Shocking news!

Put away drinks and food, take a deep breath, then read on.

We bought another car yesterday.

It's nothing fancy, mind you. It has a lot of miles on it already, but it's been well-maintained for the most part (there was some rust repair that isn't "pro" work, but it doesn't look bad from the next lane). It's an older Corolla four-door that is almost the antithesis of my Thunderbird Super Coupe of the same era--front wheel drive, automatic transmission, modest power plant, cassette (!) player in the dash--but my goal this time was a car that for fifty thousand miles (four or more years at current driving rates) would serve as basic transportation for us when bicycling is contraindicated.

We bought it from Peter Burkhart, owner of Saint Matthews Fence and Deck. I have known Peter for a few years, and was even a neighbor for a while. He and I have several friends in common. I have no reason to distrust him (although I have double checked some of the facts on the car).

It has its little idiosyncrasies, of course. The key that fits the door does not fit the ignition switch, but one key can be cut to fit both. I'm not over-fond of the window tinting, but it doesn't look bad. The rear window defroster grid doesn't seem to work, but it may have been disconnected by the tint installer (I've heard of this being done).

The general sense is that this car will get Jenn through the winter for days when she isn't ready to tackle snow tires on her Globe. My truck's current tires have never been good when the roads are wet--I can just about spit enough moisture to get the rear tires to spin. The ballast I habitually put in the back helps some, but the truck has enough other problems--the defroster doesn't work well, in part because the air conditioning system doesn't work (A/C helps dry the air in the defroster system), there is a head gasket leak allowing exhaust gases into the water jacket that I don't want to pay to fix, and so on. I'll keep the truck around for a bit yet to enable cargo hauling, especially since the next big project at the house involves built-in shelves for the "office."

And, if we find something else that will fill more needs for us, we can let my younger stepdaughter take this car to college with her next year. She's getting ready to graduate, and is not ready to do the totally car-free thing while working toward an advanced degree in Occupational Therapy.

In any event, if it goes fifty thousand miles before it quits, ownership costs will be less than thirty cents a mile. If it has any value at all after that time, the cost per mile will drop a bit. If it goes fifty thousand while we own it, that would be almost six years at current usage rates--not a bad deal, compared to buying something at four times the cost that won't go ten years for us.