My car has recently decided to begin resembling a lawnmower in sound. It's loud enough that people stare as I drive by them. I'm not quite sure what it is, and I really don't have the time to be dragging it around to repair shops. I have yet to find a trustworthy mechanic in this city. Everywhere I go, they want to replace the serpentine belt, flush the transmission, flush the power steering, replace the air filter, etc etc etc. I know enough now to know that is bogus. My serpentine belt cannot possibly need to be replaced every three months.

Now I'm thinking that maybe I should postpone my lofty goal of paying off that college loan at the end of this year, and instead funnel my extra cash into a savings account for a newer car. I could have $2000 saved up by December (more, if I paid the minimum on that loan, but I don't want to do that).

The question is, what kind of car do I get? I want an environmentally friendly one with good gas mileage...that pretty much means a hybrid. It would be nice to have a hybrid SUV so at least one of us had a car that could carry larger things. I trust Ford about as far as I can throw them, though, and I think that's the only option for a hybrid SUV right now!