As Kate and I set out to run errands the other day, the “Service Engine Soon” idiot light came on in my car (a 1999 Ford Taurus LX). This may or may not mean anything– Kate got one of those in her Prius a while back and it was nothing– but if it’s actually an indicator of anything serious, I’ll be in the market for a new car. I was already planning to unload this car in December, because the warranty on the rebuilt transmission runs out not long after that, but if I’m facing more than $1,500 in repairs, we’ll bump that up.<\/p>\n
So, my question for the bloggeratti is this: What kind of car should I buy? Bear in mind, any such purchase is subject to some contradictory constraints, which I describe below the fold:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1) Being both a squishy liberal type, and somewhat cheap, I would like a car that gets good gas mileage. It has to be better than the current car, which averages around 20 mpg in typical conditions (driving to and from work, plus weekend errands), and 25-30 on longer highway trips. No 9mpg SUV’s for me.<\/p>\n
2) I would like to have at least as much hauling capacity as the Taurus, probably more. I’ve often felt thwarted by the limited amount I can fit in the car, when it comes to home improvement projects and the like, so I’d like to be able to move more stuff. And while we don’t presently have kids, I’d sort of like to acquire some, which will require more space. So, no Mini Coopers for me.<\/p>\n
3) Following on that one, I need to be able to fit in it comfortably for multi-hour trips, as we make a fair number of three-hour trips to Boston to see Kate’s family, or Scenic Whitney Point, NY to see mine. This is the tightest constraint by far– I’m 6’6″, and around 230lbs these days– as it rules out more cars than you might think, thanks to stupid cabin design.<\/p>\n
As an example, when we went shopping for Kate’s cute little car, we tested both the Prius and a Honda Civic. I can drive the Prius for short periods (I can’t even ride in it as a passenger for three hours, though), but the Civic was right out. Not because it’s smaller than the Prius, but because there’s a six-inch plastic lip around the foot well, that forces me to rotate my right leg into a position where my knee is pinned against the steering wheel. There’s no way I could safely drive that car at all.<\/p>\n
4) Also, keep in mind that I’m a college professor. No $150,000 luxury cars, please. That’s not how we roll.<\/p>\n
In an ideal world, I’d be able to go out and get a small SUV that gets 40 mpg, and everybody would be happy. This is not that world, I know, so I’m open to suggestions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Kate and I set out to run errands the other day, the “Service Engine Soon” idiot light came on in my car (a 1999 Ford Taurus LX). This may or may not mean anything– Kate got one of those in her Prius a while back and it was nothing– but if it’s actually an… Continue reading Pimp Me New Cars<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-personal","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chadorzel.com\/principles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}