Relationships of Steel

Everyone in the United States knows that one of the most important milestones of the teenage years is obtaining the legal driving age. It is indicative of real freedom and what we can be - given the space and equipment necessary...

As a teenager, I worked. It was a way out of the house and in my feeble mind, the way to a new life. I held babysitting jobs for teachers and others around town, worked at a Christmas Tree Farm (in inclement weather), and as a gift wrapper at a Toy Store. I happily earned my own cash to buy all the necessities required of a burgeoning adult. Cigarettes, Coca-Cola, and Candy.

When I was 16, I had been working for several years but had very little cash to show for it. When it was time to start driving, my parents couldn't really afford to buy me a car (6 kids between two parents - but we weren't the Brady Bunch by any stretch of the imagination). As it turned out though, a friend of a friend of a friend was selling and they bought me my first car.































Car #1 - 1971 Ford Pinto - Orange
*My Mom wouldn't let me get a VW Beetle as my first car because it was light and too dangerous. Huh? The Ford Pinto was known for exploding on impact when rear-ended at speeds as low as 5mph. That's safe! It ran on only two cylinders when I was finished with it.

Car #2 - 1978 Toyota Corona - Gold (yes, like the beer)
*What a piece of shit - it cost tons of money in repairs. Money I didn't have. I unloaded it as soon as I could and in doing so, took a major loss.

Car #3 - 1976 Super Beetle - Orange
*Up yours Mom! Unfortunately, though, another piece of shit. Same story as Car #2, except I traded it in for...

Car #4 - 1989 VW Fox 4 door GL - Silver
*I would have purchased a Honda, had I gone to the Honda dealership first. This car was something like $9000 brand new. I'm fond of saying that I grew up in that car. I drove it to college and back, and all over this state. I drove it for 12 years - and drove it hard - until the repairs were more annually than the car was worth.

I didn't own a car for about a year after the Fox died. That was a liberating time, of sorts. Not long after Wood and I met, I bought:

Car #5 - 1991 Honda Civic Hatchback - White
*For $2800 and 140k miles. This car was named Dhammadina by Wood's late friend Satya when she got us to Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the Santa Cruz mountains. There's a treacherous 14 mile dirt road on the way there that she managed gracefully. We love Dhammadina because she has been nothing but faithful and wonderful to our family for about 8 years. Now, with 230k miles and a failure to pass smog, the repairs have outpaced her worth.

Car #6 - 1996 Subaru Legacy Wagon - Green
*With a great price tag of $4000 (?or so?), this car was bought with only about 90k miles from a friend of a friend who is a Cop and wanted to sell to someone other than a complete stranger. It was really purchased for Twig, just before his birth. We aren't totally enamored with the Green Machine but, it gets us from point A to point B. At least for now. With 140k miles, we may be in a position to replace it in the next few years.

With Dhammadina not passing smog, and the cost of the repairs being estimated at $1500, we've decided it's time to add a new member to our family. Yep, we decided (and were forced) to take the new car plunge.

We spent a lot of time weighing our options. Hybrid? Sub Compact? Mid Size? New? New Used?

After a few weeks of only one car between us, consumer reports research, talking to one another, and getting the opinions of the people around us on the subject, I decided that Wood should get what he wants. After all, he gives me everything I want. Besides the fact that we are the type of people that keep cars until their death, and it makes sense to buy newer... the cost of the Honda Hybrid was only $40 lower per month (and the Toyota Prius was even more than that)....

Plunge we did!

Car #7 - 2006 Audi A4 Quattro 2.8 Turbo - Silver!










Twig thinks we should name her Claire.