For those of you that have been reading know that I've been car shopping after my accident on the 25th. I've taken test drives and slept on it and have come to a few conclusions.
The top three contenders are:
Honda Insight- The harp fit in the insight but it was a very tight fit. I was not that impressed with the power of the honda but after test driving it a second time I did not have the overwhelming feeling of despair, ha. Also, I do not move my harp every day. While I am very busy with performing and teaching rarely do I move my harp everyday except for December. The Insight would give me the excellent fuel economy of a smaller car plus the capability of hauling my harp when I need. Consumer Reports listed this vehicle's reliability as way better than average.
Mazda CX7: This was by far the largest vehicle I test drove and had the most room. The harp loaded very easily into the vehicle with no problems whatsoever. The only drawback to this vehicle is that the instrument cluster was confusing. This also had the most power behind it out of all the vehicles I test drove minus the VW. After doing some research I realized you can get a few more bells and whistles on the vehicle for the same price that you'd pay for the honda or nissan. Consumer Reports listed this vehicle's reliability as average.
Nissan Rogue: I really really enjoyed this vehicle. I liked the seat height and that it was not as wide as the Mazda. The harp fit beautifully with room to spare but not as much as the Mazda. Both the Nissan and the Mazda get comparable MPG so it boils down to features and price. The only drawback to the Nissan is that for the price range that I'm looking at I would end up with a vehicle with higher miles on it compared to the Honda or Mazda. Consumer Reports listed this vehicle's reliability as above average.
Here are the reasons I did not pursue the other vehicles I test drove:
Subaru Forester: I just did not like this vehicle, period. I did not enjoy sitting so low to the ground for a vehicle so large. The harp fit just fine with lots of room to spare but had very little power behind it and the steering was quite stiff. Most Subaru's have AWD which everyone raves about for snow territory but I just don't care that much about it. AWD adds about $2000 to the price of any vehicle and honestly my Jeep was 2WD and I did *just* fine in the snow. We don't get that much snow in central ohio so I'm not that concerned about it.
Jetta Sportwagon TDI: I absolutely loved this car, but there are several drawbacks to it. First off, any vehicle that is TDI is more expensive. The model I test drove was $24,998 which was just too expensive for me at this stage in my life. On top of that not all gas stations carry diesel fuel. Additionally, where I live we have a fuel perks program with Giant Eagle that currently does not include diesel fuel so I would not be able to use my fuel perks which I use extensively. Most imports, but the VW specifically, cost more money for general maintenance including oil changes and things of the like. Also the extended warranty for the vehicle would be the most expensive because it is diesel. So, while I would love to drive this vehicle and own it the timing just is not right for it. Maybe down the road but not right now.
Insurance has contacted me and informed me that my Jeep is a total loss which is not a big surprise there but what was a surprise was the amount they offered me, I'm very lucky! I need to do some more thinking and drawing up a pros and cons list to see what vehicle i will end up with. Stay tuned!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Harp Mobile Shopping
Every harpist knows that the second most important decision about your harping is what to transport your harp in. I had my Jeep for 6 years and loved it very much for it's high visibility, sporty look, and handling in the snow. My biggest complaint however about my Jeep was the MPG, I would get about 16-21 which isn't all that great. Every single time at the pump I would lament about purchasing an SUV to move my harp. Only 6 years ago harpists really only had 3 options, a mini van, a wagon, or an SUV; but now we have the fantastic world of cross overs which give the SUV feel but drive like a car with decent MPG. My priority list consisted of the following things:
1) Fit. The harp must fit, of course!
2) MPG
3) Miles on the car, my rule of thumb is no more than 12K/year
4) Price
I first made a list of 10 vehicles I thought would hold a harp comfortably and went to the dealership with my harp cover to test them in a preliminary round. Here's the list of vehicles I decided to try (in no specific order):
1) Scion TC MPG 22-30
2) Honda Insight MPG 41-43
3) VW Jetta Sport wagon TDI MPG 30-42
4) Subaru Forester MPG 21-28
5) Jeep Liberty MPG 18-21
6) Jeep Patriot MPG 22-27
7) Nissan Rogue MPG 21-27
8) Mazda CX 7 MPG 22-28
9) VW Jetta Sportwagon MPG 22-30
10) Honda Element MPG 18-26
Once I tested the preliminary round I arranged to have the salesman pick me up with my harp and take me to the show room to try loading it, this is what I found:
Interestingly enough the harp did NOT fit into a Scion TC due to the fact I could not close the hatch, the harp fit in with a flat load but I could not close the hatch, perhaps a smaller harp would work fine but my harp would not fit.
The Honda Element only works with column loading for a concert grand unless you have a smaller pedal harp then you could probably flat load it. I do not column load period so the Element was out of the question.
The Honda Insight believe it or not fit my harp. It is too narrow to slide the harp in straight so you do have to pick up either the column end or the knee block end but once you're past the wheel wells you're fine. It was a very snug fit but I closed the hatch with no problem.
The Jetta Sportwagon's fit beautifully with room to spare.
The Subaru Forester was an easy load with room to spare.
I decided against trying the Jeep's due to the poor MPG rating as they both got the same MPG as my Grand Cherokee.
The Nissan Rogue believe it or not fit my harp. Looks can very well be deceiving and you should NEVER rule out a potential harp car just from "eyeballing" it as I would have said "no" to the rogue but ate my words once I loaded the harp into it. Room to spare and the fit was very good easy to load as well.
The Mazda CX7 was another pleasant surprise as the harp fit easily with the most amount of room.
After figuring out what vehicles worked and what didn't I was very pleased to see that the majority of my picks actually hauled a harp. As far as the test drives were concerned i was quite surprised by the results which are as follows:
Scion TC: did not try obviously because the harp did not fit.
Honda Element: did not try due to only Column loading the harp
Honda Insight: It is very different as it is a partial hybrid that "shuts off" at stop lights etc. Wasn't very impressed with the power behind it only having a 1.8l engine 4 cylinder but my jeep was a 4.0 inline V6...of course anything less will feel like a snail. I enjoyed the digital display for the MPH etc was very nice. I also enjoyed when the car told me if I was driving 'eco" friendly or not. The average MPG at that time according to the vehicle was 46.7 btw.
Subaru Forester: Everyone that I spoke with *raves* about their Sub. but I just did not care for the forester. it was a very easy load and had lots of room but I personally did not like sitting that low for that big of a vehicle and found the power not very satisfying plus the AWD increases the price of the vehicle by at least $2500 and the steering was *very* stiff. Not impressed at all sorry!
Nissan Rogue: I very much enjoyed driving this car. I liked the height it provided me like my Jeep and it had maneuverability like a car. I liked that the display on the inside of the vehicle was orange, my favorite color. I really enjoyed driving this car. It does have a CVT transmission which can be a bit odd to drive at first.
Mazda CX7: This car was the smoothest out of all of them by far but was the biggest as well. It was very wide and had the most power out of all of them minus the VW's. I did not enjoy the instrument cluster as it was very confusing with quite a number of different controls. I liked the handling of it however.
Jetta Sportwagon TDI: Holy crap, what a dream!!! This car has it all the immense power behind it combined with the fabulous gas savings of a diesel (TDI means diesel) engine. This wagon was a complete blast to drive and made harp hauling lots of fun.
That's it so far in my quest for a new (used) harp mobile. Here are the specifics of the harp and myself for those of you wondering.
Me: 5'8 28w 145lbs
Harp: Salvi Diana
1) Fit. The harp must fit, of course!
2) MPG
3) Miles on the car, my rule of thumb is no more than 12K/year
4) Price
I first made a list of 10 vehicles I thought would hold a harp comfortably and went to the dealership with my harp cover to test them in a preliminary round. Here's the list of vehicles I decided to try (in no specific order):
1) Scion TC MPG 22-30
2) Honda Insight MPG 41-43
3) VW Jetta Sport wagon TDI MPG 30-42
4) Subaru Forester MPG 21-28
5) Jeep Liberty MPG 18-21
6) Jeep Patriot MPG 22-27
7) Nissan Rogue MPG 21-27
8) Mazda CX 7 MPG 22-28
9) VW Jetta Sportwagon MPG 22-30
10) Honda Element MPG 18-26
Once I tested the preliminary round I arranged to have the salesman pick me up with my harp and take me to the show room to try loading it, this is what I found:
Interestingly enough the harp did NOT fit into a Scion TC due to the fact I could not close the hatch, the harp fit in with a flat load but I could not close the hatch, perhaps a smaller harp would work fine but my harp would not fit.
The Honda Element only works with column loading for a concert grand unless you have a smaller pedal harp then you could probably flat load it. I do not column load period so the Element was out of the question.
The Honda Insight believe it or not fit my harp. It is too narrow to slide the harp in straight so you do have to pick up either the column end or the knee block end but once you're past the wheel wells you're fine. It was a very snug fit but I closed the hatch with no problem.
The Jetta Sportwagon's fit beautifully with room to spare.
The Subaru Forester was an easy load with room to spare.
I decided against trying the Jeep's due to the poor MPG rating as they both got the same MPG as my Grand Cherokee.
The Nissan Rogue believe it or not fit my harp. Looks can very well be deceiving and you should NEVER rule out a potential harp car just from "eyeballing" it as I would have said "no" to the rogue but ate my words once I loaded the harp into it. Room to spare and the fit was very good easy to load as well.
The Mazda CX7 was another pleasant surprise as the harp fit easily with the most amount of room.
After figuring out what vehicles worked and what didn't I was very pleased to see that the majority of my picks actually hauled a harp. As far as the test drives were concerned i was quite surprised by the results which are as follows:
Scion TC: did not try obviously because the harp did not fit.
Honda Element: did not try due to only Column loading the harp
Honda Insight: It is very different as it is a partial hybrid that "shuts off" at stop lights etc. Wasn't very impressed with the power behind it only having a 1.8l engine 4 cylinder but my jeep was a 4.0 inline V6...of course anything less will feel like a snail. I enjoyed the digital display for the MPH etc was very nice. I also enjoyed when the car told me if I was driving 'eco" friendly or not. The average MPG at that time according to the vehicle was 46.7 btw.
Subaru Forester: Everyone that I spoke with *raves* about their Sub. but I just did not care for the forester. it was a very easy load and had lots of room but I personally did not like sitting that low for that big of a vehicle and found the power not very satisfying plus the AWD increases the price of the vehicle by at least $2500 and the steering was *very* stiff. Not impressed at all sorry!
Nissan Rogue: I very much enjoyed driving this car. I liked the height it provided me like my Jeep and it had maneuverability like a car. I liked that the display on the inside of the vehicle was orange, my favorite color. I really enjoyed driving this car. It does have a CVT transmission which can be a bit odd to drive at first.
Mazda CX7: This car was the smoothest out of all of them by far but was the biggest as well. It was very wide and had the most power out of all of them minus the VW's. I did not enjoy the instrument cluster as it was very confusing with quite a number of different controls. I liked the handling of it however.
Jetta Sportwagon TDI: Holy crap, what a dream!!! This car has it all the immense power behind it combined with the fabulous gas savings of a diesel (TDI means diesel) engine. This wagon was a complete blast to drive and made harp hauling lots of fun.
That's it so far in my quest for a new (used) harp mobile. Here are the specifics of the harp and myself for those of you wondering.
Me: 5'8 28w 145lbs
Harp: Salvi Diana
Monday, January 28, 2013
Harp Transporting
I don't even know where to begin with this post. I would like to say that I have always always flat loaded my harp ever since I started moving my pedal harp. I know there are some of you out there that insist that Column loading is the safest way but after my adventure on Friday the 25th now I'm not so sure. I was in a very bad accident Friday when I veered off of a freeway going 70 MPH across one lane of traffic ending up in a ditch mowing over a fence and ended up rolling my Jeep four times. As if all of that wasn't scary enough I had the harp with me as I had just completed my DMA audition in Cincinnati. Miraculously both myself and the harp were ok just minor cuts/scrapes and superficial scratches. I credit this to a number of things including the most obvious, I was wearing my seatbelt. The seatbelt clearly did it's job as I did not move once inch and stayed in the seat. As stated earlier I flat load my harp but I have an obscene amount of padding in the back as well including a memory foam mattress pad, 4 blankets, and a gazillion pillows. I think all of the padding truly helped keep the harp safe as I only use the standard brown dust cover with my harp and not the heavy duty travel set (guess what I'm buying anyway??)
While I realize that all crashes are different I can't help but think how different my experience could've turned out if I column loaded the harp instead. Yes I realize I hit something head on and rolled which is completely different from getting rear ended at 70 MPH with the crown of the harp pointed directly at my back but really, would you want your harp sitting between you and your passenger in an accident? The next few posts will deal with shopping for a harp mobile. Stay tuned!
Friday, January 11, 2013
What Motivates you!?
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