Looking at cars...

My car is showing its age. I've had the little car for well nigh 10 years now, and it's really getting long in the tooth. Last month the power window control burned out, and I had to replace it - the part cost like $250 bucks... *winces* Now, the front breaks went bad, and it's going to need some work. Not sure how much it's going to cost me yet, but the initial estimate was $150.

*sighs*

For some time now, I've been working on acquiring a new ride, and put the old workhorse to pasture. Rather than go the "used car" route, I'm thinking of experiencing for myself the thrill of that new car smell as I drag my tired butt out the door and haul ass to get to work before the wondrous tardy fairy bestows the hot-pink-tardy-slip-memo-of-woe upon my inbox. (joy)

For a long time I was considering the Prius, Toyota's hybrid. Despite the higher price tag, I figured the gas mileage advantages and environmentally friendly profile far outweighed mere monetary concerns. That is, of course, until I found out about the truth - the gas mileage isn't anywhere NEAR as efficient as initially believed, the special hybrid battery needs to be replaced every 3 - 5 years (and costs an arm and a leg), and it doesn't come in a pretty blue color. (Yes, the lack of true blueage was what really killed it for me. Okay not really - it was the $30k price tag without any gas mileage benefits that REALLY killed it for me.)

Thus heartily disappointed, I turned away from the mythical Prius to a more practical solution - the Corolla. On Toyota's site, I played around with the different options and stuff that I'd want, and the MSRP came out to be about $19k. Which is still about $10k less than the Prius I had formerly been looking at.

And the Corolla comes in blue. A real blue.

So now all I have to do is finish saving up enough for a down payment. And make sure I have the means to make the monthly car payments that will be necessary. Which, of course, is even more motivation to beat that overly-cheerful tardy fairy every morning to the wonderful-happyland-place. (yay...)

Ah well...things could always be worse. I could be at work! (...oh wait, I am... -_-; )