My New Car

I got a new car. I wanted to buy an economical family car, something with a 4 cylinder engine, something that would save us a bit of money on fuel and last for a while without too many repairs.

I started searching on kijiji. I looked at many compact cars, searching for fairly low km's, in decent shape, for about 3,000 dollars. I looked at KIA and Hyundai, Neons and Accords. Then my car appeared. A 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier. Only 135,000 km's, and a body that had no scrapes or rust. I called the guy and negotiated a price of 2,800, knowing I would get a bit of work done. It was one of those deals when I was a little bit afraid that it might be too good to be true. It was about 1,500 dollars below appraised value, so it was possible that something more major was wrong with it.

Nervously, I drove it for a few weeks, trying to identify the various issues that would need repair. As I drove it, I also began to really enjoy it. It was turning out to be a really fun car to drive. Oh, did I mention it was a Z24 Sport edition with a 5 speed manual transmission? It was fast, sporty, and fun.

I was still a bit nervous, sort of like the boy who takes two cookies instead of one, stuffs one completely in his mouth, then takes a bite of the second cookie, hoping that Mom won't notice his mouth is too full for just one bite. I knew I was supposed to be getting a car to help the family a bit, but now I guiltily found out I had taken it in a direction I didn't really have a right to go. Something was bound to go wrong, something was bound to be really wrong with the car.

So I drove it, and noted the problems. Nothing more serious that I had thought at first, but bringing it to the garage was still a cause for internal fear and trembling. (One must keep up a confident front for one's spouse after all.)

Then, oh day to mark on the calendar, I picked up the car from the garage, and the conversation went something like this.

Mecahnic: Well, the car's running great. By the way, did you know what kind of engine you have in it?

Me: A 2.4l double overhead cam, right?

Mechanic: Well that's all it says on the outside, BUT, in '98 some of these cars got a racing engine.

Me: Really?

Mecahnic: Yeah. I checked the compression and you've got 200psi right across all four cylinders. You should run premium fuel in it to avoid damage, and it will give more power and economy.

End of the important part of the discussion.

So yeah, I'm pumped and excited. I've driven the car another week now, and it really flies. (I also bought new tires so I'm driving carefully to avoid using them up. A true conundrum.)

This weekend I hope to get my sub working so I can roll into the parking lot and school and pump out some heavy beat.

Did I also forget to mention I just turned 48?