Well finally.
355 days of waiting. The new vehicle is in the garage. My wife drove it and I followed her home with hail and tornado warnings and lightning strikes on both sides of the road.
I drove it out of the garage (after the storm passed) while programming the homelink garage door openers and the seat memory positions and the phone pairing.
Freaking amazing tech. I can check the app and get battery life of the hybrid system or even the key fob batteries, a 360 degree view on demand around where it is currently parked, door lock and window status, interior camera views, everything.
I have 2:18 hours of instructional videos to watch just to learn the vehicle controls and features.
I did pay a little extra ($2k over 3 years) for some warranty extensions on electronics when I found out the “infotainment” head can run close to $15k but I now have have 6 years/100k bumper to bumper everything warranty and 10 year/200k power train.
I won’t be driving it for a few days but it seems pretty nice. If the wife like it (so far 🤞) we’ll be good for 100,000 miles no worries.
My wife is almost 70 and I’m 66. She kind of withdrew and wasn’t part of the decision stuff. We have been married 33 years. I didn’t realize she had never bought a car, never.
KIA is not a luxury brand but this top trim level has a ton of luxury features, warranty is to the horizon, tech is incredible. She loves the size, ride, and handling.
I backed it out of the garage and pulled it back in.
One thing I noticed is the Harmon Kardon sound system sounds really, really good, transition from gas to electric is seamless and nearly silent.
Can’t wait to drive it more than 12 feet.