view from the present

an extended meditation on presence (we also have chickens)

Welcome Home, Car Car Car

So after I totaled my car and the deer it hit:

I had to buy another car.

I haven't actually bought a car since 2009, when I, a hapless twentysomething, overpaid for a 2007 Toyota Yaris. I loved that car and drove it into the ground before lucking into the Corolla (aka "the Deercruncher").

Last time, I overpaid because I didn't really understand the process of buying a car - and because the Yaris was the only thing available within my budget that also met my sole dealbreaker criterion of "must get better gas mileage than my current car, the 1996 Ford Escort."

(That Escort was a BIG DEAL, y'all. It went in REVERSE. Unlike my first car, a 1984 Renault.)

This time, the process went even faster than when I bought the Yaris - mostly because I paid cash, but also because there are only a handful of cars on the market that meet my dealbreaker criteria. (Plural. I'm growing up.)

Pre-deer, my plan was to drive the Corolla another five to ten years, then replace it with a used electric. A healthy market for used electric vehicles would surely exist by then, right?

Maybe it will, but it doesn't exist now, at least not where I live. The only used electric vehicles within 50 miles of me are all Teslas.

I am not buying a Tesla. I may not have a car, but I still have my dignity. (Also, that deer crash would have stranded me; it would have sheared the right front wheel clean off that bullshit cast-aluminum frame.)

Tl;dr I test drove a 2015 Prius. It met all my dealbreaker demands and is only missing one of my "strongly preferred" options (an aux port). Also, it rewards my grandma driving habits and the steering wheel sits low enough not to snap my neck in a crash. The price was reasonable. I bought it. I brought it home. I left all the windows down so it could air out overnight, as the air freshener made it smell like a dentist's office. It made my entire garage smell like a dentist's office.

I drove it to work for the first time today. It is definitely growing on me. I miss my Corolla, but I think I'll end up liking this Prius.

And, like all my vehicles, it has been given an awful name by someone who claims to love me.

Let me back up. I don't usually name my cars. Other people do that for me, which is probably how they all end up with ridiculous names:

• Ford Escort: "Pinto Escort, Professional Gigolo." Named by my college roommate.; spawned an entire comic series featuring the adventures of Pinto Escort, Professional Gigolo.

• Toyota Yaris: "Zippy the Go-Kart." Named by my late husband, who swore it was a compliment. Sure.

• Toyota Corolla: "Deercruncher." Named by my dad, postmortem. I really thought I was getting away with that car not having a weird name, but...no.

• Toyota Prius: "Car Car Car." Said the same way Zoey and Mira say "couch couch couch" in K-Pop Demon Hunters. This one is a joint collaboration between me and the friend who drove me to pick it up, though I'mma blame him.

The Renault never got a name because I jointly owned it with three of my cousins, and we couldn't agree on one. Their stepdad called it the "clown car" (imagine cramming five or six people into a Renault), but I don't think that counts.

Anyway, Car Car Car is growing on me. Once she stops smelling like a dentist's office we'll really be in business.

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