The Ridiculous Cost of A Hyundai Elantra

So we're getting bad gas mileage. And I mean really bad gas mileage. Like 140 miles per tank. We're used to getting 330-350 miles per tank.

So we took the San Tafe (Santa Fe, for those of you who aren't...Kami) to the Hyundai dealership in Utica to have them take a look at it, because it still is under warranty. Pulling up to the service door, we see they are looking for Hyundai Santa Fe's for trade-ins.

I like the idea of that, as does my lovely wife. So we ask about a trade-in for a 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe. The Hyundai Elantra is nice, and gets good gas mileage, and is cheap. We owe about what the San Tafe is worth, so that's good, too. We're thinking about monthly payments of $230, or much less than what we currently pay per month.

Two years ago some lowlife punk creep decided to break into our car three days before Christmas. The LPC took a big rock and threw it at the passenger side window. Except he missed. And hit the door. And dented it. Then he tried again, presumably from a closer distance, and got the window, stole everything on the inside of the car - namely about 60 cds, including just about everything Radiohead has ever recorded. We never got the door fixed.

So they ask what we will put down (and I say "Canadians.") We explain this is a spur-of-the-moment decision, so...nothing. They want my car. I want a new one. They want to give me a new one. That means the score is 2-1 Us. Said Elantra, they say, will give us payments for the next six years at $400. For an Elantra.

We laugh and laugh. The lady gets up and goes to The Negotiating Room, where I swear they just hit refresh on their e-mail, and then come back in and say $365. We laugh and laugh. Because it doesn't make sense to pay more for six more years for a smaller car than it does to pay less for two more years until the San Tafe is paid off.

We ask: "What the..."

Apparently, there's $3000 worth of damage to that passenger side door, lowering the value of the trade in. I neglect to mention the obvious fact that there is a service department not twenty yards from where we're sitting. We leave. And they didn't find the reason we get bad gas mileage. Apparently an Elantra costs $46,000. Then we saw an ad for a new Lexus for $350 per month - so a new Lexus is cheaper than an '08 Elantra...