Nom de Plume

The problem with being an obsessive person is simply that: one is obsessive. This may sound like stating the obvious, but what it actually means is this: Since I started the car search, I’ve ix-nayed dozens of cars based on online research, made comprehensive lists of maybes, been to seven different dealerships and driven 11 different cars. In three days.

So here’s the lowdown.

Subaru
I drove the Outback and the Forester, and really, I didn’t like either of them that much. They felt boxy; I felt hemmed in. Which doesn’t make much sense, but I blame the gears. Shifting felt really tight. And they handled fine, but they weren’t particularly FUN. Unlike the …

Toyota RAV4
which was totally fun and zippy, and I really liked the shape and how it was configured. Didn’t like the weird tunnel vision doohickeys around the gauges. Also, it didn’t feel totally stable, a little tippy, which wasn’t the case with the …

Mazda 6 (M6?)
It was pretty cool, lots of space inside. Elizabeth went to test drive it with me, and she hated because it looked kind of like a space ship. I didn’t mind that, but I did mind the fact that the back door opened like a minivan. So I drove the

Mazda 3 (M3?)
By far, my favorite. Small but lots of space. Handled well, really well. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that they, too, had the little tunnel vision things around the gauges. Why do people do this? Nonetheless, I felt this was a serious contender. Not that this stopped me from going across the street …

Honda Element
The less said about this, the better. Suffice it to say that this car was made for aging boomers who want to relive their VW bus years — in comfort. I hated it.

Honda CRV
I keep wanting to call it the XRT. What’s an XRT anyway? This was nice, it was fine, it was quiet, it didn’t excite me at ALL.

Nissan XTerra
By this point, it was Saturday. And I mainly wanted to see what this felt like. The very nice manager located a manual, all the while warning me that the whole industry is moving away from stick shifts. Strangely enough, the manuals they do have have six gears. It was nice. It was solid. It was a gas guzzler. So I went to the Volvo dealership.

Volvo V50
Let me preface by saying that I’m a sucker for those Northern European cars. They’re sturdy, they last forever, and they’re simple. By which I mean that their designers would DIE before putting stupid tunnel vision things around the gauges. And I’m thinking that if I’m going to buy a car, I might as well buy something that’ll last for a long, long time. I test drove both the V50 and the S40, which is the sedan version of the V40, because they didn’t have a manual in the former. But this is it. Car search over. I’m getting a V50 even though all the product literature has pictures of sporty pregnant couples. (AAHHH!) And I know I’m going to get the cracks about rejecting the Subaru, but we all have our inherent contradictions and this is mine of the day. Still, for giggles, I then drove a …

Ford Mustang
I didn’t mean to, honest I didn’t. I wanted to test out some of their small SUVs, but they didn’t have any in a standard transmission. So the next thing I knew, I was driving this. I didn’t plan for it to happen. The sales guy was very nice, but a little clueless. First of all, he assured me he could get a good price if I traded in the 2002. Then he said, “You know, most of us take our cars for granted, but for you, with your little old Subaru, it’s such a huge upgrade that I know you’ll appreciate driving a classic like this.”

Well.