KevinPittman.com

As some of you may know, I have been looking to buy a new car for a while. For the past 10 weeks I have been going to dealerships, scouring the internet and local papers, and test driving tons of cars. It’s been exhausting and frustrating.

I wanted a small car, something nimble and quick. After driving my Nissan 240sx for the past few years anything bigger than a Civic feels like I’m driving a bus. I started out really looking for VW GTIs; the size is perfect and I love the hatchback’s shape. I actually like the shape of the Corrado’s better, but they stopped making them a while back, which would mean an older car.

While out looking for GTIs I found another car I liked; the Honda Civic Si. For the horsepower and overall quality, they are actually priced very reasonably. The body style isn’t quite as refined as the GTIs in my opinion, but the inside has a cool futuristic feel. One thing that’s pretty interesting about the interior is how the stick shift comes out of the dash area. It seems weird at first but actually feels great. It’s a short shift too, which adds to the fun.

After entertaining the idea of going with the Civic for a bit, I went back to the GTIs. The Civic was nice, but the interior just wasn’t as nice as the GTI’s. Things would have been great had I just wanted the standard 1.8t GTI, but after driving the VR6 I just couldn’t go back. Unfortunately the VR6s are getting hard to find. From what I’ve heard, stopped shipping new 2005 models and the 2006 will have a new body style; apparently this is causing a lot of people to hold on to their cars. Grrr!

After what felt like a serious search of the entire Seattle area I finally found one that matched what I was looking for. I decided to trade in my old Nissan and actually got more for it than expected.

Cleaning out the Nissan the night before the swap was bittersweet. I was excited for the new car, but as crappy and old as the Nissan was it was sure fun to drive. There’s nothing like driving a rear wheel drive manual on ice. I’ve had the car for about two years and it has actually been pretty reliable. It’s weird how people can become so attached to their cars.

One thing I realize now is that owning an old junker car brings down the worry factor a lot. Driving around in the new car I couldn’t help but think everyone else on the road was just a bit too close. Parking behind my place is just nerve-wracking.

So far I really love the car. It’s fun to drive and just feels very solid. Now I just wish I had more places to go…

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 14th, 2005 at 10:25 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.