Ah, that new car (payment) smell!
After much agonizing, we acquired a new car late last month. You will notice how careful I am with the verb. I didn't say ‘bought', because it's leased, and I didn't say ‘got' because it's difficult to say which one of us ‘got' the other. Thoreau used to advise everyone who'd listen to ‘simplify, simplify' because if we have too many possessions they end up owning us.
Could be, but I couldn't picture myself getting to fast-breaking news stories (pothole fixing, etc.) on a bicycle, and when one has reached the age of sixty, a Harley is out of the question. I do well to wrestle my Froot Loops from the top shelf of the cupboard; what would I do with 500 pounds of egotistical motorcycle?
We - and I use the word ‘we' in the sense of ‘she' - opted for a 5-speed standard shift 2009 Toyota Corolla. I feel like what's his name Bernhardt at a NASCAR rally when I drive to the store. That is, when I'm allowed to drive the new vehicle. Yesterday morning as I prepared to leap into the car and dash off for a fast-breaking news story (Isama bin Laden and Elvis spotted at Tilley Takeout), I was informed that I had to (1) have a shower, (2) clean my garden-scarred fingernails, (3) wear my blue suede shoes, and (4) I couldn't take it anyway. "You have a van!" I heard through my tears.
Strictly speaking, we're not in debt because of this transaction; we're only renting, but we're looking at four years of monthly payments followed by handing back the car. There are pro's and con's to leasing and buying but I get a headache when I try and compare, so I'll leave that to a wiser head than mine. I've been informed that, on a wisdom scale of 1 to 10, where Einstein is 10 and George W. Bush is one, I am in the minus 3 range. Nature is cruel.
Whatever happened to that ‘new car smell' that vehicles used to have? This one smells like plastic. I yearned for the good old days of real smells, but, in truth, the smell didn't last long after I drove the car at 170 km/hr with the windows open all the way home. It smelled more like a police siren than anything else. Of course that was a lie about the 170 km/hr. The last time I went that fast was in a Boeing 737.
They tell you about all the advantages of driving a standard shift. There's the increased gas mileage, and then there's the getting the car to go farther on a litre of gas, and of course there's the fuel efficiency. However, I noticed there weren't a whole lot of other advantages. Since the car is a 2009, we didn't get the $1,000 cheque from the federal government that the 2007s and 2008s were eligible for. We're told a car with a standard shift costs about $1,000 less, but buried among the paperwork and bumpf we lost sight of that, so I guess it's just plain better gas mileage. Oh yes, I suppose we could count the exercise one gets from shifting 872 times a day.
There is one BIG disadvantage they don't mention; it is borne by people who have an automatic transmission vehicle in addition to that standard shift one. The first time I drove my van after driving the new car for a while, I almost put my foot through the floorboards trying to find the clutch at the first stop sign I came to. Does the car's warranty cover damage to the van caused by the car? I was thinking no, but I checked it out by phoning the warranty people. The woman said: "Just a minute, I want to put this on the speakerphone so everybody in the office can hear it. Would you repeat your request?" I did, and it was followed by a huge roar of laughter from somewhere in Winnipeg or Rangoon.At least I lightened their day. As time goes by though, I'm getting used to the smell and the transmission, but it may take a while to get used to monthly payments. We try to pay cash for everything and that has a lot to do with the fact that we don't buy or rent anything other than the occasional new car. When you don't got no money you shouldn't spend it. The price of lemonade has risen ten percent in the past six months; the necessities of life should come first, but in this case I was overruled.
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Bob's website: http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/lafrance/index.htm
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