New Wheels
Got a new car on Saturday. Things worked nearly perfectly, which is what should be the norm for car sales. After all, we’re just talking about transportation, right? Would that it were so. But in California especially and probably in most of the rest of the country, your car represents who you are, especially men. Indeed, in some circles, it is said that one’s car is the extension of one’s penis. No, I don’t defend it, but it’s pretty dang obvious that the more ostentatious the display — whether a low-rider or an Italian import — the smaller is the driver.
Now while I don’t cotton nearly to the excess, I do believe that how people present themselves is indicative one way or another of how they think of themselves. Most people who drive BMWs and Mercedes — not to mention Ferrari’s, Rolls’, or Bentley’s — have made their choice in large measure for reasons of image. Cadillac and Lincoln buyers also are buying for show, but are a half-century behind. And I say that image is important to these people because they are spending more money than they need to and are getting less car than they can afford.
When I sold cars, SUVs were not yet de rigueur, but even then, 95% of the people who bought four-wheel drive vehicles never used more than two wheels. Maybe they saw pictures of themselves rock-climbing in the Tetons or fording rivers in the Amazon, but the shots were never developed. Today, with Lincoln and Mercedes tantalizing the over-funded under-mentalized with their own versions of Silly-Urban-Vanity models, ya gotta wonder if anyone out there is buying a car — or truck — for other than transportation.
Me, I got a dark violet pearl slightly souped-up model of the same car I’ve been driving for the past three years. It’s an Integra coupe, made by Acura. A 2000 model which came out a year ago, it is the last of the line, I believe. It has a little bigger engine and is better at cornering; the rear and side vision is better than the sedan I’ve been driving for the past three years.
The Integra I traded in was the best car I had ever driven. The day after I signed the lease, I drove it up to Mendocino and then down the coast road. The ride was spectacular, not because I was trying to straighten out the curves — I wasn’t — but because the car drove so well in terms of comfort, performance, and safety.
The new car is the same, but faster and tighter. And it’s not dark green, the color of my last two cars. The sticker price was just over $22,000, but with various incentives and modest negotiations, I got a lease that will provide me transportation for about $4400 a year for the next three years. That doesn’t include gas, insurance, or parking, but it won’t require any service except for oil changes.
A final note, Linda first saw a car like the one I got and told me instantly she thought it was the car for me. Hey, nothing wrong if the car also looks good.
And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.