***Obsession, is the car of life...***

I'm still continuing to research cars. Besides the Pontiac G6, there's the Buick Lacrosse, and now the Mercury Montego:

All pics, of course, were found on the Internet and rights belong to their respective sites.


Why the obsession? It was I who chose to forgo purchasing a new vehicle, not R. Matter was strictly financial: we just could not afford to swing two new cars and and remodel the house all in the same year. And getting an Honda Accord hybrid made sense since R. commutes 160 miles regularly. We've calculated we'll recover the premium price for the hybrid easily within a couple of years (R. says sooner) just by switching to the regular fuel alone. R. had to refuel every other day with the 626 and with premium. The Accord needs to filled only twice a week on regular.

And it's not that I don't like the 626. The car's a definite improvement over my Dodge Neon: more powerful engine, sunroof, and a CD player, just to name a few advantages. I'm already familar with it, too: I can't count the many times I drove it on the weekends or, especially, trips to San Diego or Las Vegas.

Nevermind it takes premium unleaded fuel. Our budget can absorb such necessities. And I only fuel it once to twice a week which is less costly than when R. drove it daily.

Is it car envy? That is, am I inadequate somehow for driving a used car? I still refer to the 626 as "R.'s car."

Or is it the desire just to have something new? Damn. You'd think a business major would be immune to such obvious, cheap tricks. But I continue to read--daily--not only about the G6 and the Lacrosse, but the Montego, the Buick Lucerne, and even the S-Type by Jaguar. R. jokes about what is my latest "Car of the Week" And what's scarier is that I actually have an answer. Last week, for example, was the Volvo S80. The prior week? The Infiniti G35.

Very, very scary.

I think I've narrowed the root to my obsession. For many years I've lived frugally, dismissing many material goods because I just couldn't afford them. I purchased the Neon, for example, because the Ion's and Civic's at that time were too costly. Even R. chose the 626 versus the (now defunct) Mazda Millenia due to price.

But things have changed. I don't make 20k gross yearly any more. R. has finally found a medical group that not only pays decent but is not in danger of collapsing within a year. We have a house and all the benefits (and disadvantages) that go with ownership.

Not only have my resources increased but my knowledge that my reach, too, as has increased as well. For that, I squarely blame my spouse.

Used cars. Certified pre-owned. Rebates, rebates, rebates. It's a buyer's market for cars, especially for American ones. And I know it. It's this knowledge and that I can make such a purchase* that is fueling this obsession.

Whew. What's that line from Sheryl Crow's song? Oh, yeah: "it's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got."



*And forgot about my spouse stopping me. We both learned what happens when I get obsessive over something. While I can exert full control over something blatantly unreasonable (i.e., high-end Audi's or Acura's), it's the "reasonable" zone (basically, anything in the mid-thirties and below. Or a used Jaguar S-Type) that we could struggle if I allow myself to become unreasonable.