Jen's Blog

Baby you can drive my car

I was successful! I drove home with a brand new 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid last night! It had 5 miles on it when I got it (and then I put another 30 or so on it just to get home!!!)

I did most of the transaction by email ahead of time (including setting the price and the exact specifications of the car.) This was stressful, but it's a long story that I'll compile when I get more free time.

The transaction was much smoother than I had anticipated. No one tried to sell me anything, I paid with cash so I didn't have to worry about getting a loan, and the car was exactly the one I wanted. That's not to say the day wasn't stressful, though. On top of being very concerned about the deal (based on my email experience), I had a last minute money glitch. Gary needed to transfer money into my account, and the credit union had just closed when we arrived. We wound up driving around Stanford and wandering around a hospital for half an hour looking for another branch (we which did find eventually, in a basement *next* to the hospital, with a tiny faded sign marking it. It did not say "Beware of the Leopard" but it might as well have!) Luckily I was only 30 minutes late for the appointment, and they didn't sell my car to someone else!

My new car is really neat. It should get around 45 mpg, which is almost twice as good as I get with my '95 Subaru. When I come to a stop, the engine shuts off (much like my old Chevy Cavalier, except it starts up again when I need to go!) so I conserve a lot of gas that way, and I'm not polluting the air whilst waiting for my burger-and-fries. It has a special bladder system in the gas tank to prevent gas from evaporating when the tank isn't completely full. It has power locks and power windows. It's got a CD player. And two drink holders. Wow!

I picked the color Magnesium Metallic (silvery grey) because it looks sleek and because it's a new Hybrid color this year (so very few cars look like mine.)

There's a few things I need to do to it still. I need to figure out how to connect my mp3 player to the stereo system. My Subaru has a tape player which I can use to connect the mp3 player via a cassette adapter. Since it doesn't have a cd player, I could use the cassette adapter for cds, mp3s, and minidiscs. And of course I could always play tapes. Although it's cool that the Civic has a cd player, I now find that somewhat limiting, since all it plays is cds (surprise!) I have read about adaptors that work similarly to a cassette adaptor, and I have also read vague references to adaptors that connect to the 6-cd changer jack under the driver's seat. I haven't actually seen any of these adaptors, though, so I'll have to start doing harder research. The Accord has an mp3 option, but alas not the Civic Hybrid.

Other stuff: I need to figure out how to set the clock (soon! it's on daylight savings time!!) I need to buy a new front windshield screen (my old one is falling apart.) I need to get insurance. I need to find out if the Yosemite license plates are reasonable. I need to sell my old car.

Buying a new car is really a lot of work. I don't see how some people do it every year. Once or twice a decade is sufficient for me!

Posted by Jen at October 30, 2003 07:08 AM