Well, it's a done deal. I am the proud new owner of a Mini Cooper S, blue with white bonnet stripes. I'd rather have had red, but I got a really good deal. I can pick it up on Monday. I'll try to post a pic.

It's funny, in the price range I was trying to meet, there weren't any good cars. Everything that even came close to fitting the bill made me cringe for at least one reason. Then I figured out that I could put more money down than I thought, which opened up some better cars.

I spent all day today (and most of the evenings this week, scouring the internet, & test driving cars. I tried a Scion tC, a Cobalt, Cobalt SS, VW Rabbit, VW GTI, and even a Jeep Liberty. In each one, I was non-nonplussed. Then I sat in a Mini Cooper S and got excited. Then I drove it and I was really excited. It was almost the same feeling I had when I bought my SRT-6. That's when I knew that I needed to spend the extra money and buy the Mini. What's 2 grand between friends? LOL! Thankfully Uncle Sam will be sending me 2 grand in a few weeks, so it should balance out in the end. Thank God I don't have to drive something I'll hate! I was starting to get really depressed about it!