldn’t get a Mini” and there it was. My answer! So we headed over to the Acura dealership and looked at all of the new colors and models [now that they were available] and I test drove it one more time. It was love.
So that leads me to the most important question..
It’s a hard decision! They both have tan leather interior, and I do live in Texas which means it gets up to 115F in the summer [at least!].. just some things to consider when casting your vote :) Also if you have any insight on Acura or any of the aforementioned vehicles that I didn’t really love or any that I haven’t looked at yet, I’d love to hear what you guys think! This is my first big girl car purchase so I want to be thorough.
WHITE ALL THE WAY!!!
Black shows everysingle bit of dust and scratches so quickly.
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You didn’t mention Toyota, but I personally loved mine (Corolla). But, as the person above me said, white looks cleaner much longer than the black between washes.
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the girl Reply:
October 16th, 2012 at 11:41 AM
Oh yeah I loved your Corolla! That was super sporty :) Kind of manly though ;)
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I absolutely approve of you and the ILX.
As far as it being first-gen I say don’t worry too much about it. I have the first-gen TSX and it’s doing astonishingly well at +103k mi.
As far as colour I’d actually recommend grey with grey leather [like my TSX.] Black and white with tan show way too much dirt too fast. If heat is a concern, make absolute sure that you get the darkest legal tint for your region.
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the girl Reply:
October 16th, 2012 at 11:42 AM
I did like the graphite color that was in the showroom, but I heard that’s the most dangerous color to have because it’s the color of the road, and at dusk people can’t see you. Just things I’ve heard :) Twinsies!
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KRSTFR Reply:
October 16th, 2012 at 12:34 PM
I remedy that by always driving with my lights on. Also, I’m pretty sure the ILX has those fancy running lights so that helps a lot.
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White! My husband has a TL and loves it! We wanted white but they didn’t have one on the lot or the nearby lot and he was impatient and got a dark gray one. We love it though….he’s been trying to talk me into an ILX but I really want the RDX!
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the girl Reply:
October 16th, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Oooh yeah the RDX is pretty! It’s like the perfect size too! Have you driven the ILX yet? That thing is peppy! It was like a little bullet :)
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It’s a pretty sweet looking car for sure! And remember, Acura is just a fancy Honda and those last forever so this probably will too.
In Texas, I’d go with white. I had a black car and now I have a Graphite car and they get ridiculously hot in the summer and I live in PA not TX. My assumption would be that they both get equally dirty, although I can attest to the fact that black is pretty much always dirty, even when you drive out of a car wash.
Have fun with your big girl purchase! Buying a new car is fun, stressful, but fun.
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the girl Reply:
October 16th, 2012 at 12:52 PM
Thanks Brandi! That’s how I’ve been looking at it, I’m still in the Honda family which I love, it’s just a little fancier ;) You’re right it’s is stressful/fun haha It’s such a commitment! I wish I just had that much cash and could be like here you go! See ya! ;)
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Just got a new car… replaced the white mini van!! And now have a black car. However, black does show the dirt quicker but looks sporty!
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the girl Reply:
October 16th, 2012 at 12:55 PM
That’s my struggle Kelly, I like the sportiness of the black, but the practicalness of the white lol ughhhh :)
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Go for the white ….. It’s so pretty:-)
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i love the whiiittte! All the way!
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Any heat should equal white. I have a light blue Toyota Matrix (because the seats fold down for dumpster diving) but the interior is dark grey. Even when it’s 75 you need air conditioning. Plus the whole dirt and dust thing. It will never look clean except when you first pull out of the car wash.
Black is chic, but just too much maintenance. Good luck with the choice.
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white!
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We have a teensy weensy Peugeot 206 but our first “family car” will likely be a Volvo. My brother-in-law just chose the v60 (I thinnk) for his business fleet.
For the Acura… I think they’re both lovely looking. Some research has found car colour doesn’t make a different in safety, but there’s also this: “A study of different vehicle colours, conducted by Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) published in 2007, analysed 855,258 accidents occurring between 1987 and 2004 in the Australian states of Victoria and Western Australia. The study analysed risk by light condition. It found that in daylight black cars were 12% more likely than white to be involved in an accident, followed by grey cars at 11%, silver cars at 10%, and red and blue cars at 7%, with no other colours found to be significantly more or less risky than white. At dawn or dusk the risk ratio for black cars jumped to 47% more likely than white, and that for silver cars to 15%. In the hours of darkness only red and silver cars were found to be significantly more risky than white, by 10% and 8% respectively.” – that’s the sort of thing you might be more interested in once you do have a backseat full of babies.
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annabelvita Reply:
October 17th, 2012 at 4:24 AM
Wait, it totally wasn’t the v60! I chose that based on looks and only just noticed it was a hybrid. It was some volvo estate. Anyway, not that it matters…
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the girl Reply:
October 17th, 2012 at 9:32 AM
Ohhh very interesting! I’m definitely leaning toward white now for sure. “backseat full of babies” haha what a sight! :)
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I have a friend who drove a Passat for a few years and fell in love with German cars. She drives an Audi now and loves that too. She’s looking to upgrade to an Audi SUV now that she’s prego. I love SUV’s and am not sure I could go back to a car, but I drove a Toyota Camry for a while (white) and loooved it. It was a V6 and felt like it had a good get-up-and-go. I vote for white. Those Acuras sure look quite spiffy!
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You should get the white, looks so pretty! :)
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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FIAT!?!?!? *super sad face*
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the girl Reply:
October 21st, 2012 at 11:50 PM
I know I know.. It just wouldn’t be practical for all of our mini Derek and Catharines :) But I still love it so. If only they had a four door!
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