Right. Further random observations of the month.

I’m beginning to think about getting a new car. While there isn’t anything basically wrong with my Subaru, she’s 17 years old with 150K miles. And while there are no overt signs yet, I think the clutch is almost ready to be replaced. And there’s a hot, oily smell when the engine is warm that both Wayne’s around the corner and the Subaru dealership have told me will take Big Bucks to repair when it finally gets bad enough to need it.

I am conflicted about moving from a manual to an automatic transmission. I’ve always considered preferring to drive a manual to be one of my peculiarities like knowing how to bake bread, never having eaten a Twinkie, and never having seen E.T.
But God’s honest truth is that my knees are aging faster than the rest of me and since it’s cheaper to purchase a car with an automatic transmission than it is to get my knees replaced, an automatic transmission it is.

And yes, at 45 years of age, I have to be honest and admit that a new car would be a midlife crisis car. I’m not looking to purchase another station wagon, I’m looking for…. Well I want cute and fun. The station wagon was a good idea at the time in that I thought that, with a wagon, I’d be better able to haul garden supplies and friends and so forth. But the truth is that while my wagon is big enough to haul tools and plants, when I need things like bales of straw and loads of dirt I have to go rent a pickup from U-Haul, and the last time my car had any more than one person in it was, I think, January. There is absolutely no point in purchasing a larger vehicle, to say nothing of paying for the gas for a larger vehicle, when I only need a larger vehicle a couple of times a year.
Unless, that is, there are cute little red pickup trucks out there with all wheel drive in which case I might just consider it! 😀 I loved driving Andrew’s Mazda, but I’m not willing to give up AWD or gas mileage that’s better than 25MPG so a truck is very likely a non-starter.

Andrew has been feeding my frenzy by searching out AWD cars and e-mailing me specs and photos. I am absolutely enchanted with the AWD Mini that is Andrew’s most recent contribution to my craze, but I’m skeptical about the repair records on the Minis. I get all squee at the idea of driving a Mini, but since very little infuriates me more than having my car crap out on me I’ve got to be convinced that the Mini has improved its product before I’ll decide on one.

Obviously it’s going to take a good deal of thought and research, but opinions and suggestions are always welcome!
To sum it all up:
1. Small(ish)
2. AWD
3. 25MPG or better
And as a particular request from my left knee (SIGH), automatic transmission.