baby you can drive my car
So, new car. It's a rude word. I have inspected and/or driven a metric buttload of Yarises, or possibly Yari, under the kindly auspices of Jo, who is a drive-me-around taxi goddess and car-inspection moral-supporter of incredible patience and sweetness. I like the Yaris, but every single car I have driven has failed dismally to pass the test of an inspection by my lovely mechanic people. They've all had worn engines, concealed post-accident bodywork, collapsed inner fittings, a dismal flatness when you floor them, weird exhaust noises, what have you. I have gradually shifted my budget up and up to try and include newer cars with less suspicious defects, and still no dice. It doesn't help that I am back at work and have neither the transport nor the time for an extended search broadened to other models and makes.
The upshot of this has been that my mental state is now severely negative, and my mental budget is now in the ballpark of a new bottom-end small car, specifically the Hyundai Athos. This is not out of the question owing to a nice new raise I recently received, so funding is not too much of an issue, and would solve a number of dilemmas.
Except that they've discontinued the Athos, and the replacement is about R10 000 more expensive.
Except that the nice salesman has phoned madly around the country and found me possibly the last Athos in South Africa.
Except that it's in Joburg, and is going to cost me a couple of thousand to bring it down here.
And it's white, which is boring and which I particularly wanted to avoid, although not a dealbreaker.
So, two things. (1) Clearly I have failed in my due sacrifices to the arbitrary and mechanical gods of the automobile, and am doomed to automotive complication. (2) I can't think straight about any of this stuff any more. So I fling this open to the useful peoples of the internet. Is it going to be more worth the extra hassle of the shipped-in Athos, or simply biting the bullet and paying extra for a newer model? Will there be spares issues with an Athos? What if they lose it in the Karoo somewhere, or it's run over by an 18-wheeler? Why can't I simply make this decision in a firm, decisive sort of fashion? Am I fundamentally useless? What is the meaning of life?
In the meantime I'm having to walk home every day, which is probably good for me, but definitely added incentive to sort this out chopchop as I certainly won't have the energy to walk home while running orientation, and will have to simply camp out under my desk. A horrid thought.
I find I want to simply reinvent myself as one of those Wheelers from the later Oz books. It would save so much hassle.
The upshot of this has been that my mental state is now severely negative, and my mental budget is now in the ballpark of a new bottom-end small car, specifically the Hyundai Athos. This is not out of the question owing to a nice new raise I recently received, so funding is not too much of an issue, and would solve a number of dilemmas.
Except that they've discontinued the Athos, and the replacement is about R10 000 more expensive.
Except that the nice salesman has phoned madly around the country and found me possibly the last Athos in South Africa.
Except that it's in Joburg, and is going to cost me a couple of thousand to bring it down here.
And it's white, which is boring and which I particularly wanted to avoid, although not a dealbreaker.
So, two things. (1) Clearly I have failed in my due sacrifices to the arbitrary and mechanical gods of the automobile, and am doomed to automotive complication. (2) I can't think straight about any of this stuff any more. So I fling this open to the useful peoples of the internet. Is it going to be more worth the extra hassle of the shipped-in Athos, or simply biting the bullet and paying extra for a newer model? Will there be spares issues with an Athos? What if they lose it in the Karoo somewhere, or it's run over by an 18-wheeler? Why can't I simply make this decision in a firm, decisive sort of fashion? Am I fundamentally useless? What is the meaning of life?
In the meantime I'm having to walk home every day, which is probably good for me, but definitely added incentive to sort this out chopchop as I certainly won't have the energy to walk home while running orientation, and will have to simply camp out under my desk. A horrid thought.
I find I want to simply reinvent myself as one of those Wheelers from the later Oz books. It would save so much hassle.