Buying a car
This much I know: I need a new car.
All my life, I have driven only one car: Lady in Red. My first real love, Lady in Red is my '84 Chevy Camaro. Purchased from the original owner in 1992 when I was just a wee lad of 16, she has been my method of transportation for the last twelve years.
We've been through a lot together - a couple of speeding tickets, several accidents (only one of which was my fault, of course), a road trip up to Washington state, countless journeys from Mission Viejo to Stanford and back again, various girlfriends - but alas, as a 20 year old car, she's been having a lot of problems lately. While I plan to keep her so that one day when I hit it rich in education I can fix her up to her former glory, I need a more reliable and safe vehicle for my daily transportation needs.
And so I turn to you, gentle reader, for some advice. I really want a convertible. I've wanted a convertible all my life. At this point, I've got my choices narrowed down to three: Chrysler Sebring, Toyota MR2 Spyder, and Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.
I test drove the Sebring and MR2 yesterday. The Sebring, which is a lot larger, didn't exactly "wow" me. It was nice - basically what you would expect from a Chrysler. The MR2, however, was just super fun. It's incredibly small. Sitting in it, you feel like you're at Disneyland's Autopia (do they still have that?), and it is SO much fun to drive. Nice get up and go, plus it looks super sweet. At least, in my opinion it does. Mark went with me as my wingman (since he recently has purchased a car himself and is a deadly negotiator) and declared the MR2 to be "girly." To make things worse, a guy walked by as we were looking at the car, smiled and said, "Hey, that's cute." I assume he was talking about the car, but I don't want to drive a car that's "cute."
So I guess I really have two questions: 1) do you think convertibles are girly?, and, if not, 2) which of the three convertibles I listed above do you think is the best one for me?
posted by prez @ 8:58 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Yes and No... MR2 convertible - DEFINITELY YES. TOO TOO TOO TOO TOO Girly. Unless you want people looking at you tooling around with Mark and thinking "Oh look at that cute couple..." No MR2 for you. Convertibles as a rule do tend to scream girly fun. However, you can balance that out if you choose something with enough horsepower to have a reason to pop open the hood and point (knowledgably of course) at the engine and say "yessiree, that IS a V6 under there." At the very least, find a car that's bigger than you. Anything that looks like a toy - MR2, Audi TT, Honda Spyder, etc... is made for a 5'2" girl named Brit or Deb. I'd say take a look at the Audi A4 cabrio, the BMW 330i, but those sometimes scream "I'm euro-gay" - you gotta have the right attitude to pull off driving one and be male. You might consider the classic american Vette, just steer clear of the Mustangs, it'll fall apart before you drive it off the lot. A really nice convertible for guys is the new T-bird. Classic lines and for some reason, I can picture you in one... Good luck and happy shopping :)
While those more manly convertible options are certainly appealing, in particular the Thunderbird, none of those suggestions is anywhere near my ability to pay. Alas.
See my most recent blog entitled "Where have you been?" for the latest frontrunner in my quest for a new car. What do you think about that?
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