new wheels

Since I started driving at age 16, my vehicle of necessity has been a teal 1994 Ford Thunderbird LXSE coupe. It "de facto" became mine in 2001, as I entered my senior year of college, which was the only time I had my own car on campus. After graduation, the T-bird seemed to need one repair after another: ball joints, head gaskets, starters, batteries, calipers, you name it (and let's not forget that each front turn signal light had to be replaced, as well as the driver side mirror that was a part of an early-morning mirror-smashin' raid that swept our street a while back).

The "coupe" de grâce (har har) was back in April: while I was in the hospital being treated for a negative lung reaction to one of the chemo drugs, back home my car was being rammed in the wee hours of the night. For various reasons, it wasn't until just this past Thursday that we got an estimate on the repair, which is about five times the value of the car in "fair" Kelly Blue Book condition. At one point, my dad thought he might like to keep the T-bird (or "Thunderchicken" as our mechanic dubbed it a few repairs ago) in good working condition because it was made in Lorain, which no longer produces them.

Not only would it cost several thousand dollars to put it back into "good" condition, but when my dad was about to leave the body shop, the car wouldn't run. It just, quit. In the same cell phone conversation where my dad asked me to come pick him up, I told him about Belle's lymphoma, and by the time I arrived, he was discussing our dog-related options with the vet. The bottom line was, the T-bird will no longer be a part of the Bird family, and I would have nothing to trade in for the new car I planned to purchase that day. We plan to sell it for parts.

Enter my new 2005 Honda Civic EX, a stylishly affordable silver sedan with excellent safety ratings, anti-lock brakes, and 31 mpg city / 38 mpg highway. Since the 2006es come out in October, there were no new four-door Civic EXes left in the state of Ohio, but Jack Matia Honda did have two demo EXes on hand, each with about 5,500 miles on them. (This does not affect the warranty, which essentially considers 5,500 to be "zero" for me.)

The Civic is much smaller than the T-bird, and hence is much easier to park, which I like. Four doors also makes it easier to load and unload. On the minus side, the T-bird was long and teal and had a spoiler on the trunk, which made it rather easy to spot in parking areas. Now I have a silver car, just like everyone else, that is easily hidden by the copious and corpulent SUVs that litter our nation's Target parking lots. But such is the price of vanity, I suppose (I could've just as easily taken the dark blue EX).

Here it is in our driveway:

(click to enlarge)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to bed, as my vacation is over and I have to return to work to pay off this car. :) Ah, to be an adult.

Edited to add: The car also came with a full tank of gas. Me to dealer: "With gas prices this week, that alone is worth the price of the car!"