Yuck – my car died and not in a very convenient manner. While driving to Indianapolis for a work function, the transmission started to go. It was slipping downwards and I could feel it, but I was hell-bent on arriving at my destination before the car actually died. I managed to get to Indianapolis, although I was white knuckle driving the whole way. I found a Lexus dealer online, mapped the address, and when I arrived in town, I exited off the freeway and navigated traffic lights and merge lanes with a vehicle that was lurching me forward and backward and occasionally sideways in order to arrive at my destination. I drove into the dealer parking lot, and my car expired.
Cars – so convenient yet so costly, such a necessity for most of us but yet so financially impractical. You purchase a vehicle, and it depreciates the minute you drive it off the lot. There is no long-term value in a car – over a short period of time it declines in price, dependability and quality. Usually, by the time you pay it off, you are ready for another new car, and another car payment. I am not taking pleasure in this impending purchase.
Since I now have to buy a vehicle as the transmission in my former car is toast, I am faced with a wide open landscape. A wide open landscape to me presents a lot of decision-making and I just find myself asking too many questions – Do I want a luxury vehicle? Do I want something practical? Should I buy a SUV or sedan? Used or new? Warranty or not? Do I want a BMW, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Audi? Do I look at a “green” car or continue in the American tradition of going big or going home?
I guess I am out of touch with my inner car personality and it irritates me that people do evaluate another person by the cars they drive. I am currently using my daughter’s Corolla since she works in the city and doesn’t use her vehicle, and when I drove it to work on Monday, a co-worker said “Nice Corolla – I saw about 16 of those cars in the high school parking lot on my way into work today”. Ouch. Can’t a grown middle-aged woman and senior staff member drive a Corolla? I need help – I’ve got nowhere to go. I am suffering from the baby boomers car journey – you are what you drive.
Cars define generations and the culture of the times we live in. We had the ’57 Chevy, the Cadillac Eldorado, the Buick Skylark, and the beach convertible. The sixties arrived with muscle cars, the Mustangs and the Camaro’s, not to mention the “Love Bug” Volkswagon beetle and the hippie counterculture Volkswagen vans. The 70’s brought the Ford Pinto, the iconic Smoky and the Bandit Pontiac Trans Am, the Pontiac Firebird, and anything with a vinyl roof. Enter the 80’s with the IROC-Z, Mazda Miata, or the spiffy 987 AMC Grand Wagoneer. The generations keep rolling and so do the car makes and models.
I wish that cars had magical powers like wands do in Harry Potter’s world. The wand picks the wizard – the car picks the driver. Since I cannot stand in a car dealership parking lot and watch as my “chosen” car drives towards me, I do have my criteria. Functionality over flash, gently used versus new, SUV model (Chicago’s winters can be brutal), new technology with blue tooth capability `and a “green’ish” car. There – that is it. Can I get all of this in an affordable car that will last 200,000 miles, a car that will not define me as a suburbanite mom, hipster, yuppie, urban professional, a snob, or elitist?
I realize that I would do almost anything with the money rather than buy a car, but that is not my reality. I have a feeling I am going to delay the inevitable and continue to drive the Toyota Corolla. I mean, after all – if it makes me look like I’m in high school – then why not? 🙂
Life Experiences Add Up 