New Cars.

I'm not much of a car collector anymore. I just see them as a way to get from point A to point B, and as long as they run reliably and fill the purpose they were intended for, I don't give them a second thought. My idea of fun is not going down to the dealership and seeing what new marvels they have. My Toyota Matrix is a base model from 2006, which was a replacement for the exact same car when that one was totaled. My plan is to drive it until it falls apart, which, judging by my current mileage, will be in about 20 years.

I bought my late father-in-law's 2007 Honda Fit on a whim, mainly because it was mint, extremely bare-bones, had a manual transmission, and gets great gas mileage. Didn't really need it, and it really isn't going to save me a ton of money over my Matrix, but it's kinda fun to drive a stick again.

My wife, however, likes new cars. She's been begging me forever to replace '11 Honda Pilot. I was hoping the Fit would quiet her yearnings for a while, since she's taken it over for the better gas mileage (twice what the Pilot gets). However, when my mother-in-law got a new car, my wife started looking again.

This time she went with a Toyota Highlander hybrid, which gets great gas mileage but has no hitch and anemic power. It's all pretty inside, so my days of hauling lumber in her car are pretty much over. Guess I'm installing a hitch on the Matrix and using my cargo trailer in the future. I expect this car will last about seven or eight years before we trade it in, given the usual lifespan of hybrids and how they're designed to be disposable. That sort of thing works for her, but less so for me. Then again, I'm the guy who is sticking with rim brakes and 10 speed groupsets for the most part.

Oh well, she seems happy. That's kinda important when you spend so much time away from home. Money may not buy happiness, but it does buy cars. If being surrounded by new-car smell instead of the stench of a decade's worth of kid-dropped french fries makes her happy, who am I to question it? She has enough stresses in her life these days.

I don't think for a minute this will give me carte blanche to go out and buy a new bike or whatever, even if I wanted/needed/lusted after one. Not how it works. I'm trying not to buy anything online while I'm gone, hopefully saving a bit of money and reducing the clutter I spent all summer removing from my house. I still have a long way to go, so adding to the pile doesn't seem like a good plan. More clutter won't make me happy. Quite the contrary.

When I buy stuff these days, I'm trying to buy things that will last and have utility, rather than things that will become clutter or trash. It's not always easy, when so much of what is out there is designed with a finite service life. Still, I think it's a worthy goal, and one I'll pay extra for.

My wife may disagree.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Luke Simpson

Image
A couple years ago I participated in a stage race and had the honor to meet Saul Raisin, the former professional cyclist that suffered a debilitating traumatic brain injury during a race in Europe. As I listened to him speak and later read his book about his recovery, I (probably like most people) had two thoughts:                 “What an inspiring story.” …and more callously,                 “Wow, sucked to be him.” The second thought was just a result of thinking it would never happen to me. If you run the odds, it just doesn’t factor into the threat matrix as prominently as teenage girls with cell phones or that sketchy Cat 5 on the brand-new Madone. Then I got my bell rung. I’ve seen my share of stars and cartoon tweety birds over the years, but this was the first time I was knocked unconscious and woke up in an ER. Another driver’s moment of inattention resulted in a totaled car and weeks of disorientation, speech delays, and random face plants. It didn’t occu
Read more

Narrowed Focus

OK, here's the fun part.   You're clinging to the wheel in front of you. Doing everything to stay in contact, because you know in the deepest parts of your soul that if a gap opens, you will never close it, and you will be adrift. That few inches of space is your whole purpose in life.   People wait their whole lives to see the scenery on either side of you, but you're too busy focusing on meaningless points up the road. You're hoping that by acknowledging them that they will somehow help you climb this hill. They don't, because they're inanimate objects like signposts and rocks. Selfish bastards.   You match cadence with the guy in front of you, promising yourself that every time their right foot comes down, your right foot will come down. That you won't stand unless they stand. That you will be every bit as strong as they are, even if you aren't.   The steady ache in your thighs keeps building. You know all you have to do to make it stop is to
Read more

Perhaps Where I need to Be.

  The last time I was in Biloxi was in November of 2016. I was recovering from a broken collar bone, but otherwise was relatively fit, lean, and getting fitter and leaner. Because I had nothing else to do and energy to burn, I rode a lot. It was wasted effort that translated into burnout during the trainer season, but I really didn't care. I hadn't been riding at all. A handful of road rides before the season ended. A couple fat bike rides when the trails near my house were packed well. Mostly I've hiked, cross-country skied, and sat on my fat ass. Primarily the latter. I knew I was going to be spending the month of February in Biloxi. I swore I was going to get back on the trainer in preparation, but I never did. I came in cold. I packed all sorts of warmers and raingear and stuff that I have yet to use.I forgot all sorts of tools. My tires were excessively worn and my tubes weren't in great shape either. I ended up buying new ones after a horrible first ride led to 4
Read more