Thursday, June 25, 2009

New Car

Miss Kitty, the Jaguar, has gone to her reward. Or to Trade-in Heaven, whichever.

She was to be inspected for safety in June, and I knew a couple of things which were not going to pass. However, when the mechanic called and told me the extent of it, well, it was apparent that Miss Kitty was going away.

(For the mechanically inclined, she needed new tie-rods, and in Jaguars, they're a single unit with the rack and pinion. She needed lower ball joints, a thousand dollars worth of tires, brake pads, and the air conditioner was acting funny.)

So, I started looking at all these deals out there... everybody wants to sell you a car. I had never had a new car, but the inducements made me look.

I looked at the domestic market, but the combination of what was available, what was offered in financing, and the prices simply didn't excite me.

I don't generally like Japanese cars. I feel a little sardined into the tin canniness of them.

New European cars are outside my budget.

Until I looked at Volkswagen. I looked at what was available, and the prices were very reasonable, the financing was competitive, and I went to test-drive on Monday.

I drove a Beetle. It was cute, and fun, but it wasn't very comfortable. I couldn't imagine driving hundreds of miles in it. We walked around the lot, and I looked at Jettas, Rabbits, the CC, diesels and gas. I told Pavel, our salesman (freshly from Russia), that I'd like to see a Jetta with a beige interior. He laughed, and said that he knew why; his car is black on black, and he had only recently discovered the joys of American summertime on dark seats.

Tuesday he called and said he had a red one and a white one. I went over and drove the white one, and really liked it. I filled out the paperwork to get the ball rolling, and made application at the same time at our credit union. Tuesday night, we went back to the dealership after the Cap'n got off work, and told him that the white one was the choice, and he offered us a better interest rate than the credit union, so we signed the papers, and on Wednesday at noon we traded both Miss Kitty and the ancient decrepit Volvo (dog and outboard motor car) for a shiny white Jetta named SeƱorita Bianca Jetta. And for the very first time, at the tender age of 51, I have my first new car. 17 miles on the odometer.

She has ball joints, rack and pinion, tie rods, air conditioning and all the things Miss Kitty was lacking. Additionally, she has a built-in satellite radio, so that I don't have to bring it back and forth from the boat any more, and bluetooth hands-free for the phone, so that I don't have to try to find another hand for the phone.

She is zippy, and responsive, with a 6-speed automatic transmission.

I don't look as cool as I did in Miss Kitty. But the a/c keeps me cooler.

The Cap'n is going to add a 12v plug inthe back for my oxygen... she came with only one.

And we still have The Cap'n's Batmobile for looking cool. And no, his a/c doesn't work either.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats Lady...a young Lady with a new car :))
Hope you had a nice trip and not too tired from Havasu....

Take care

Hugs :))
Jen

Annette said...

YOU GO GIRL!!! VROOM-VROOM-VROOM!