Toys and Commitment

Mandy and I have been considering a new car for years. We did fine with just one car for four years and really just wanted something more fun to drive than the Subaru. It has an automatic transmission and the smaller engine. This summer brought a little more car pressure as I've been taking the Subie to Boulder with my bike to ride some steeper canyons in preparation for a big ride. Not only did we want a fun car, but a second car would be more convenient when our plans diverge. With Denver's mostly sunny weather, we could afford to fill the second car slot with a rear wheel drive convertable. We considered Miatas, S2000s, BWM Z3, even Boxsters. Most of these cars would run $10,000 to $20,000. The Boxster would come with cache as well as expensive repair bills. $15,000 for a car that we might put 3000 miles/year on was another issue. Oscar, the Outback, is three and half years old and still doesn't have 25,000 miles. And that includes 2 trips to Santa Fe as well as a trip to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix! It was hard to get motivated to spend that kind of money for something that wouldn't be used that much. That's when I saw the '99 Miata. It had 117,000 miles on it, but they only wanted $4600. It was easy. You don't expect a car that old to fall apart, but you don't expect it to be perfect either. The paint is a little rough and faded. The valves have the famous tick that means the lifters need to be cleaned. The suspension feels like the bushings are getting a little dry and loose. It smokes a bit if you push it hard. It may need $1000 in misc. work. It was only $4500 and it will sit in the garage all winter. I spent more on my motorcyle. Who cares?! We'll have fun driving it, and I may have some fun doing some of the work on it...or at least just "farkling" it. When my neighbors drove by, the ones with the perpetually nearly new Audi, I was a bit embarrassed, but they were very intrigued. I think they liked the idea of a low-commitment car. Janice said "how cool" (she's cool). Lanc, surprised, told me about a buddy at work that had one and said "I"m going to have to get one" He's been driving serious, impressive luxury cars for a while, and I think he yearns a bit for a fun-to-drive second car. Lanc is a principle in business and has responsibility. Perhaps he also yearns for something fun and easy.