Test Drive 00001
October 2nd, 2003I test drove a MINI today. A red one with a black top and leather seats. The sunroof is really huge and you can see practically everything. I drove a red one, it looked like this:
They are cute, but expensive. I’m working through comparing all the cars on the “short” list now and I’ve (realized and thus revamped) few things:
1. I want a hatchback It has happened at least twice that I have described to someone what I wanted out of a car and they replied “Oh, I see. You want a hatchback.” That is finally sinking in. That certainly makes it a lot easier when comparison shopping … knowing what you are looking for.
2. I am not as interested in efficiency as I thought I was. In comparison to the old Explorer anything new is going to get better gas mileage and produce significantly cleaner emissions. Now that I am shopping for a car, the higly efficient hybrid cars sound dull and boring. Clean and efficient, sure.
3. Everyone is an expert. I’ve never purchased a new car before, never even acted like I was going to to take a test drive. I find that everyone I talk to about it has advice about what I should do. It becomes a cacaphony of voices where it is difficult to distinguish good advice from bad advice. Is this website author paid by the company who produces these cars? Are my brother’s direct experiences representative of a manufacturer’s quality overall?
Watching the cars on the toll road out the window of the bus this week, I realized something else unfortunate: I like the styling of BMW, Audi, some Volkswagons.
Now I am busy working through Ben’s short list. Sometimes it feels like a toy store, sometimes it feels like a homework assignment. Another thing I just realized is that I can’t even pin up a map and throw a dart …so I have little hope of being able to cop-out.
Filed under: adventures
