Cars and such

So Mister's car is dying a long, slow, miserable, expensive death. It's a '96 Saab 900, manual. Even though it's hard for me to believe, 1996 is FOURTEEN YEARS AGO. Holy cow. That was when I started listening to the radio for myself... it's only a couple years ago, right?

Back to the point: Mister has been talking and talking and talking and dreaming and wondering and looking and inquiring about cars. About what he wants in a car. What he needs in a car. What make of car. What model of car. Whether to buck up and buy new or buy used. Many, many, many questions taunt his brain on a daily basis. He's pretty much got it decided on a Volvo C30 (and I could type that without looking up the model -- THAT'S how much he's talking about it!), but because he's really picky, there are no gently used models that have the features that he wants.

So he crunches numbers, and crunches numbers, and does some more. Is it really that close in price to buy new than to buy one year used? He's convinced that it is, and that this is really really upsetting news. He doesn't want to have to buy a new car, nor does he want a new car to be the best option. EVERY ONE knows what a bad deal buying a brand new car from a dealer is; yet it's looking to be an ok deal?

I've been avoiding the numbers, because I am not feeling nostalgic for math class at all. I'm happy to have him run the numbers himself, and tell me his discoveries. Of course, this means he has to tell me every time he rediscovers the same answer... :-P


*****

Have I mentioned that he's particular? Luckily, I'm used to this. I at first was putting my two bits in about gas mileage and such things, but his POV was: if I'm going to care about that, I'd go buy a Prius or something that's hybrid, rather than picking apart the cars I'm interested with THEIR gas mileages. Now if it came in diesel...

I just can't get past the fact that he wants to spend how much on a car? He CAN spend how much? Computer Programmers make much better pay than Ice Cream Store Managers, that's sure as shooting.