New Car Fever

Marc and I have a tradition, as it were, of buying used cars that we can pay cash for and then drive for 100 years or until they die. This gives us the financial advantage of zero car payments and low insurance payments. It also gives our cars time to really become members of the family and develop their own personality, and by personality I  mean smell. Then, too, there is the custom pimping done by our children over time...fabric pealed off of the interior molding, numbers written in permanent marker on the back of the drivers seat, and dents and dings added by teenage drivers. I don't know why everyone doesn't do it like us.


Alas, just two weeks ago my trusty 12 year old mini-van was in for a small repair and the mechanic called Marc to let us know that it actually needed a big repair. Like, involving the air conditioning. And, you know, we can drive ages with dragging bumpers, missing tail lights, and check engine lights cheerfully glowing in the dash, but by golly we will not be without our air conditioning! It's called standards okay?


Unless it costs too much and that's how we decide it's time to shop.


Knowing it was time for my sweet Honda Odyssey to be made into glue traded in, we started talking about what kind of car we should buy. Marc was convinced of two things, one was that I didn't need another mini-van (*sniff*I am no longer the young mother of little children), and two, he wanted a car with enough engine power to tow our trailer to the dump. Me? I'm not too picky. I like cup holders and a car that is "pretty." He and Maddie spent a couple of days pouring over the adds online and from the local car magazines and decided that we wanted to look at Subarus, Volvos, and BMWs. Marc especially liked the BMW x5 because he said it is time for us to drive a car that is "fun."

Yum, right?

I, too, was taken in by the sexy sexiness of the BMW...nineteen years of driving mini-vans will do that to you. I guess we were both overwhelmed because you know that quality of being a discerning shopper you definitely need when you are shopping for a used car? Yeah, it totally left the building.


Imagine us leaving Katy's Kreek on a bright Saturday morning after a delicious eggs benedict breakfast with a list of cars we intend to look at. We are all shiny and eager to get going. Now imagine us spotting a BMW x5 in the parking lot of the Honda dealership across the street from the restaurant...it isn't on our list, but hey, let's go check it out anyway. Within moments of our setting foot on the lot, Tony the salesman comes out to see how we're doing. We consult with each other for a long .5 seconds and then gleefully throw all our money at him and drive away with a new car.


Okay, so, I am happy with the Beamer, Beemer, Beemmer...I don't really know how to spell that, but it does bug that we completely lost our wits when it was time to make this actually fairly large in the scope of our budget purchase. I keep wondering what were we thinking? Has this happened to anyone else?


And on a side note, while I am loving the leather power seats, moon roof, and fancy dashboard, I totally feel like a poser driving this large luxury automobile. In my head I call it my "too big for my britches car." And I am not comfortable referring to it either. As in "Hey kid, go get my fancy insulated diet coke cup from the beamer." It sounds pretentious. I am more of a "I left my phone in the van," kind of gal. 


But times, they are a-changing. And I guess I'm driving the change.

*Post Edit: Marc says I shouldn't indicate that buying the BMW wasn't a rational decision. He says he considered it carefully in the .5 seconds and decided it was an excellent investment. That's us, making excellent investments and taking names.