Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Here In My Car...

Someone once said that you can tell a lot about a man by the shoes he wears.  I think you can tell more about someone by the car they drive.

There's the obvious:  Moms that drive a minivan or a station wagon. Mid-life crisis guy that drives a red Ferrari. Nouveau-hippie girl that drives a new yellow Bug. The punk-ass kid with his backwards baseball hat driving a lowered Suburban.  (Seriously. I saw one the other day. Who does that?)  That kind of thing. Around here the SUV is king, which I can kind of understand, since we have a lot of rural areas, hunting is popular and we have a lot of snow in the winter (typically, though not this year). What I don't understand is the popularity of the Hummer. No offense if any of you own one, they are kinda cool, but around here a Hummer screams "I'm a pretentious asshole". Seriously, soccer moms do not need to drive Hummers. They are military vehicles that all but climb trees, for Pete's sake! Yet, primarily, it is the soccer moms you see in them - and real estate agents, and they all drive like they own the road. (Beg to differ, jerk, get outta my way!)  Around here, they have assumed the role previously occupied by the Subaru Outback. Whatever.
 
"So," you are asking, "what kind of car do you drive, and what does it say about you?"

I drive one of these:

a 2000 Mitsubishi Mirage.

I used to drive one of these:


(a 1993 Geo Metro. Man, I loved that car!)
...until a crack-addict-waste-of-skin (Bitter? No. Why do you ask?) rear-ended me at 60 mph and it ended up like this:



Anyway, I love my Mirage. Bought new, with 12 miles on it.

Here's what it says about me:
It's beige. You might think that says I'm boring. But no. It says that's the only color the dealership had and I loved the car so much that I wanted it right now, so I took it. 
It's a 2 door. That says I don't have kids. Or a big dog. And that I wanted to look "sporty".
It has a bra on the front.  That also says I wanted to look "sporty". And cool. It does look cool.
It's dirty, so that says I am busy doing important things and don't have time to wash my car. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)
It's a 2000, so it says I'm practical. I'm not going to buy a new car just to have a new car when there's nothing wrong with the one I have.
(Although, I would take one of these if someone gave me one.)

(Or even one of these.)


But my car also says I am thrifty. Not because it's 10 years old, but because it gets 30-35 mpg! Why buy a new car that only gets 20? Even most of the hybrids don't get that kind of mileage. Except the Prius. Which, hello, says "pretentious" almost as loud as the Hummer. And no, I don't hate the Earth. I recycle. I don't club seals, or let them play with plastic bags and suffocate. But if I bought a new car, hybrid or whatever, mine would get re-sold and still be on the road (or in a land-fill, which would be worse), so actually, it would be bad for the planet, because I'd be adding to the problems of congestion, consumption and what not.


So there. That's what my car says about me.
What does your car say about you?

And what the hell does this "car" say about that guy???


(I think it's a boat hull on an old MG convertible body...suppose it actually floats?)

7 comments:

  1. ooww...cool car. I drive an SUV but drove my son's Ford Fusion for a few days and decided I likey. It's much quieter than mine and it gets better gas mileage than mine and I didn't feel like I was sitting on the ground like I thought I would. Have fun in your new ride! OH..and I hate hate hate those low rider crap vehicles.

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  2. i totally agree about the hummer thing.

    i drive a mitsubishi. i got it because i needed a new car and it was the only one on the lot in my price range. best car ever. i love it.

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  3. I drive a PAID OFF 99 Mitz Galant V6 black with a chipped up engine :-) nope gas is horrible because of the lead foot driver. But I get all my running around shopping done FAST. It is also tricked out as a New Orleans Saints Mitz.

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  4. I drive a 1991 Mazda Miata (best non-practical car I've ever owned) and a 1998 Subaru Forester (best practical car I've ever owned).Yes, I have two. The Forester is the "real" car when I need to cart more than 5 bags of groceries, which, by the way, fit quite nicely in the Miata's front seat.

    I even believe the Forester is a "wagon" and not an SUV, so it makes me feel better. Both vehicles get excellent mileage, too. I fear the day I will need to replace the Forester.

    Oh, and that last car in your post? I think someone had way too much time on his hands. And yes, I think it's a GUY.

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  5. I have a Chrysler Pacifica, the car that lexus and that ford edge were modeled after. I love it like no other. And it's paid for. That said, if someone offered me a good price, I'd sell it for something with more cargo room, like, eek, another minivan.

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  6. I think the wee roller skate that got crushed probably saved your life because it could be crushed allowing the car to take much of the impact that you would have received. So, I like it the best of all because you get to be with us longer. Once I had a Mitsubishi that I flew way back in 1944. Some said it was a zero but it totaled more. Whoa, just pulling your leg a wee bit. Our barn holds a 1998 and a 2002 Chrysle T&C. Once I found I could haul a queen size hide-a-bed, a bookcase, boxes in the bookcase, and a couple straight back chairs and still close the hatch I though I did not need a 13 MPG pick-up when the 23 MPG T&C would do much of what it could do. Note they are old but still going strong.

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  7. Whoa, that's a working car? That's a boatload of...something.

    Hahahaha! My car says I'm pretentious. Seriously, though, after I got my Prius, I found out my next door neighbor and my neighbor's neighbor have Priuses, too. I guess you can tell what state I live in.

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