Sorry, Planet - I Bought Another Big Ass Beautiful Gas-Guzzling SUV (I promise I’ll do better next time).

I swear I had the best of intentions. After driving our humungous gas-guzzling Infiniti SUV around for the past 10 years, I was determined to stop being “that person”…who places comfort over the care of our planet’s future. So, when our SUV started requiring significant investments in maintenance and the starter began to go out…it triggered the beginning of our auto-buying journey.

I knew an electric car would be too big a leap for us to take, so we were in the market for a new hybrid. I researched for months and landed on the 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander hybrid. Lorraine was on board but wanted to test drive one first. I reached out to several dealerships without getting any response (which is totally at odds with everything I’ve ever experienced with the aggressive nature of new car sales). Finally, I got someone on the phone who shared that this model had been placed on recall, and there was no indication of how long that would be. What?!?

We decided to move on to our next preference, a Lincoln Aviator hybrid. We made an appointment with the dealership, but once we got there, we were told that this vehicle had also been placed on recall. Unbelievable! Since we were already there, we decided to check out the Lincoln Navigator and took it for a ride. Lorraine was sold…but me, not so much…too big, and I didn’t want to feel like a luxury Uber driver. I wouldn’t hate it…but I really wanted to look around a bit more.

We drove over to the Land Rover dealership, and after an underwhelming experience with what they had to offer, we decided to check out the Lexus dealership next door. I had read a Car & Driver article that listed the top-rated SUVs of 2024, and the Lexus SUV GX550 was among them.

The Lexus dealership was packed, and we searched for the SUV in question on the showcase floor but didn’t see it. A sales guy approached us, and we told him about the vehicle we were interested in test-driving. He stifled a polite laugh…and said that particular model was hard to come by and that there was a long waitlist to get one. We shrugged our shoulders at yet another failed attempt, thanked him, and started to walk away when he said to hold on...that they may have just brought one in. He would check the service area to see if it had arrived yet. He returned 5 minutes later, telling us we were in luck, and asked if we wanted to take it for a test drive. “Sure,” we responded nonchalantly and followed him.

Lorraine and I post-purchase.

The brand-new luxury SUV was in a service bay, and we waited while they took the wrapping off. We jumped in, with me behind the wheel, and took it for a spin. It was a sleek ride with a luxurious black leather interior. And even though the front end felt like an elevated truck, it drove so smooth. I loved it, but I could tell Lorraine was not as convinced. And we had agreed that we were only going to test drive today…we weren’t going to make any impulsive buying decisions. So after we returned to the dealership, I told Michael, our sales guy, that we’d like to take some time to think about it. He laughed and said that, unfortunately, this vehicle would be gone by the end of the day. If I wanted it, I’d have to jump on it now. Normally, I’d brush this off as a typical sales tactic…but he didn’t come across like that kind of guy. So, we agreed to go to his office and discuss our options. Needless to say, we drove off in our new Lexus GX550…and left a long waitlist of about 50 people pretty pissed off. Apparently, there’s just a handful in Atlanta…and the demand for it is pretty crazy. Kharma baby! Live right, do right…good things happen. It took only a day for Lorraine to fall in love with it, too.

Ultimately, I did not get the hybrid I had set out to buy (sorry, planet), but I swear, the next one will be. And maybe by then, I’ll even go full electric.