Mobile Again!

Mobile Again!

I have a working car again—used, but better than the car I had. The poor old Toyota Corolla was 15 years old. The radio no longer worked. The air conditioning was shot. The heater had died. Some of the vents wouldn’t close. The electronics were persnickety. The dash and the windshield were cracked in two places. The paint was rusted. And vomit. I’m sure it never completely cleaned out.

Almost any car would be better than that, and the one I have now is. It was made in this decade, for one, and it has a working radio—heck, it even plays CDs. I’d totally forgotten what it’s like to drive with music playing; I’ve been entertaining myself all these years, with either my own thoughts or my own singing, and if I didn’t, I’d want to start dozing at the wheel. When I used to have those 75-150 mile commutes, I’d belt out “Ain’t Misbehavin'” just to stay awake.

And, oh, my God, I can lock all passenger doors at once! It feels like such a luxury next to the Toyota. The front passenger door has been broken since my college days, when some incompetent thief tried to break into my car, and I just never got around to getting it fixed. I would have to get in through the driver’s side and unlock the passenger door from the inside.

And air conditioning!! Sigh. I can’t remember when the air conditioning worked on the Toyota. The heater, too. If I got too hot, I’d simply leave the windows open and sweat anyway, and if I got too cold, I’d scold myself for not layering my clothing. The defroster on the back window eventually stopped working, so I’d have a squeegee stick and a roll of paper towels handy, in case I needed to wipe down some windows.

Suffice it to say, I’m quite happy with the replacement. It took a while to find it as I had to have manual transmission, and it appears they’re rare these days. I’ve driven a stick all my driving life—even the Nissan Pulsar NX on which I learned had a stick—so if I were to switch to an automatic, I’d go through hell with my hands and feet restless and confused. I know this because I’ve driven a friend’s automatic as a designated driver, and I was a mess at the end of the night.

Some facts I learned about sticks and the people who drive them:
Car rental companies don’t as a rule have them, and many used cars in the market are from car rental companies. As a result, not many used cars on the market have manual transmission. People who drive sticks typically drive their cars forever, or at least until the cars fall apart, so not many of them sell their cars back to the dealer. People who drive sticks are unusual and weird.

H.E. and the car salesmen have all assured me of these facts, so I feel fairly lucky I was able to get a replacement car at all.

That, and I feel fairly unusual and weird.

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4 thoughts on “Mobile Again!

  1. *Parl play’s the music “Movin’ on up” from The Jeffersons*
    Congrats and yayness on the new wheels April! There’s nothing better than getting a new set of wheels,…
    *parl kills the music with a long record scratch sound*
    …except the payment book part.

    My last car was very similar [perhaps they were separated at birth] where everything was going wrong with it. In the bitter end when I got my new(er) car, I was surprised at the fact that it made it to the dealership. I was even more surprised that they gave me money for trade-in value. [no doubt pity-money]
    Cheers and here’s to another 15 years of driving enjoyment!

  2. Typical female… 6+ paragraphs on a new car without saying *what make/model it is*!
    (just teasing)

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