Yesterday I went car shopping with Peyton. I learned several things about cars, salesmen, my husband and myself through this experience. No, we didn't buy anything yet. First of all, I learned that there is almost no way to get a backward-facing car seat into the back my current 2-door BMW. I've been driving this 2000 328ci for 5 years now, and I've always loved it. It still drives like a dream (although it doesn't quite look like a dream, see previous posts). I tried to shove that car seat back there many different ways. The only way to get it back there is to turn it upside-down and diagonal to the left. That's not going to work if there's a sleeping baby in there. It's also a two handed shove job, but I don't think I can just lay a baby on top of the car or on the ground while I try to shove his seat in the car... So this is why I'm getting a new one.

Peyton has tried to talk me in to SUV's, but I just love driving a car. I particularly love driving BMW's, so we went out searching for the larger 5-sieries. While stopping at dealers, I learned that car salesmen are the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Man, are they nice... They also seem to be in love with every car you are looking at. They say things like, "Wow, I could sit in this car all day!" or "Holy cow! Look at all the space back here! I could just stretch out and take a nap!"

I learned that buying a car brings out the Scrooge in me and the 16-year-old, speed-loving rich kid in my husband... The faster the car and the bigger the engine, the more excited my husband got. His ears also perked up at phrases like, "sports package" and "turbo" and "loaded." Meanwhile I was getting nervous about spending money and getting more than I needed. We were looking at used cars, but BMW's still come with quite a price tag.

About half way through the day, I learned that there is another car that I find quite pretty. An Infinity. They are beautiful, curvy, and the M's are a bit larger than a 5-series BMW. I decided to give one a test drive. Pretty nice! Not a BMW, but comparable, still. They cost a little less too. We were looking at M35's, but then Peyton found out that there is an M45... of course he wants me to get that one instead. We've got some more research to do. I'm taking what I've learned and applying it to our next shopping trip. We'll see what we end up with. I'm hoping to make a decision within the next two weeks.