The Road

I really want a new car.

The longer I drive the car I'm in, the closer the word "want" gets to "need."

This month is the 18th anniversary of when my current car was bought. I can remember spending the day at my grandparents' house, with my brothers, waiting for our parents to get back from Cowcity. When they got there, we were in awe. The three of us piled in as our parents got out and played Star Tours because it reminded us of the shuttle from that ride. (If our parents had bought it a year later, we would have played Star Trek, but we hadn't quite discovered the wondrous world of The Next Generation, yet.)

That's not what matters, though. It's getting old. It makes funny whine in four out of the five gears. Stuff leaks. And, frankly, I'd just like to feel cool driving a newer car.

If I had the money, I'd buy a brand new Prius or some other kind of hybrid. I figure that no new hybrid will sell for less than $23000. (Unless I get the teeny-tiny Yaris, but I'd really like to seat four people comfortably in my car, even if no one else ever rides with me.) I couldn't put more than $3000 as a down payment. That means if I want to pay it off in a reasonable amount of time, I'd have to pay more than $400 a month. I do not have an extra $400 a month in my budget, especially since my insurance would at least triple.

So, what about pre-owned? Well, since hybrids haven't been around very long, the used ones are all selling for more than $10000. All the ones at dealers, that I've seen on the interblub, are $16000 or more. My payment would be closer to $250 a month, which I could probably handle, but I wouldn't be putting much, if anything, in my savings during that time and I'd have to put paying my student loan on a much slower schedule. At a dealership, though, it's possible.

The hybrids that owners are selling are cheaper. Sure, still hovering around that $10000 mark, but that's thousands less than the dealer wants. The problem is that if I bought from someone who owns the car they're going to want the all the money the day I buy it from them. The fastest that I could save up $10000 is five months. Of course, that's five months without paying rent or utilities or car insurance or buying food or comics or gasoline. Five months with me not spending money at all. (Okay, if I drained my savings all the way to zero, it'd be closer to three months. But then I'd have no money at all. That seems like a stupid plan to me.)

Then I move on.

What type of car would I like to have if I can't have a hybrid?

Well, I'd like something that has the room to hold stuff. A car that can carry me and three other adults comfortably. I'd like reasonable gas mileage, like over 25 MPG. And, since I still hope to move up to Cowtown, 4-wheel drive would be a nice option for those all too common times that the county doesn't plow the roads until the morning after the night where all the snow that stuck froze solid and all the plows do is pack the icy snow down harder so when it starts to thaw, instead of melting away, it just creates a thin film of water making the roads even slicker than they would have been before the plows went by and then when it refreezes overnight the ice is even harder and therefore more slippery the next day when the sun comes out to tease a freezing world with its rays. (Also, they use sand in Cowtown, not salt, on the roads, which is fine when the ice is thin and going to be mostly melted away by that after noon, but not so good when the compacted snow/ice is half an inch thick.)

A car with space, reasonable mileage, and 4-wheel drive? Well, the only one that comes to mind is that Subaru Outback. I had a teacher who drove one of those when I was at JC. She was a graphic designer by trade, and used her car to pick up things that were printed and to travel to semi-faraway places to meet with clients. She really liked the car, too. Also, I used to drive Subaru Wagon, from, you know, the mid 80s. It was a pretty good car. (Yes, there were a few very expensive problems. One of the problems was caused by the previous owner putting a water tube on backwards so it was up against the hot engine so it melted and the car overheated and the engine because useless and then I got an engine, that wasn't rebuilt, just dropped into the car, and this led to other expensive problems because I don't think they really put in the same sort of engine. I really hated the place that "repaired" my car.) I could live pretty comfortably for several years driving an Outback that's five to ten years old.

Ah, but then there's the pricing. The cheapest, in my admittedly brief search, came up with a '97 for about $4900 sold by its owner. The pre '00 to '02 were all priced closer to $6000, though. Most of the dealer ones were $8500 or more. I could handle a car payment that would come off of that price. I'd rather just be able to buy it right out, though.

*sigh*

This weekend, I'm thinking of a test drive.

It Has Returned

From July through the beginning of September, there was a turquoise Plymouth Belvedere parked along the road on my walk to and from work. Every day as I walked past it, I'd slow down a little to enjoy it. Sometime's I'd reach for it, but I wouldn't touch it, I'd just trace the lines around it, trying to get a sense of the shape.

And then it disappeared.

At first, I just assumed that the owner's work schedule had shifted and that's why I didn't see it anymore. But it wasn't there on weekends, either. One day I ran back to my apartment on my lunch hour and it wasn't there. I figured it was gone for good.

Saturday, walking to the post office, it was back. Parked right where it had sat before, as if it had never left. (Here's a picture I found of one online for those of you who can't picture what a mid-50s Belvedere looks like. It looks a lot like the one I see.)

I've never been much of a car guy. I don't car about power and torque and the rest of the crap that goes on under the hood. I'm not a fan of muscle cars or massive trucks. I have, however, always liked the way that American cars looked in the mid 1950s. They're the cars that make me stop and stare.

There's something about the basic design so many of the cars had that just tickles me. Especially the hood.

So, until it disappears, again, I'll be taking a pause on my walk to and from work to stare at a car. I hope you don't mind.

(And for my mom, here's a 1957 Nash Metropolitan, another beautiful car design. These things were works of art, I tell you.)