We’re now approaching the two year anniversary for when California, in a fit of insanity, granting my license to drive. I have had multiple permits while owning motorcycles – and somehow an event would take the motorcycle away before I I could be fully licensed. The last two years have been good. I haven’t hit anything, and I have managed to avoid a couple of truly frightening collisions. (Nothing on the road with myself behind the wheel has dissuaded me on iota from that dream of fully automatic cars and no human drivers.)
Lately I’ve been feeling cramped by the 1 car nature of my household. My sweetie-wife and I share a car, no kids and thankfully none that will appear, and most of the time that works just fine, but occasionally it does not.
The truth of the matter is that having a car, particularly inAmerica, is a major stake in one’s independence, and that’s a value very near and dear to my soul. One of the reason why I made such a poor sailor in the Navy is that I truly despise people have absolute power over me. My civilian employer, should he irritate me enough, cannot jail me for quitting. (Not that I would I actually like my day job.) Having an automobile is a power to say that one can go as one pleases, and that is a very American sensibility.
Still, now that I am married such major expenditures of money is a process that requires consultation and agreement. Long past are my carefree days of bachelordom. (Not that they were truly carefree, and frankly even carless I am, for my marriage, a happy man today.)
Still, I find myself at night surfing auto selling sites on the web, searching for data on various used cars. (Yes used, because while I could swing a brand new one, it would push my budget beyond anything comfortable.) I admit that I’m finding a fondness for the PT Cruiser. I like it’s stylings, and I like the idea of a hatchback for ease of loading, but anything larger, such as an SUV, strikes me as wasteful and I dislike being wasteful.)
There’s also econo-boxes from Hyundai andToyotathat strike my fancy.
In all likelihood this is just idle dreaming, but it seems to be a persistent one.
I always welcome your advice. Doesn’t mean I won’t go my own way, but more data is generally good. (Unless it leads to information paralysis.)
A friend of mine had a PT Cruiser and truly loved it. (She got purple flames on hers. It was a pearl white field.) I think you would be happy with it.
Having said that, you are tall. While most car companies have done a much better job at accomodating a tall frame, definitely test drive for size before you commit. (You would do this anyway, naturally.) Consider also a well-made sedan. We currently own a Mazda 6 and are very happy with it. Previous successful cars include the Mazda Protege’ and the Honda Accord. The Accord has been “discovered” and tends to be pricey, even used. We looked at Hyundai Sonata, which is a real value for the money, and the Nissan Ultima seems really nice. Any of these could be good choices and hold up well mechanically and the designs are really comfortable. Good luck and forgive the advice if it was not wanted.