Friday, 06 March 2009

• New Car!

  This is my old car, an early 1990s Buick Regal with a lifetime of miles and a trunk full of broken dreams.

  

  She had over 250,000 miles, and was dependable, comfortable and indeed venerable. The car never had a problem that wasn't related to wear-and-tear, and the engine never had a problem period. A great solid, dependable GM car, albeit a greying one and one with less than ideal gas mileage.

  Towards the end of her life, not surprisingly, the car's health got rocky: there was increaasing rust, a leak in the power steering, worn cloth seats, a broken antenna, rather ineffective wipers, and some other small things. What put things over the top was the driver’s seat. A few months ago one of the 4 bolts that holds the seat to frame broke, which wasn’t that big of deal as the seat wobbled a little in the front. Then, however, over Christmas another bolt broke, this one also in the front. What this meant was that when I got into the car and sat down, the seat would flop back in an almost 75 degree arc, very silly and very dramatic, this happened a lot initially. But being a product of dysfunction I soon tolerated the problem, found a work around, got through, and the automotive system bubmled onwards, thought I’d have to subtly lean forward and also havfe both hands on the wheel.

  Okay so that was both stupid and unsafe, which I knew.

  So, when I got back from Europe and the car wouldn't start (below zero weather killed the battery) and the pickup that I borrowed from my dad broke down in an intersection, I took this as a sign. And I searched aggressively and thoroughly for a car. I finally settled on something in my proce range that wasn't extravagant, was used but with low miles and years, looked cool-but-not-showy, had a high safety rating, and 25+ mpg gas mileage.

  A search which finally led to a car through my credit union (who knew they dealt in cars?), which offered an awesome interest loan and an impossible to beat low price (and the credit union has high trustworthiness in my book).

   

  Here is the car:

  

  It's a Mazda 6S 6-speed with 8 air bags, anti-lock brakes, 20,000 miles and 1 1/2 years left on the bumper-to-bumper warranty - all for an extremely good price. It really played off to be cheap, and to hunt around.

  Nowadays, I don't feel like I am in danger, I both feel safer and I am safer, plus I get better gas mileage and I can go faster, quicker, cooler. LOL

  Yeah, I guess it was prudent to drive my old Buick into the ground, but I can't believe I waited 2 years to buy a new car. true, that's two years of car payments I didn't have to make, but still, 2 years?? I guess at heart I am cheaper than I thought.

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