Since you seem open to altenative modules, consider XML::Twig:

use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::Twig;

my $xfile = <<EOF;
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<unsold>
    <car>
       <model>Hyundai</model>
       <mileage>20000</mileage>
    </car>
    <car>
       <model>Jeep</model>
       <mileage>10000</mileage>
    </car>
</unsold>
<footnotes>
    <footnote id = "F1">F1 text</footnote>
    <footnote id = "F2">F2 text</footnote>
</footnotes>
</root>
EOF

my $t= new XML::Twig();
$t->parse($xfile);
for my $car ($t->root()->first_child('unsold')->children('car')) {
   print $car->first_child('model'  )->text(), "\n";
   print $car->first_child('mileage')->text(), "\n";
}
for my $fnote ($t->root()->first_child('footnotes')->children('footnot
+e')) {
   print $fnote->text(), "\n";
   print $fnote->att('id'), "\n";
}

__END__

Hyundai
20000
Jeep
10000
F1 text
F1
F2 text
F2
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