May 02, 2007
We Might Make a Deal Tomorrow.
We're definitely going used. The more I think about it, the more I want to do it that way. But not private party: I want more guarantees.
Bachelor #1 is a yellow Matrix, with which I'm secretly in love—because he has a sunroof, a tape deck + a CD player, a SIX-speed manual transmission, and a quirky maneuver for getting into reverse (one has to move a certain way, while reciting pagan incantations).
It's un-stealable: say there's a car thief who knows how to drive a stick—despite the fact that it's a dying art. He or she won't know how to get this bad boy onto the road. And it's got plenty of pickup, despite being a souped-up Corolla with a strange, practical Euro-style body.
Od: 35,326
Vintage: 2004
Extras: 4 years or 65,000 left on the extended warranty; tape deck
Even Attila the Hub, who was initially quite put off by the color (inspired, rumor has it, by French's mustard) is starting to warm to the quirky little car. I remind him that he only has to borrow it around three times, so he can get the feel of that funky reverse gear, and then he never has to set foot in it again unless there's an emergency.
Meanwhile, he's seeing more deep-yellow cars all over the highways, and is losing his reservations in that arena. "It's a cheerful color," I remind him. "Without being the kind of cop magnet that most shades of red are."
Bachelor #2 is respectable-looking Honda in a really beautiful light shade of metallic seafoam green. This one doesn't sport a sunroof: it's a grownup-looking car, but it cooks. It's got that Honda maneuverability, and the gears feel nice.
Od: 19K
Vintage: 2003
Extras: It just looks like a sober sort of sedan, in a non-aggressive/pretty color, and yet it maneuvers like a charm. Its another one of these small-but-clever cars, engineered so even tall guys like A the H can ride in comfort. Therefore, I could take him out to dinner without borrowing his car to do it. (Always a nice perk in the marital arena. When it's his birthday, I like to do the driving.)
Bachelor #3 is another Honda Civic, but of the hatchback variety they don't even make any more. He was a sweet ride. His bad habits: two doors (not counting the hatchback), and a rearview mirror that sucked, making daytime look like nighttime. But he might be available for less than his brother four-door Civic, and he like to rock and roll. For me the dealbreaker is that dim rear-view mirror—except that I know these are available on the aftermarket, and some of them are quite a bit better than the ordinary variety. This one is mounted into the windshield, but still: I'm sure there's a fix, and it probably isn't too expensive.
Besides, I carry a purse: think of all the time I'd save by throwing it into the back seat without having to open a back door! Two doors can be pretty practical, when you think it through.
There are a few aces up our sleeves, as Attila the Hub and I set out to negotiate with these people, and maybe even bring one of these sweethearts home:
1) My car works just fine. We aren't in a hurry.
2) When push comes to shove, I'm willing to drive an automatic, if it means a better deal. But they cannot sell their manual-transmission vehicles to people who don't know how to drive 'em.
3) A the H is using a special account for this purpose, and we put $4,500 less into it than we originally planned. This isn't an accident, or carelessness: it's because we knew that once I'd fallen for a couple of used cars, that would get us into a more appropriate price range for the models we were considering.
And I'm me: once my driveability buttons have been pushed, I'd prefer to spend the extra money fixing up our house. I want reliability, and a bit of a speed buzz. After that, who cares? I want to ditch the wallpaper, and paint this palace.
4) We are willing to walk. Not in a dramatic way, but if we aren't happy with a deal on offer, we will saunter off. After all, there are other sweet, sporty abandoned cars with stick shifts that are available for adoption all over the city. We are ready to deal—but not committed.
So if anyone's ready to buy a used car from an actual used-car lot, it's us. We are wearing our financial armor, and yet we carry the loudly beating heart of a passionate wife who has a deep need for speed.
The MoP and I have been really happy dealing with Enterprise Rental's car sales (http://www.enterprisecarsales(dot)com/carsales/home.do), and my daughter is quite happy with CarMax (http://carmax.com/).
You can preview cars on the web from both companies.
And, no, we have no interest in either company, except as occasional customers.
Let's see. . .
All signs point to Bachelor No. 1.
Guess that means you will go with the unmentioned 5th choice. Women!!!!
"Let the issues be the issue.
About Joy W. McCann: I've been interviewed for Le Monde and mentioned on Fox News. I once did a segment for CNN on "Women and Guns," and this blog is periodically featured on the New York Times' blog list. My writing here has been quoted in California Lawyer. I've appeared on The Glenn and Helen Show. Oh—and Tammy Bruce once bought me breakfast.
My writing has appeared in The Noise, Handguns, Sports Afield, The American Spectator, and (it's a long story) L.A. Parent. This is my main blog, though I'm also an alumnus of Dean's World, and I help out on the weekends at Right Wing News.
My political philosophy is quite simple: I'm a classical liberal. In our Orwellian times, that makes me a conservative, though one of a decidedly libertarian bent.
An American Carol rawks!
Main AAC site (Warning: sound-enabled;
trailer starts automatically.)
Buy Blogads from the
Conservative
Network here.
This is one of the last pix
we took before we left
the house in La Caņada.
I think it's very flattering
to Bathsheba the .357.
"The women of this country learned long ago,
those without swords can still die upon them.
I fear neither death nor pain." —Eowyn, Tolkien's
Lord of the Rings
Free Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani!
See Jane Novak's "Yemeni Watch" blog,
Armies of Liberation.
Free journalists and dissident bloggers, worldwide!
Some of My Homegirls— ERROR: http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display_raw.php?r=59e4b55f70f50de810150859b200a635 is currently inaccessible
ENERGY RESOURCES:
• API (Information on Oil and Natural Gas)
• Natural Gas
• The California
Energy Blog
• The Alternative Energy Blog
(Solar, Wind, Geothermal, etc.)
• The Energy Revolution Blog
• Gas 2.0 Blog
• Popular Mechanics'
"Drive Green"
MOVIES & TELEVISION:
Criticism—
• Libertas
(now on hiatus, but they'll be back!) • Pajiba
Real Indie Productions—
• Indoctrinate U
(Evan Coyne Maloney)
• Mine Your Own Business
(Phelim McAleer)
• Expelled: No
Intelligence Allowed
(Ben Stein, Logan Craft,
Walt Ruloff, and John
Sullivan)
Real Indie Production
and Distibution
Companies—
• Moving Picture Institute
THE SAGA OF LIFE IN
THE R.H. HYMERS, JR., CULT:
• First Installment: The Basic Story
• Hymers' History of Violence
• How Fun Is It To
Be Recruited Into Hymer's
Offbeat Church? Not Very. • How I Lost My Virginity
THE LITTLE MISS
ATTILA SAMPLER:
On Food:
• Dreadful Breakfast Cookies
On Men and Women:
• It's Rape If
You Don't Send
Me Money
• Women Talk Too Much;
I'll Date Dolphins
• Heterosexual
Men Are Kinky
• Hot Cars,
Hot Girls
On Animation:
• Freakazoid!
—the Commentary
• Freakazoid!
DVD
On Religion:
• Athiests and
Christians Talking
To Each Other
TESTIMONIALS:
"Good grammar, and better gin."
—CalTech Girl
"I enjoy Little Miss Attila's essays."
—Venomous Kate
"Joy is good at catching flies with honey."
—Beth C
"Your position is ludicrous, and worthy of ridicule."
—Ace of Spades
"Sexy."
—RightGirl
"Old-school."
—Suburban Blight
HAWT LYNX:
Teh Funny—
• Dave Burge
Interesting News Items
Civics Lessons—
Taranto on How a Bill Becomes Law
Editorial Resources—
• Better Editor
• Web on the Web
• Me me me me me! (miss.attila --AT-- gmail --dot-- com)
Cigars—
• Cigar Jack
Science—
• David Linden/
The Accidental Mind
• Cognitive Daily
Rive Gauche—
• Hip Nerd's Blog
• K's Quest
• Mr. Mahatma
• Talk About America
• Hill Buzz
• Hire Heels
• Logistics Monster
• No Quarter
Food & Booze—
• Just One Plate (L.A.)
• Food Goat
• A Full Belly
• Salt Shaker
• Serious Eats
• Slashfood
Travel—
• Things You Should Do
(In the West)
• Just One Plate (L.A.)
Cars—
• • Jalopnik
The Truth About Cars
SoCal News—
• Foothill Cities
Oh, Canada—
• Five Feet of Fury
• Girl on the Right
• Small Dead Animals
• Jaime Weinman
Audio—
• Mary McCann,
The Bone Mama
(formerly in Phoenix, AZ;
now in Seattle, WA;
eclectic music)
• Mike Church,
King Dude
(right-wing talk)
• Jim Ladd
(Los Angeles;
Bitchin' Music
and Unfortunate
Left-Wing Fiddle-Faddle)
• The Bernsteins
(Amazing composers
for all your
scoring needs.
Heh. I said,
"scoring needs.")
Iran, from an Islamic Point of View
and written in beautiful English—
• Shahrzaad
Money—
• Blogging Away Debt
• Debt Kid
• Debtors Anonymous
World Services
• The Tightwad Gazette
Sex—
• Gentleman Pornographer
More o' Dat
Pop Culture—
• Danny Barer
(Animation News) • Something Old,
Nothing New
(And yet more
Animation News)
• Sam Plenty
(Cool New
Animation Site!)
• The Bernsteins
(Wait. Did I mention
the Bernsteins
already? They're
legendary.)
Guns & Self-Defense— • Paxton Quigley, the Pioneer •TFS Magnum (Zendo Deb) •Massad Ayoob's Blog
THE BLOGOSPHERE ACCORDING TO
ATTILA GIRL:
The American Mind
Aces, Flopping
Ace of Spades
Argghhh!!!
Armies of Liberation
Asymmetrical Information
Atlas Shrugs
Attila of Pillage Idiot
Beautiful Atrocities
The Belmont Club
The Bitch Girls
Bolus
Books, Bikes, and Boomsticks
The Common Virtue
Da Goddess
Danz Family
Dean's World
Desert Cat/a>
Digger's Realm
Cam Edwards
Eleven Day Empire (James DiBenedetto)
Flopping Aces
Froggy Ruminations
Gay Orbit
Gregory!
Jeff Goldstein
Mary Katherine Ham
At the D.C. Examiner Hugh Hewitt
Hi. I'm Black.
Iberian Notes
IMA0
Iowahawk
The Irish Lass
In DC Journal
Infinite Monkeys
Instapundit
Intel Dump
Trey Jackson (videoblogging)
James Joyner
James Lileks
Rachel Lucas
Men's News Daily
Michelle Malkin
Nice Deb
No Watermelons Allowed
North American Patriot
On Tap
On the Fritz
On the Third Hand
Outside the Beltway
Oxblog
Peoria Pundit
Photon Courier
Power Line
The Protocols of
the Yuppies of Zion
Protein Wisdom
The Queen of All Evil
Questions and Observations
RightGirl
Right Wing News
Scrappleface
Donald Sensing
Rusty Shackleford
The Shape of Days
Sharp as a Marble
Sheila A-Stray
Laurence Simon
Six Meat Buffet
Spades, Ace of
Suburban Blight
TFS Magnum
This Blog is Full of Crap
Triticale
The Truth Laid Bear
Venomous Kate
VodkaPundit
The Volokh Conspiracy
Where is Raed?
Wizbang
Write Enough
You Big Mouth, You!
Support our troops; read the Milblogs!
LinkGrotto |
Support a Blogger at the LinkGrotto.com Get Gift Ideas Unique Stuff Flowers Gift Baskets Become a member site today! |