News #3 - A New Car!

And now the most exciting and largest purchase I've made recently: I got a new car! Woo hoo!

It's a 2009 Mazda 3. Here's some of the story.

I wasn't exceptionally pleased with what I was driving. My last car had car cancer (aka rust) and many other things wrong with it, and it wasn't a possession I was proud of anymore. I've been done school for a year now (working full time and not paying tuition), and my bank account is looking healthy enough, and I figured that this it the time when I can make big purchases. A few months ago I was looking into buying a condo, but after not finding anything I really liked I realized that I am more pleased with where I live than with what I drove. So I decided to get a new car this year, and maybe look into a new residence next year.

At first I was looking at brand new cars. The thought of a car with no secrets, one that no one else has driven before, really appealed to me - especially when I considered all the hidden problems the next owner of my last car would be adopting. But nothing appealed to me more than a Mazda 3, and they redesigned 2010 models look really strange - the front grill looks like a great big smile that might eat small children. I preferred the look of the 2009s. Plus, it's significantly cheaper to go used. So that's what I ended up doing. This car is under a year old, has less than 20 000 kms, and has two years of warranty left (and I can and might extend that). It's still new enough to feel new to me.

It's got all sorts of great features that I've never had (or haven't had for a long, long time) - power locks/windows/mirrors, heated mirrors, air conditioning, a CD player, steering wheel stereo controls, and an outdoor thermometer. It didn't have cruise control, but I had them install it because that's something that matters to me. I also had them put on side protectors, because I really value it when the car parked beside me has those - especially when my door bumps theirs. It's a four-door and I'm glad about that - my back seat just seemed so inaccessible to me in my previous two-door.

Justin bought my old car off of me and named her Felicia. Every time he mentioned being interested in it I'd list out everything I knew to be wrong with that car, just so he would be aware of what he was getting himself into. But it is better than what he had, and he and his dad do a lot of their own car work so these problems won't be nearly as expensive for him to fix as they would be for me. It's weird, though, seeing him drive up in my car when it's really his car now.

Woo hoo new car!