Well, we did it. Sitting in the semi-frozen mud at the top of the driveway is a new 2007 Pontiac Vibe, actually a Toyota Matrix with different packaging. The dealer let us drive it away without paying a cent, and the first payment isn’t due until April.
One very nice little machine
I have to say, this is the way to buy a car, even if we are still in shock. We could have taken the substantial $1,750 rebate instead of the zero percent financing with no money down, but I worked out what the finance charges would be on the best auto loan I could get elsewhere, and there was no contest: even with the rebate deducted, the interest would still have been substantially more than the rebate. Zero percent is zero percent, and who has a down payment, anyway?
If anyone from Taos is reading this, Leo Wilson at Friday Motors is a good guy to work with and couldn’t have been more helpful. (He even lives just down the road.) We wanted to buy from a local dealer because back in Maryland, taking our old VW Jetta in for service meant an 80-mile round trip. Bah! Been there, done that. I wanted my wife to be able to pop right in and get advice or repairs if she needs something done on the car, and this place is just 10 minutes from where we live. Life on the frontier is hard enough, and we deserve a few breaks after all this time. It just killed my wife to have to drive the new car home on our awful road, but the mud won’t be there forever. I hope.
As for the car itself, I’ll have to report more on that later, but first impressions are pretty good: the steering is quick, the 5-speed stick is nice and slick with short throws, and visibility out the front is great. The car feels solidly planted on the road with its wide low-profile tires, and I actually had fun driving it. Acceleration is leisurely but encouraging. When it’s broken in, I’ll bet it does better at higher rpm. The engine also makes a pleasant rorty sound. Many of the owner reviews I read mentioned “loud motor” as a drawback, but I like to hear the engine. Anyway, this one is lots quieter than the agricultural four-banger in the old ’89 Dodge, which used to sound like it was 30 seconds away from turning into a collection of spare parts. And thank God we didn’t get an automatic after all.
The base radio is decent, too. Imagine that. There’s a CD player as well.
But you know what I really like? The dashboard! It’s sort of like the one in a ’57 Chevy, if that means anything to you: a cluster of chrome-rimmed cylinders with the gauges inside. An AMERICAN-looking dash, if ever there was one — you may hear me diss the government and decry our fates, but some things this culture has produced are just fine and dandy, like V-8s and dual glasspacks. Too bad the Vibe doesn’t have those, I know. The last time I rode in a car like that, gasoline was something like 25 or 30 cents a gallon. (Man, I have got to get out more.)
Okay, that’s it for this post. It ain’t literature, but sometimes real life just has to do.
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So what is your dohickey of choice for force feeding an iPod to a stereo that lacks a tape deck? (we’re renting a CD-enabled car for a drive to Vegas for my uncle’s wedding next month…)
Egad, you’ve caught me with my techno-pants down! Would you believe I don’t use an iPod? I know you can do what you’re talking about, but that’s about it.
Maybe now that we have a real car, I can find out about these things.
John,
Congratulations! I hope this means we’ll be seeing some photos soon …
Your choices will come down to either hard-wiring an interface for the iPod and your car audio (ala a phone jack for the output of the iPod to the amp and speakers of the audio) or using an FM transmitter to “broadcast” your iPod through the car audio’s FM receiver.
You’ll also want to be looking at power supplies for running the iPod in the car (yeah, I know they have great batteries, but a really good long drive, like one can ONLY really have out in your neck of the woods, will run them down).
They both have pros and cons. Small Dog obviously is one resource; I’m sure you know the others, too.
Happy new car! I’m glad you got the stick. It helps you get pep out of a small engine, and that small engine is good for the planet and pocketbook.
When/if you decide to try to play MP3s through your in-car system, try out a decent quality FM transmitter from a place that will let you return it. They are well known NOT to work in places like NY and LA, but then, you aren’t THERE are you?
In the meantime, you can burn a LOT of CDs and carry ‘em around for the cost of modding your radio. My wife (of 34 years) and I have recently found that audiobooks make the trip from Austin to Taos a lot shorter. I recommend P.G. Wodehouse as a traveling companion, but you’re milage may vary!
Wodehouse is good, but for driving around out there you really should have the late Hunter Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” cranking full blast: “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded, maybe you should drive” when all of a sudden there was a terrible roar, and all around were what looked like huge bats all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, and a voice was crying out “Holy Jesus what are these goddamn animals?!?!”…..”
(from what you tell about the Super-Duper Mojo out there, you wouldn’t even need any drugs; just hearing the image would be enough to evoke the hallucinations all by itself!)
plus there’s the total appropriateness of being out there on the Froniter listening to Hunter’s deeply felt excoriation of what has become of this once great country.
(“We’re all wired into a survival trip now…”)
I like it, but it needs an “Obama for President” sticker on its bumper, doesn’t it? Or is that self-evident: you just KNOW a guy enlightened enough to buy one has got to be right about a lot of other things. In 1972 Saab owners were polled – 98.7 per cent voted McGovern. Same would be true for Subaru folks, I daresay. Or Mini Cooperites like me. Lincoln Continentals and Pathfinders – a whole different story!
Excellent choice, John! I’m sure you’ll get a long, long service out of this little beastie. I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable the rental Matrixes (Matrices?) I have used have been. It’s also amazing how much stuff you can get in the back! I don’t know why hatchbacks/compact wagons aren’t more available; they’re a good size, but can haul a whole wack o’ stuff, when needed!
Enjoy!
Egad! WHITE CAR-TAOS MUD????? What the hell; they’re ALL brown after a week or two, right?