My girlfriend laughs that I spend more on my car than I do her. It's true. But nobody looks inside my girlfriend either. With the anniversary of my car just passed, we've accomplished a couple of milestones. When I first bought the car 5-29-06, not less than 24 hours I had the car in my favorite auto accessories shop to instill my navigation and satellite radio. I had Sirius satellite w/ a lifetime subscription in my 2003 Hyundai Tiburon, and paid $75 to have it switched into my HiHy. At 20,000 miles I started doing oil changes myself, and switched to Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30. After I had finished the oil change, I took the vehicle for a little road trip to my old college stomping grounds and w/ the same driving technique, I noticed a 1.3 mile gain in fuel economy. I have had 2 flat tires in my one year, both from nails. And I have to say, when it's -20 and the wind is blowing on a MN freeway, getting that spare from underneath is a total pain. What I would recommend (if you haven't already) is loosen up the plastic cover that holds the spare in place and wipe out all the dirt and grime that accumulates underneath it. It makes it tough to open, and even harder w/ gloves. The oil change is super easy to do by yourself, and there is this nifty little drain that's underneath where the oil filter is. I've noticed a weird rattling from underneath the chassis on the passenger side during high wind driving, and my Toyota dealership ordered a new heat shield to go over the catalytic converter. It didn't help it any though.

On 4-19-07, I was driving by my dealership and saw a nifty lil VW Passat for sale at a great price. Since I had just received my tax return (and credit) I decided to by another car. The whole reason, as I rationalized to my girlfriend for bringing home another vehicle was that I hadn't even owned my HiHy for a year and had put 32,000 miles on it. If I plan on having this vehicle for another 10 years or so, that is not how I'm going to do it. I had put my car into storage, but had taken it out for our anniversary to have her hand washed, detailed and waxed. As I was sitting at a stop light, staring at me across the way was my old Hyundai Tiburon. Not a duplicate of my car, not one that looked like it...it WAS my car. The license plate was mine, the ding from hitting a bird on the passenger side door was mine. And there we sat, both cars having their own little conversation with each other. It was comical at the least.

I'm averaging between 23-27 MPG, and am quite happy with my car. My husky loves the huge trunk, it has plenty of room during hunting and fishing season, and can hold all of my gear for work. I would recommend for those who utilize their trunk to flip over that highlander carpet in the back and use the rubber side up, or buy a Husky liner so you don't dirty it up too much. I've purchased exclusively Yakima components for the roof rack. Not that I'm picky between Yakima and Thule, but working for an outdoor retailer as well, I just get a better deal. That's my experience in the past year, but now I'm starting to drool for the 2008. I apologize for the randomness of my thoughts, but wanted to share them. Hope your experiences with your HiHy's have been as telling as my own!