In my quest for a new vehicle I have come across a few concepts that are perplexing. I am searching for a used car (yuck) that is similar to the one I had that was totaled recently; an exercise in futility. Because the only way that I can “be made whole” is to have the same car I bought 14 years ago with the same care that I gave it. In the same environment that I drove it in; essentially a carbon copy of my exact circumstances. Not going to happen—not even in a parallel universe.
So I look for transportation that will (hopefully) be reliable and cost effective. In short, a car that will work, be reliable and safe. This is a tall order. Getting a new car at this point is not feasible, although I generally buy new cars and keep them for 15 years or so.
When I was much younger—twenty something—I purchased my first brand new car from a dealership because I was tired of pre-owned cars that were unreliable. This is when I purchased my first car with a manual transmission. And while I never owned a car with a stick, when I was a teen I had a friend who loaned me his car (Honda Civic maybe) that was a stick and it even had a manual choke (Yes, I am dating myself).
So I made the leap and bought a five speed VW Golf. Learning how to shift was tricky at first and I had stalled out a few times. This was especially embarrassing at a traffic light but I was not terribly concerned about it.
I remember my boyfriend at the time disapproved of my purchase saying “Why did you buy a stick shift if you don’t know how to drive one?” Well thanks for giving me grief on something that cannot be changed. I thought to myself. (Yes, he ended up showing his jerkdom in many ways as the relationship progressed.)
Eventually I became accustom to driving a stick shift and I like them. Not so much in heavy traffic but when tooling around town they feel sporty and fun. (My last one was Turbo charged—even better.) The car searches I execute now are for hatchbacks that are stick shift. Since there is a dearth of cars that fit the bill I have expanded my search.
This brought me to a used car that was for sale. It was a 2010 with an attractive body style. A crossover type SUV/hatchback. The model had “Sport” in the name. So I am thinking stick shift, fun, high up off the ground and a nice body. Then I looked at the specs…transmission automatic. YUCK! How can a car be a “Sport” version with an automatic transmission? Why would a person who wants a sports car want an automatic transmission?
This is another question that may be unanswerable and may not even be worth pondering. But it may be food for thought on how we surround ourselves with things that are more for show than for performance….
*Apologies for the delay I was in the ER when I planned on finishing this post.)
Ried Rants 