new car
Just got home for the first time this year (it may only be the 4th, but it has been amusing me lately to say "I havent been home all year") as I was at the car dealership picking up my new car.
Saturday I was out at my parents' house - was going to help cut up some firewood or somesuch, but prospective buyers were coming to look at the house so we cleaned all morning instead. To make ourselves scarce while people poked around, we went out for a few test drives (just killing time really, not terribly serious about buying a car for a couple weeks or maybe even waiting a couple months for my birthday).
I had decided on a mid-sized sedan, something nice but there was a slight thought of going overboard and buying a luxury car. My father really wanted to check out the Subaru Impreza so, despite not even being on my radar, we went to test drive one just to humor him. After that, we went off and drove a Nissan Acura, and poked my head into the VW place for a Jetta (diesel of course). The whole test drive thing wasnt serious shopping anyway, just looking to see what is out there.
On the way back to Girl-in-Pink's place I stopped by the Subaru dealership again and put down a deposit (finance people had already gone home, or I would have taken it then and there). When we first got to the dealership, there was a little dark grey hatchback impreza sitting on the lot which drew my eye; it was the color I wanted, with the features I wanted, and it was there waiting for me. It is far smaller than I was looking for, and a hatchback rather than a sedan, but it grew on me.
Minor quibble that is bugging me a little is that I've not been able to find a suitable place to stick my little stuffed penguin mascot. Step 1: find a home for my little penguin to sit, Step 2: name the car and give it a proper christening (wink wink, nudge nudge). Oh yeah, and I suppose Step 3: RTFM (but really, cars are pretty standard, not like I will find anything surprising in there, but maybe there is a nifty feature about the ipod hookup or something i dont know about).
Winter has probably skewed my perspective slightly, but the all-wheel drive, tooshie toaster (TM), and wiper de-icer drew me in.
Though I've preferred manual transmissions in the past, city driving and the sappy desire to hold my girlfriend's hand have pointed me to an automatic - now I have the 'sport shifter' thingie so I can manually control the gear shifting if I need it for hills or snowy conditions.
Went with the hatchback because of cargo concerns - it is a smaller car, and the back seats folding down for lots of room for serious amounts of stuff was important. Speaking of which, all the stuff I normally cart around in my old trunk just about filled up the back of my new car - guess I should pare down the standard giant pile o crap (about time I took out the camp chairs, inflatable mattress, and the like).
Could recap this lovely long weekend with Girl-in-Pink, rant about job stress and the tough week ahead, lament my neglect of wonderful friends (still havent managed to respond to all the new years wishes - I'm seriously bad about that. been long enough i might not even bother at this point), or any number of other things, but perhaps another time. For now, I have a new car.
Saturday I was out at my parents' house - was going to help cut up some firewood or somesuch, but prospective buyers were coming to look at the house so we cleaned all morning instead. To make ourselves scarce while people poked around, we went out for a few test drives (just killing time really, not terribly serious about buying a car for a couple weeks or maybe even waiting a couple months for my birthday).
I had decided on a mid-sized sedan, something nice but there was a slight thought of going overboard and buying a luxury car. My father really wanted to check out the Subaru Impreza so, despite not even being on my radar, we went to test drive one just to humor him. After that, we went off and drove a Nissan Acura, and poked my head into the VW place for a Jetta (diesel of course). The whole test drive thing wasnt serious shopping anyway, just looking to see what is out there.
On the way back to Girl-in-Pink's place I stopped by the Subaru dealership again and put down a deposit (finance people had already gone home, or I would have taken it then and there). When we first got to the dealership, there was a little dark grey hatchback impreza sitting on the lot which drew my eye; it was the color I wanted, with the features I wanted, and it was there waiting for me. It is far smaller than I was looking for, and a hatchback rather than a sedan, but it grew on me.
Minor quibble that is bugging me a little is that I've not been able to find a suitable place to stick my little stuffed penguin mascot. Step 1: find a home for my little penguin to sit, Step 2: name the car and give it a proper christening (wink wink, nudge nudge). Oh yeah, and I suppose Step 3: RTFM (but really, cars are pretty standard, not like I will find anything surprising in there, but maybe there is a nifty feature about the ipod hookup or something i dont know about).
Winter has probably skewed my perspective slightly, but the all-wheel drive, tooshie toaster (TM), and wiper de-icer drew me in.
Though I've preferred manual transmissions in the past, city driving and the sappy desire to hold my girlfriend's hand have pointed me to an automatic - now I have the 'sport shifter' thingie so I can manually control the gear shifting if I need it for hills or snowy conditions.
Went with the hatchback because of cargo concerns - it is a smaller car, and the back seats folding down for lots of room for serious amounts of stuff was important. Speaking of which, all the stuff I normally cart around in my old trunk just about filled up the back of my new car - guess I should pare down the standard giant pile o crap (about time I took out the camp chairs, inflatable mattress, and the like).
Could recap this lovely long weekend with Girl-in-Pink, rant about job stress and the tough week ahead, lament my neglect of wonderful friends (still havent managed to respond to all the new years wishes - I'm seriously bad about that. been long enough i might not even bother at this point), or any number of other things, but perhaps another time. For now, I have a new car.