Work, the kids, volunteer commitments—I am a busy guy! How do I cope? One word...procrastination
For the past month or so, this has meant checking the news every fifteen minutes. (Just a sec... gotta' check Huffington Post.) But, thankfully, this two-year travail that the United States calls an election is finally coming to a close. Blog posts represent another big time-suckage opportunity. (Help, my other blog is keeping from writing on my blog!) Then, when all else fails, there are car sites.
The car thing started over the summer. The lease on our Honda Odyssey was expiring in November, so, being the consummate (read obsessive) comparison shopper that I am, I started checking things out. With gas prices nearing $4.00 a gallon at the time, I was hoping to find the holy grail of vehicles—a Honda Odyssey that gets 40 mpg (combined, not that highway bull). Don't get me wrong, I love the Odyssey, which, incidentally, has the best gas mileage of any minivan, but you can't call 17 mpg thrifty.
Then Volkswagen announced they were about to introduce a clean diesel station wagon, the Jetta Sportwagen, that got the magic 40. I was sorely afflicted. Could I buy a German car?
The answer was no. The Holocaust legacy of the German manufacturers weighed too heavily on me. Even if I could afford them, I could not see myself in a Mercedes 300SL (slave labor) or a BMW M5 (the M is for murder). Most of the Japanese manufacturers have their own Second World War ghosts and the Big Three build crap cars (except in Europe, where Ford and GM build pretty good cars, I'm told). This leaves Honda/Acura, founded in 1948, which manufactures many of its North American-sold models right here in North America.
That got me to thinking. Why can't I buy a European car that's not made in Germany? Gas has been expensive in Europe for ages so they have lots of cool thrifty cars, none of which can be purchased Stateside. I know I'll probably never buy a Ferrari or Maserati, but why can't I get an Italian car like a Fiat? (Because they're crap and unreliable.) Why can't a brother get an Alfa Romeo?
I mean look at this Alfa Mi To (for Milano and Torino). Affordable, fuel efficient, stylish, cool and available through Maserati dealers sometime in 2011 (maybe).
The inside is even better! All leather and carbon fiber. (Fiber keeps you regular.)
So, for now, we're getting rid of the minivan, keeping one car (Acura), and awaiting the day we become Alfisti.
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