A CNN Article about people buying Metros on Ebay

I still think $7K is a bit much. But it did make me a lil nostalgic for the Aspires (may they rest in peace).

Part 2 of my bad week turns out to be that when I got home from work (1.5 hours late due to a meeting) and tried to turn on my car, it would not turn on. This is highly ironic considering I had just made an appointment for my 30,000 mile service. I am currently waiting for warranty-covered roadside assistance to come give me a jump. My main triumph of the past 12 hours is not letting this overshadow everything else good, and not succumbing to my immediate reaction which would have been, a few years ago, to freak out completely, cry, and be a total bitch.

Book club last night was awesome and hilarious. 8 nominations for long nonfiction!!! I'll post the winner later in peril_book_club.

In case you forgot how much I love my car Jennifer Spankmobile, since I haven't been talking about it, here:

The most fun of the bunch, by a good margin, is the Mazda3 s Touring. Even though its 160-horsepower, 2.3-liter four was the least-powerful engine in this test, it ran the sprints about as quickly as the lighter and more powerful Matrix, and it plain spanked all comers in the slalom, figure eight, and skidpad tests, testament to its balanced chassis and superb handling.

Yesterday I dropped Scott off at the Saturn dealership, and one of the sales guys sauntered over to ask me about my car. I effused about it for a while, and he told me about the upcoming Astra. I did my best to be my usual self, aka a walking ad for the Mazda, and he said next year I should come by and try out the Astra. Sure, dude. This got me to missing thinking about cars, so now I'm all thinking about cars again.

By the by, Saturday I think we'll be seeing that ice skating movie Blades of Glory at the Columbia mall theater around 3:45.

Chili planning has commenced. I am down to 3 fingernails... total relapse. Back is OK-ish. Softball tonight. Softball cancelled due to wet fields! Lame!

It came from the Car Talk feed: 24 Hours of LeMons

By the way, thanks to the kindness and generosity of y2kdragon, I was able to test drive a Honda Fit, his in fact. I can say with confidence that this is a great car. If I had not set my sights for horsepower so high, I would absolutely be considering buying one. As it is, I know that for practicality's sake I have dropped *sigh* the Mustang off the list, but I keep thinking about how awesome it would be to drive. So with that perspective in mind, the Fit was up against a bad attitude.

The comfort level is really nice, and I think tall people will be surprised at how at home they can feel in the Fit. It's a little taller than most small cars and it helps make it feel more roomy and guys like Jack won't have to lean the seat back at a 45 degree angle. The front dash controls (radio, climate) are within easy reach when I am sitting in the driving position. I can see out the back just fine and the blind spots seemed relatively small on my short test drive. The other thing i was really curious about is how all the foldy-seat options worked in practice. They seem pretty miraculous on the brochure, but do they really work? I felt like the "long" setting where the front seat folds back to meet the back seat was not necessarily as clean cut as it looks in the brochure, and would take some muscling around to get right. The "tall" setting is nice to have and a great design idea.

Actually driving it was hard to assess, because I am so used to a manual transmission, and this was an automatic. I think any car suffers when you go from one to the other because it never shifts when you want it to. I did note the shift paddles on the steering wheel (only on the Sport) so I could have downshifted if I wanted to, but I was scared to use them. (The Mazda 3 has a similar pseudo-manual thing on its automatics. Although I plan to buy manual.) So it got up and went a little better than my car, but after driving the Mustang and the Mazda, it wasn't, as I suspected, enough for me. Although in the manual I bet it would be awesome for an economy car. Steering and curves were great. The car handles perfectly.

All in all I can give the Fit two thumbs up, although I think my heart is still set on 160hp. (The Fit is 109hp.) Basically, if the drums can be squeezed into the Mazda, that's what I'm getting. It's just a matter of Jack giving the high sign.

On that note, has anyone ever done one of those negotiation things, where you get a company to negotiate the price for you? USAA my insurance company has that, as does my bank and AAA. But I'm hesitant because I don't know if they actually get the best prices. On the other hand, I LOATHE haggling and negotiation.

And thank you tirani for the spaghetti. It was fantastic. And it was lovely to see you both after so long.

OK sometimes I do love working from home, because I can tell you that Ellen Degeneres is looking hot today. No, I never thought I'd say that, and I like girls.

Today's survey: If you have a sun/moon roof in your car, do you actually ever use it? What do you like about having one? I mean really I've never noticed anyone really getting anything out of having one.

Note to car salespeople everywhere: After the third time you say "I don't want to pressure anybody" each additional time you repeat that phrase you are convincing them less and less.

Everywhere I go in my living room or kitchen, there's a shark fetus staring at me. -.-

Test drove the Mazda 3 on the way home. Flowery hearty things.

Trying to decide on my next car is going to give me a brain aneurysm.

( privilege-steeped whining beyond the cut )

I made a spreadsheet. About the daily cost to operate the car. Gas, insurance, payment.

Current per day: $5.88 (obviously, I don't have a car payment.)
Mustang per day: $28.47
Mazda 3 per day: $21.89
Forester per day: $24.05

It would cost me about $8 a day in gas to drive to work in the Mustang. My insurance would double. (It would almost double with about any new car, is the thing.)

It is good to balance dreaming with thinking during this process. In the meantime, I really hope my car keeps going for a little while longer, because I am going to miss fun money.

If you don't mind my asking, how much does it cost you a day to drive your car? I turned on anonymous posting if that makes you feel better.

Dragged Jack out tonight to test drive the Mustang, finally. I think he may have come away from the experience more excited than I was. My excitement was tempered a little, but that's like saying Tom jumped up and down on Oprah's couch one less time. I am happy that the visibility isn't too bad out the back, and trepidatious about the stiffness of the clutch pedal. The first time I got into any traffic, I'd literally cry from the pain in my left leg.

After we got back to the lot and had the proverbial cigarette, I drove the RSX. I believe this was a poor choice of order of operations. Like I said to Jack, it's like going to the gun range and firing the 50 caliber Desert Eagle first. Everything else just sort of pales. I also took a closer look at, but did not drive, the Honda Element (the sales guy just wanted to show it to me so badly!) and the Subaru Forester. Dirty little secret: I love the Forester. If I had dogs, I'd git me an Element, btw. Designed to be hosed down!

Then we went to Tampico, ate fajitas, and did Mustang impressions. Or Muppet impressions. It's a fine line. ("GUnhhnghaBRrrrruuuugggg" "burrrrburrrburrrr") He's so sweet to even begin to even think about considering this as a remote possibility for our little family unit.

Next up: Honda Fit, Mazda 3, things they don't have on the Carmax lot.

Earlier this week I participated in a one-shot tabletop game of Mortal Coil run by Rob D. It was actually quite fun. I haven't played a tabletop game since either Ash ran his game or since Chris ran 7th Sea? If I am forgetting someone's TT I've been in in the past 6 years, I apologize. Gene's zombie game! I knew I was forgetting something. I didn't perform real well in that one, as I wasn't taking it too seriously. Anyways, I typically snark about roleplaying and get all snobby about it but I'm actually a total freaking n00b who has no idea how she'd react if she was really challenged. I got really into it! I mean, I thought I couldn't really "act" anymore. But I think I was kind of chomping at the bit to do that. I suprise myself constantly. To round out this post, I will just note that this is my favorite of those RPG motivational posters that are going around.

Maybe you've heard this already, but they are bringing the SmartCar to the US.

http://www.smartusa.com/

The only way they will sucessfully sell this is if they can show a film of the thing being impacted by H2s and Escalades at various angles and the people inside walking away. The smart car is a great idea, but seems incredibly risky considering the percentage of cars on the road here that are 6 times bigger at least.

But uh, kudos to them for trying!

This is the stuff that's been ruling my life lately:

	Garth Nix and his book Sabriel. It's a good book. It's no major work of contemporary literature, but I really enjoyed reading it, enjoyed the characters, enjoyed the fact that the hero is a girl. He gets into the world without a bunch of excess hoo-hah and without a single eye roll, for me at least. They keep this one in the YA section, so if you're out of Harry Potter to read, or if you want something a little more gothy, pick this up. It's a good escape. I'll be starting on Lirael after I read the book for peril_book_club.
	Carpenter Ants. So we sucessfully got rid of all the teeny ants. They are dead dead dead or they figured out we're not a hospitable location. But now we're getting those big, nasty looking centimeter long ants, specifically in the kitchen. I asked Jack to go ahead and call an exterminator, because I am so over not feeling like I can cook in the kitchen. Bah. Ew.
	The Mustang. Since the radio in my car (or more likely one of the fuses) pooped out, I have been unable to entertain myself any other way on my morning commute than looking at other cars. Fortunately I enjoy this. I've been counting the number of Mustangs I see, what model, and whether it's a convertible. The Genesis forum guys have been telling me a little about how it is to drive a rear wheel drive car, and I positively itch to test drive one, but haven't had time. I wish I knew a place you could rent them. I'm saving up money, so we'll see. My car is getting... worn around the edges. I will just thank my lucky stars it is still running.

Other than that, we got murdered in softball yesterday. I brought Lou along to play with us and he had to endure trial by fire. The team we played belongs in the fricking B league, not the D league. This would be tolerable to some extent if they had more of a sense of humility about it. But anyways, it sucked only in the sense that we lost, I still managed to have fun.

I got the best of Inked on Netflix. Silly me, I thought the show was about tattoos and tattooing! Seems like it's more about the stupid melodrama of the staff's lives. So far, I way prefer Miami Ink. I think about my new tattoo design idea every day, but I still fear it being in such an obvious spot. I go from feeling like "I am so ready!!!" to "God I'm such a candy-ass and I can't get it THERE" on a regular basis. I wish I could shuck off my last reservations because the idea just gets better and better and more developed. I suppose the other barrier I have is that I'm scared I won't find anyone I feel I can trust enough to do it. I know I have lots of recommendations but I really want to feel comfortable with the person. Sigh. Angst.

Time to go deposit the ol' paycheck and have the celebratory paycheck lunch at the Lebanese Taverna.

According to my revised vehicle desires (upon reading Consumer Reports' new car magazine) I am undergoing what would be called a small mid-life crisis. I am now wondering if I could swing either the Acura RSX, VW GTI, Mazda 3, or Civic Si. And to further prove I've been captured by aliens, I find myself wanting a spoiler to make the car look "cooler". Can I look at myself in the mirror? Yikes.

The Mustang V6 has a very poor reliability rating. The V8 is much better, but I can't justify that. It's just wrong. While that is the most attractive car on the market right now (one girl's opinion) it definitely fails more than one practicality test. It fails virtually all of them.

But suddenly, incredibly practical little hatchbacks are looking more like underappointed little boxes. And they don't really have that much cargo room. And if I'm not going to have cargo room anyways, why don't I get something that will accelerate decently?

* What cars turn your head when you see them on the road? And I don't mean Lamborghinis, I mean regular cars.

(Lately for me it's the Mazda Protege5 but that's not in their current product line.)

Footnote: I can't get over how many SUVs there are out there. It still baffles me every day. It's so expensive! Way more expensive than my sportycoupe dreams!

I have finally got around to revising my hatchback grid. (Original discussion here.) I have added both the Mini Cooper and the Pontiac Vibe, and I substituted the Mazda 3 in for the Mazda 5. (For some stupid reason I thought the number had some relation to the number of doors on the car. Silly me.) The Vibe is now 5th in the MPG race, and I will note that it gets tons of great reviews. It is available in an AWD version which is neat, but will no longer be available on the 2007 version. So here you go:

Hatchback Comparison v.2

I itch even more to test drive. Honda, Toyota, Mazda, and Suzuki are the top of my list for that. Maybe later this summer. Not that my car is a problem, although right now it smells like death is coming out of the AC vents so I swelter. I just want to be prepared. In case. (Yeap, jinxing myself right there.)

On test driving... some things I want to make sure I check for are:
a) a place to hold one's ipod
b) a place to hold one's phone that is not the place the ipod is sitting
c) a place for a drink that is not either of those two places
d) good rear visibility
e) lack of road noise

What else are quirky things you pay special attention to on a test drive?

So after seeing the new Honda Fit ad in ReadyMade, I got all worked up about the hatchback offerings in this country again. Yeah, yeah, I've been talking at length to myself about my evil desire for a new Mustang, but can I really ever justify that to myself? No. So let's get back to nature: the hatchback. (Longtime readers will remember my threatening letters to Toyota regarding their unwillingness to bring the Echo hatch to the US. Maybe they heard me!)

My Hatchback Comparison Grid.

I spent an unreasonable amount of time (and lost a certain amount of sleep, obviously, it being almost 2am) tonight fooling around on auto websites to bring you this, the smart buyer's guide to hatchbacks (and one wagon, because I heart the Outback) in one simple page. If I have missed any hatches available in the US, please let me know. Or if there's something I didn't compare (I left off warrantees because it was annoying me) let me know and I'll add it.

There are some clear winners in certain categories: Yaris/Fit for gas mileage. Aveo for price (who knew you could still get a car under $10k!). Yaris for color choice (there's a whole essay on the stupidity of only having blue, silver, white, and red to choose from welling up inside me as I write this). Scion for audio options. Kia and Chevy for not populating their brochures with inane flowery verbiage.

The Aspire 3.0 just hit 105,000 miles. Some of you may remember back in November last year when I spent $900 getting some bearings in my tranny replaced... that was about 6 months ago. I think $150/mo is not so bad. I remember thinking "if it just lasts three months I'll be okay with this..." but now I would be happy if it got me another year. I am optimistic. Doesn't stop me fetishizing other cars. The Aspire understands. I'm just polyautomotive.

Here's how to get me to interview you:
001. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
002. I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal.
003. You update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
004. You include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
005. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

(I am mildly concerned about my ability to keep up with #5 but I'll give it a shot. If all 260 of you ask for questions they could get boring. ;))

Interview questions from tirani:

1) Where would your dream wedding be?
( answer )

2) What's your favorite special treat now that you're on weightwatchers?
( answer two )

3) Why do you love your little aspire hatchback so much?
( answer three )

4) Why did you start drumming?
( answer four )

5) If you could go back and change one thing in your life, what would it be and why?
( answer five )

- My car made it up over 100,000 miles (long live my car)

- My drum teacher says "it comes easy" to me (after I whined for a few minutes about how frustrated I am that I can't play any songs yet)

- How could I have forgotten about "endearitating"?

- I am totally dragging through January trying to recover from losing my footing during december. Ugh.

I made a mix to celebrate my reunion with my car this morning.

1. Coldplay - Trouble
2. Tenacious D - Kyle Quit The Band
3. Paul Young - Every Time You Go Away
4. Grass Roots - (I'd Wait) A Million Years
5. Londonbeat - (I've Been) Thinkin' About You
6. Mike Nesmith - Dedicated Friend
7. Breakfast Club - Right on Track
8. Monkees - I Love You Better
9. Phil Collins - Against All Odds
10. Grant Lee Buffalo (Carpenters cover) - We've Only Just Begun
11. Connells - Home Today
12. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
13. Grateful Dead - Hell in a Bucket
14. Neil Young - Long May You Run
15. Mercury Rev - Goddess on a Highway
16. Journey - Open Arms
17. Peaches And Herb - Reunited
18. BeeGees - Grease
19. Simply Red - Holding Back the Years

so it wasn't, as it turns out, the throwout bearing in the clutch. it looks like it is the input shaft bearing in the transmission. so regardless of whether i have a working car in the end, we will be paying for the labor they already put out to deal with the clutch. then, if it's not completely unreasonable, there is the cost of fixing the transmission. which, by the way, he says has had the wrong fluid in it all this time. which may have caused this bearing to go bad. so for two years now (3?) i've been merrily driving around a car that was already doomed to have its input shaft bearing go bad because of long-term poison.

hey, and if not that, we pay a bunch of money to junk the car and go through the horrifying bureaucratic nightmare of buying a new or new used car.

jack is being way more supportive than anyone ever could be.

i just wanted to let the poor little thing see its dream of crossing the 100K mile mark.

as much as i talk about wanting a new this or a new that, i love my car. i don't want to buy a new car. please please please let the input shaft bearing thing be the least expensive part of a transmission to replace so i can just go on with my life.