I have a new Ford Escape Platinum Hybrid on order. Today I was informed of a scheduled build date of July 31 so I hope to take delivery early September. These are different times where there is little inventory on the lot, limited production and dealer allocation, and we are happy to pay MSRP.

My 2016 Jeep Patriot has only 51,000 km and is in excellent shape, a great used car for the right buyer. The Ford dealer has offered a low trade-in price so I am trying to sell the Jeep privately. The sales manager said it would be difficult to sell because it has FWD manual transmission but I am encouraged by the responses so far to my ads.

The primary reason for getting a new car now is to have automatic transmission for Aimeé to drive. She wants to learn and I think the latest safety features on the new car will help us both. I have to admit that I am attracted to all the latest technology as well.