Wife decides on 'new' Honda Ridgeline

Well, my wife's leased Honda Pilot EX was coming close to its term. 

We picked it up on Honda's promo deal in the late fall of '05. I would guess they must have had too much of a stock in backlog, given the lease promo was for Zero (0) down, $279 a month on a '06 Pilot EX. Have not seen a zero-down deal since then (at least not with that low of a monthly). My wife has enjoyed the Pilot and really wanted something of a 'similar' vein.

So the Baton death-march of small-and-midsized SUV/CUVs began. Her first inclination was to get into the CR-V. Her parents have had 2 (Gen 1 and Gen 2) and she has liked those well enough. Off to the Honda dealer we go, drive a CR-V, drive the new Pilot, drive an Accord. "Meh" would be her most appropriate response.

Over to Toyota we go. RAV4 (in both 4 pot and 6 pot) and the Highlander are taken out. She 'prefers' the Highlander, but goggles at the price. "I could get into a Lexus RX350 for close to that" she says to me in front of the salesman. Okies...off to the Lexus dealer we go.

RX350 taken for a spin. She likes it. The lone Lexus dealer in Vegas, on the other hand, seems to think "negotiation" is only for poor people. Quote "If the price is too high, perhaps a Lexus is not for you." Yeah, I did drive up in my IS350, so you can kiss my hairy Russo/German ass. Perhaps that is why I didn't buy it from you, dolt.

Subaru and a spin in the new Forrester. Wife likes it, I'm luke warm. I do like Subbies and think they are the hidden gem of quality, just never been particularly fond of their designs. Okay, Forrester is put on the 'come back' list.

Off to VW next (my wife has an EOS and loves it). We take out the Tiguan (say that 10X fast...properly) for a spin. My wife likes it, I actually like it, I'm just not a fan of long-term VW reliability now-a-days, and the price is a 'bit' high compared to its competition. Nice interior, decent power, love the panoramic moonroof (yeah, I'm a sucker for those). Price becomes a sticking point. "Its new and in demand" says Igor (I kid you not) the salesman in a heavy slavic accent. Sure. Just keep saying that.
 

Next it is over to Carmax so my wife can drive several vehicles, guilt free and back-to-back, to see how they compare. While there, she hops into a Honda Ridgeline and after the drive says 'I like this'. Okay, we can look into that too.
 

To quote Inigo "Let's sum up": A few more dealer visits and a flurry of emails to in-and-out-of-state dealers brings back VERY good numbers on the Ridgeline (About $9K off MSRP). We now have a new '08 Honda Ridgeline RTL. Wife get's to keep the 'feel' she likes, and I might be able to retire one (or both) of the Jeeps. And I can hide corpses in the 'trunk' (on ice no less) ;)