Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Cars I Want

Noel over at The Power and the Money went to a car show recently. He talked about the vehicles he wants or liked based on what he saw there. He then asked what cars we'd like. Well, garsh, since we're going to be in the market in the next six months for a vehicle replacement (originally planned to replace my jeep, but instead will be replacing the PT Cruiser).

In all probability we will end up buying a hybrid SUV of some kind. It'll depend on what we enjoy driving when we test drive. Feeling mildly patriotic, I'd lean towards a Ford Escape:



Our goal here is that it must move at least 5 people. It must get better than 30 mpg. We would prefer 4WD/AWD: while generally unnecessary in the Bay Area, who says we are going to stay here in the life time of this car for our family? In fact, there's a nontrivial probability that we will be moving.

If the tech was really ready, we'd be buying one of these intead:


(hydrogen fuel cell vehicle! Yummy!)

or

(that's a Jeep SUV hybrid...wait...it's called an EV, but its not really, it's also not really out for sale, alas)

There are two cars that I can in no way justify buying that I really, really want. They say that your first time and your first love are people that are forever imprinted on your soul: you never forget them and you are always remain to some degree in love with them. That would happen to be true for me about my first car. That was a 1978 Jeep CJ5 with the three speed, 4WD V8 304. That Jeep, the Beep as she was known, has forever marked herself in my soul. I have a 1992 Islander now with the straight 6, but she's not the same at all. If I could, I'd buy another Beep:


That's not my Beep, cuz I don't have a pic of her. Alas. However, you get the idea. It's not a family car though and that disqualifies it from being bought for a few years. Sad part is each year there are fewer and fewer of them: extinction's a unforgiving biatch. Maybe I ought to make an equivalent...lol. Lasers, supercomputers, rockets...cars? Interesting career path that.

Oh, that last car I can't justify? Well, if I were single I might squinted hard enough to buy it, but...

(I've loved small sports cars since my Dad had a Spyder when I was in high school)

Lyuda likes the idea of getting it too. That's her kind of car. lol. We'll need to save up a bit first though!

Ok, readers, what kind of car do you want?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sheeeeit. The Tesla is nice, but we spotted another electric roadster that had more space. You won't believe the size of the Tesla interior. Trust me on this one.

One spin with the wife, though ... temporary cure for any marital difficulties will follow.

The Escape is a good vehicle. We're looking for something smaller, which is why the Fusion was on the list. The Escape suffers from the same problem as the Fusion. You see it, and you start to nod off. Even with Ford trying to imitate Caddy's most excellent front end, the Fusion-Escape combo is just plain soporific.

I understand about the first car syndrome. Now, the first car that I /owned/ was that 1980 Champ, and trust me, there ain't no nostalgia there. But the first car I /wrecked/ was a 1973 Camaro Z28 (see the pattern?) and I've been smitten for life.

Although that fourth-gen styling on the Camaro, combined with weird gearing on the shift, almost killed it for me.

We gotta get more people doing this on their blogs. There's a recession on, people! Car cars cars car car cars cars cars car car car = recovery!

Will Baird said...

What was the other Roadster?! CONFESS I TELL YOU! CONFESS!!!

The Escape is a little off putting for its styling, actually. You're right that it is soporific. We'd consider a Saturn Vue (2nd gen), but Saturn may flash vaporize. We really wanted an Outlook hybrid, but that's not in the cards any time soon.

My Beep. I really miss my Beep. She was fun. You wouldn't believe the stuff we did in that thing: snapping axel shafts to having timed races down the truck route that I really, really, really hope my father isn't reading this. This was our route. In that Jeep I did an average of 90 mph. AVERAGE. O:) (lucky to be fscking alive I am)