Saturday, January 15, 2005
Decisions Decisions
Today I made my trek to Ames to get my hair highlighted and cut. The drive belt on my car is starting to wear out, so I asked Ant if I could drive his. Obviously a drive belt is not something you want crapping out on you when the car is running and you especially don't want this happening on an interstate in the middle of nowhere on a butt cold day where the high temperature is all of 7 not including windchill. Anthony had asked that I put some air in the tires on may way there. I thought that would be easy enough especially since there is a Kum N Go just down the street on my way out. Ten extra minutes should be more than enough. I really need to start adding about ten minutes to whatever amount of time I think something will take to my calculations.
It ended up taking me two or three of those ten minutes just to get out of the driveway since Mr. Snowplow man was so kind to put the eight foot pile at the end of the street right by where our drive is. Even in my car I have to do some jockeying to get out so you can imagine what the case is going to be when a longer/wider car is involved. After I finally started down the road, the next task was the tires. The first three went along smoothly. The fourth - GRRRRR! I don't know what the deal was but it seemed like no matter how I put the nozzle on the valve, it was letting the air out of the tire rather than putting the air in. Rather than increasing the pressure from 30 to 35, it went down to 24. YIKES! I knew I was really getting short on time and I was afraid I would end up making the tire even more flat so I decided to call Ant and ask him to bring me my car so I could make my appointment. I called twice in a row - no answer. Well SHIT! What is the point of having a flippin cell phone if you aren't going to answer it? With that, I decided to give it one more shot to see if I could get it to work. Thankfully, I was able to manage it and was finally on my way by 20 to 11 (my appointment was at 11:30). I made it JUST in time.
Two and a half relaxing hours and $200 later, I was on my way back home. It was then that I started really thinking about my next car purchase. Ant and I had already made the decision that unless something goes horribly wrong with my car, that we will probably be "taking the plunge" about this time next year. By waiting until then, his car will be paid off and that way we will only have to pay for one at a time plus the insurance on his car will be that much less - financially it just makes the most sense.
On one hand, I'm excited about getting a new car but on the other, I'm sorry to see my black 1997 Sunfire go. It's been a VERY good car to me and except for a few minor blemishes which could be easily fixed (knock on wood), it's in very good condition for its age and mileage. Nearly 175000 miles and I have only had to make one actual mechanical repair that was over and beyond your normal maintenance. I only just had to change the battery this past May. The clutch, headlights, etc are still the original parts which were on the car when I bought it new nearly eight years ago. There's also the idea of possibly taking on a car payment again. I was hoping that we would be able to bank the extra money for awhile and depending how much the payments are, we may still come out on top if they are less than the payments on Ant's car but still, I would rather be putting away $1500/month than only $1000.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the cars who have made my short list. All that is left to do now is to find what data I can concerning the quality of the cars and to go to the dealerships and take some test drives when the purchase time comes around.
Audi TT
BMW Mini Cooper S
Chevy Cobalt
Mazda RX-8
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Nissan 350Z
Saturn Ion
Saturn Sky
Volkswagon Beetle
As much as I like the TT and 350Z, I don't know if I could justify spending nearly $40000 on a car since they do nothing but depreciate when you drive them off the lot, but if the statistics deem them the better cars and I'm pleased with the test drive, you never know. The Cobalt, Ion, and Sky, however, already have an advantage going for them at this point - that being that Ant can get a nice discount through work meaning that combined with what we will be able to put down on it, I could end up with little or no payment - gotta love that idea. :D
Oh well, we will just have to wait and see when the time comes.
Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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