Meet Pearl

BinB followers, meet my new car, Pearl. Pearl, meet my fabulous BinB followers! That's short for Bride in Boots, by the way. Catchy, no? I purchased Miss Pearl last night and love her already. Now I have nothing but kind things to say about White Lightning - let us take a moment of silence to remember her and thank her for protecting me in the crash - but Pearl is definitely an upgrade! I can't wait to figure out my Bluetooth thingamajig, so I can say "Call Home" or "Temperature 72 degrees" and it does without me ever taking my hands off the wheel. That is a nice little comfort after having an accident, when you think anything and everything on the road is out to get you! I am a 10 and 2 driver from now on!

So here she is, in all her glory. Check her out from the rear (don't worry, she won't mind).



And see her luxurious leather interior - complete with my only must, heated seats!


Standing out from the competition at the CarMax lot - which by the way, really is the way car-buying should be. Love that there is no haggle, no negotiating, no runaround. Quick and easy!


And according to automotive.com, is quite a buy. Here's the official review:

The Infiniti G35 offers the sporty handling of a rear-wheel-drive car and boasts one of the best V6 engines available today. The G35 comes in sedan and coupe variants. Either way, it's clear the G35 is intended for serious driving enthusiasts, with rear-wheel drive, a sports suspension, an available six-speed manual gearbox, and nearly 300 horsepower.
Yet these are practical cars, as well. The G35 sedan offers more interior space than other near-luxury sedans. Its daring design, with stacked headlamps, catamaran fenders, and short overhangs, gives it a unique look we find appealing. The G35 costs less than a comparable BMW or Mercedes, but it gives up nothing in handling and performance. Infiniti substantially improved the G35 for 2005, with richer interior materials, more horsepower, bigger brakes, and a more refined ride. And if you're really interested in hearing more (Dad), here is the Edmunds review.

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:

A little update on how my last week has been spent: since the guy who hit me admitted fault and we knew my Accord was a total loss, several people thought it would be easy-breezy to get my check in the mail and have a new car in hand in a week's time. Um, not so much. First of all, I got assigned to the worst insurance agent at Traveler's (the other guy's insurance, I'm a State Farm girl) and I'm pretty sure he hated his job and hated me for making his job more difficult. I was offered a reasonable value for my car, but after doing a bit of research and discovering I could actually get a lot more if I had sold the car, I decided it was time to up the annie (my mother just kindly emailed me that "ante" is actually the word I want here - sheesh) and we started a little game of Let's Make A Deal. Problem was, he didn't want to play. In fact, he didn't even want to return my phone calls. And he also wanted to limit my rental car to five days from the day the offer was made, even though I didn't find the offer acceptable and was NOT going to be out of transportation just because HE thought five days was enough for me to find a new car. So I put my mad skills to work, spoke with his manager while he was out of town, had the rental extended another five days, and increased the total value enough to get one pretty little down payment lined up. Take THAT, Mister Miserable Insurance Agent!

So I plan to take advantage of the gorgeous weather we have lined up for the weekend and taking Miss Pearl for a spin with the sunroof FINALLY open! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!