(no subject)

[katallison]

Ahhh ... it's most pleasant to start Sunday off with a mimosa, made with leftover champagne from last night's festive dinner with P. We have an anniversary-of-sorts in late March, a moveable feast, and so we celebrated last night with champagne and pistachio-crusted sea bass (*marvellous*--recipe can be found here). And we had our usual dispute about just how long we've been together; neither of us can recall with certainty whether we hooked up in '92 or '93, so it's been either 11 or 12 years. Golly.

We were also sort-of-celebrating a sort-of-decision I may perhaps have made ...

OK, for a while now I've been contemplating replacing my current car, the pretty-reliable-but-very-boring '92 Plymouth Sundance with 133,000 miles on it that I got from my brother. I don't *need* to replace it; it's still running OK, the rust isn't too bad yet, I could likely squeeze another year or two out of it. But I really, really would like to have a car with a few modern conveniences like A/C and a CD player and cupholders. And which I can feel confident will not die suddenly, stranding me in a remote location on a wintry night.

So the plan had been to shop around and find a good, low-mileage used Civic, or maybe a Corolla. A nice, sensible car. And I have dutifully searched, setting good realistic practical criteria, and found that there's a lot of cars on the market that would fill the bill.

But lo, in the middle of my sensible, realistic, level-headed proceedings, I was blindsided. As has befallen so many others, my steady settling into pragmatic middle age was ripped asunder by the lightning-bolt of Passion. Before I knew what had happened, I was smitten, moonstruck, infatuated. My head was turned, my heart was captured, my common sense went out the window.

Yes, mortifying though it is to confess, I have fallen like a ton of bricks for the Mini Cooper.

This is *mortifying.* I feel like a sedate businessman with a passion for a chorus girl. I know all the reasons why indulging this sudden fit would be irrational, including:

--It's little and teeny and if I ever need to haul stuff, I'm SOL.
--It costs at least $5000 more than the hypothetical used Civic I could/should buy instead.
--There are a *lot* of other interesting, useful, or more significant things I could do with that $5000.
--A car is not an investment, it is a money hole. It will only depreciate in value.
--Buying a *new* car is particularly stupid, on account of the depreciation factor.

Apart from the irrationality, what's especially disturbing to me about this infatuation is that it forces me to revise one element of my Definition of Self, namely I am not someone who cares about cars. My philosophy has always been that a car is a by-god utility, a machine for getting you from one place to another, and the only thing that matters is that it do so dependably, efficiently and cheaply. Spending a penny on anything beyond those minimum criteria is not something I do.

Except. Ahem. I really, really want a Mini.

So I went and test-drove one yesterday; I've gotten preapproved financing (at 3.85%, not bad); I've discovered I could insure it at Geico for about the same as I'm paying State Farm to insure my clunky Plymouth (clearly State Farm's been grossly overcharging me for years now, dammit). I'm going to do another test-drive on Monday, and at that point I should make up my flippin' mind one way or ther other. Even if I closed the deal today, it would take two months for it to be delivered (that's how back-ordered they are), so I'd have plenty of time to wallow in Buyer's Remorse.

Anyway -- for the first time, I'm actually posting a dopey poll soliciting advice. (Let's see if this works...)

[Poll #266271]

Comments

[umbo.livejournal.com]

This is a tough one. As you may or may not remember, I was looking into buying a used car a year and a half ago when my old Saturn was dying, but then I found I could get a *new* Saturn for the same payments, without any interest, which is what I did. I firmly believe in utility in cars, and the Mini definitely seems lacking in that, but I also know how excited I was to buy my new Saturns (I bought my old one new as well, back in '92), and even though Saturns *are* very practical cars, I also totally love them and am very brand-loyal, so I can relate to your Mini excitement.

One (very practical) question is how well would a Mini do in the snow? I know you generally walk to work, but you do also live in an area with a lot of snow, and there will be times you'll want to drive in it, no?

You could definitely get a *new* and practical car like a Saturn for the kind of money you're looking at spending on the Mini, so perhaps you ought to at least consider that--because I know from experience that it's very difficult to find late model used cars like Corollas and Civics and Saturns, because people tend to hold onto them until they have a lot of miles on them...

In any case, I send you hugs and wish you luck and fortitude in your search for the right vehicle :-)

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

I'm on my second Saturn in twelve years. I too am brand loyal. I went for the SUV this time and I love it :)

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Shell! Your point about snow is well-taken; if I had a brain I'd have done the test-drive while we had snowy roads. But the buzz seems to be that the Mini is pretty good in the snow, as small cars go; it actually weighs just about the same as a Honda Civic LX, and has a very wide wheelbase/stance for its size. My main concern would be whether it has the clearance to get over hummocks left by snow plows, but really, the only thing one can count on to clear those is a Jeep or something like that.

Anyway, I'm still doing the back-and-forth in my head, but as always, I really appreciate your thoughtful comments!