Monday, November 10, 2008

A New Bane

I'm currently looking for an automobile these days. I'll probably be needing one for the winter (before the Christmas would be nice), and I've known this for a while. I went through the first, fun stage a few months/weeks ago. During long drives to races, I would have fun looking at cars passing by on the highway in order to figure out what I might want. This is what it's between:

A four door hatchback. Like a Yaris, a Dodge Caliber or a Honda Fit. The Caliber seems nice and roomy, and in the summer it would be nice to be able to carpool to places on the weekends. That would mean bikes on top, camping and race gear in the back, and four or five people in the car.

A Ford Mustang, around 2005/6 or so. Would that be a smart choice? No. But if I were presented with a fantastic deal for one, I would have trouble passing it up. I'd get it just for commuting and put a hitch on the back for bikes. Mmm, I've always liked the muscle-y looking Mustangs. I think I would be a Mustang if I were a car- kinda fast and powerful (looking, anyhow!) but nothing like a luxury sports car.

A small pickup truck, like a Ford Ranger. I had one in high school- what am I, going through my mid-life crisis? Anyhow, they get pretty good gas mileage, and I could fit lots of bikes and gear in the back. The downturn is that they'd really only fit Cale and I comfortably, even with the 'extended cab'. The good thing is, they're pretty super cheap, especially since I'm ok with going with a '98 with low mileage.

Car shopping is fun, right? So many options! Wrong. Car shopping is not fun, because you never know what you're going to get. Who can you trust? And it's not like a pair of jeans you can return. Uh-uh. And I know about jeans. I do not know about cars. I am pretty much the worst car buyer of all time. I don't know what I want, how much I'm willing to spend.... ugh. I go for days without caring, and then some days I just want to buy something and get it over with.

It's worse than deciding whether or not to train, or organizing the calendar. Do I get a very nice car (heheh, in my mind that just means 'newer used car') so that I don't have mechanical problems with it, or do I just get a stop-gap for the winter? What a pain in the arse. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to give up car shopping for today and dream of a Pegasus paint scheme on a 2006 Ford Mustang. Mmmmm, yeah. There it is.

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