sharibet, posts by tag: cars - LiveJournal

So, I bought a new car during my lunch break on Friday.

My faithful Forester Grump is turning 12 this year, and at 121,000 miles, I put quite a bit of money into his maintenance this past year: new clutch, valve gasket replacement, new rear wheel bearing, new front axle, new brake pads, four new tires, new spark plugs and wires...

From Forester Grump

After doing a crap-ton of research, spending several weekends test-driving various finalists, and then agonizing over the choice between the Mid-Life Crisis Car (a Subaru WRX in electric blue) versus the Sensible Grown-Up Commuter Car, I found an excellent compromise: the Lexus CT200h, a small hybrid that's both luxurious and tremendously fun to drive. And, unlike the WRX, which only got 20-25 MPG, the new car is supposed to get between 42-51 MPG. 

Meet Rosalind Lexus! 



The funniest part of the whole deal was when I returned to work on Friday afternoon, I was deluged with inquiries from friends and co-workers about selling Forester Grump. Apparently 12-year-old Subarus are a hot commodity on the used-car market...who'd a thunk it?

My boss ended up buying him on the spot for her college-age daughter, who lives in Idaho and needed something winter-worthy.

After a whirl of activity over the weekend, during which I got an emissions test for Forester Grump (required by the State of California whenever a car is sold), washed and detailed the car, and cleaned out twelve years' worth of papers, tools, CDs, etc., I handed over the pink slip and keys on Monday morning. I felt oddly sentimental about parting with my beloved Subie.

But I have to say, I absolutely love driving the new car, especially in the heavy stop-and-go traffic on my morning and evening commutes.