:mattLandia:

Five glorious years in the rockin' Hyundai Elantra GT are over. Done. Kaput. Alas, commuting in rush hour traffic day after day in an manual car drove me to the edge. So I decided I'd trade her in for something new, automatic, and just big enough to tow the Harley. My criteria: automatic, best gas mileage possible, large enough to haul the dogs around, powerful enough to pull a trailer with a Harley on it, and no more than 25k new. I slowly narrowed the field of candidates, landing at the Toyota FJ, Honda Element, Scion Xb, and the Saturn Vue.

The Toyota FJ won hands down on looks. The test drive was really nice, it was reasonably affordable, and looked bad as hell. But I just couldn't buy one knowing how many miles I'd put on it and how average/poor gas mileage it gets.

The Scion Xb was a promising candidate. At 16K, definitely the most affordable. However, it was just too small, didn't offer enough room to seat 4 and the dogs, and largely handled like a mini van. If I didn't have the dogs or the motorcycle, it may have made it further along the process.

The Honda Element was a strong second place finisher. It drove moderately well, although I thought it still drove a little squirrely at high speeds, perhaps due to it's rather short and tall profile. The Element wins the "most configurable" back space award. It can handle dogs, bikes, tents, etc.with ease. It's EPA estimate was also pretty decent on the highway at 27mpg, but still weak in city driving at 22 mpg. I went so far as to sit down and crunch numbers with a dealership. However, I have to say that I left Honda with a bad taste in my mouth. The whole pitch seemed to be "Um, yeah. We're Honda. You'd be an irresponsible citizen to buy anything else." I should also point out that I had already test driven the Vue once earlier in the week and gave Honda the opportunity to match every offer that Saturn was extending me (including almost twice the trade in value on my Hyundai).

So back to Saturn I went. I test drove the Vue again, hours after the Element, so things were fresh in my head. There was no comparison. The Vue just felt better to drive. Smoother, better visibility, and a really powerful V4. The interior appointments were classier, but not too much. It could handle the dogs and could handle the Harley. Check and check.

Which brought me to the price tag and gas mileage. I test drove Green Line Hybrid (a gas/electric model) which really blew me away. It was powerful, but smart. When you come to a stop, the gas engine stops quietly and runs on electric power, but as soon as you take your foot off the brake the engine comes on like it was never off. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW COOL THAT IS. At 27 / 32, this was by far the best option in terms of gas mileage. However, I had to suck up an additional 3K for it. After a lot of number crunching, I decided I would rather pay a little more knowing that I was doing my part to be more energy efficient.

And thus we enter the VUE ERA. I'll have to post a photo of my own in a few days. Here are the highlights: Black exterior, tan leather interior, moonroof, power everything, heated seats, 1 year of OnStar included, XM satellite, 170 hp, 2.4 Liter, Dual VVT, 4 cylinder, 4 speed auto.

And enough new car smell to keep me high for days.