Sunday, July 25, 2004

Plunges

A few variably-sized steps into new territory for me/us:



1. In addition to signing up for two more 6-week fencing classes, I finally ordered my own gear this week. Jacket, mask, another glove, and two epees. I will no doubt ease up on the fencing once curling season starts, but I can pick it up again in the spring. And if nothing else, I have a kickass Halloween costume for the next few years.



2. I also joined the iPod masses, or I will have once it arrives. The new 20 and 40 GB models on the market prompted firesales on the older ones. I ended up getting a refurb'd 10GB for $170 from the Apple Store, which seems more than reasonable. I also got the FM transmitter doohickey.



3. Most importantly, we began doing homework on a new car. I think there's still life in the 11-year-old Saturn, but I want our next car to be a hybrid, and I'd like the ever-dwindling tax benefit on such a car before it goes away entirely. We looked at the Prius yesterday. It handled nicely, didn't have the pickup problems I feared, and has nifty gadgets. And it's so quiet--nice change of pace. The drawbacks:

a. an odd lack of rear headroom (though overall the car felt more spacious than the Saturn).

b. The FM antenna was weak. My favorite station is a low-power one out of Rogers Park, but should be easy enough to get in Evanston, less than 5 miles away. Yet this radio wouldn't lock on it while scanning.

c. The plasticy interior bothered me. The Saturn is plasticy, and I'm living with the long-term implications of that now; stuff's falling apart, and it looks like shite but is too pricey/solely cosmetic to justify repairing. Maybe that's de rigeur for cars in my price range; I've been out of the market for so long.



I know at least one sporadic reader has a Prius -- have you noticed these problems? How'd you see past them?



Next up: the Honda Civic hybrid. Immediate advantage is its availability (and, presumably, the ability to strike a better deal--it's my uninformed guess that the 6+month waitlist for Priuses [Prii?] makes MSRP close to haggleproof ), downside is the mpg's not as sexy as the Prius. I won't bother with the Insight; a 2-seater's out of the question.

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