This is the long winded version of the post I made earlier, so if you do not want to read all my blithering I understand but for those who are interested or bored enough to continue here goes. First, why did my bubble of happiness shrink a bit? Well I can’t name names or get too detailed for the sake or respect to privacy for those involved on a public forum such as this, but it boils down to communication. Most people I know, know that for the most part I do not have that problem and at times can be too talky, such as now some of you might think to yourselves, but I would rather do that then leave a person in the dark. If you really want to know the gist of what I am getting at, there is a funny song with truth to it by a humor band called Garfunkel and Oats titled “The Fade Away” that really hits the nail on the head. Most people know that I am neurotic a lot of the time but recently things have gone so well that I have been getting a lot of confidence ( I guess finally hitting your stride in life will do that for you ) and for once I am almost sure that I did not do anything wrong, like stick my foot in my mouth which is usually the case. I get the reasons, I am almost 100% sure of why what happened happened ( again public forum, respect to privacy ) and while I would not have been happy about it some respect and common decency, to say hey this activity cannot continue any longer because of X or Y or both but I care about you and wish you luck, wouldn’t have left me felt hurt and angry. Sad, yes but not without understanding and mutual well wishes. Long story short, someone who I spent a long time earning their trust and friendship without notice or a good bye is no longer my friend, and that woman I mentioned I was dating in a recent previous post and I are no longer dating. Again almost 100% sure that it was not fault on either parties part, just logistics problems, mainly timing and distance, that ended things but some closure would have been nice. Especially since things had been going so well, until the abrupt radio silence. So yeah a bit bummed out and irritated by these facts but overall none of the other good things have changed in my life and there are plenty of more opportunity on the horizon so moving forward I will still have a smile on my face. I was just a bit bummed about it yesterday and today and wanted to get that off my chest. The second thing I mentioned earlier today was the Detroit auto show. Be warned that this is the really, really long winded part of this little essay. ( I get bugs up my ass to write essays like this from time to time, Leah and Jessica and Marsha have had the chance of reading them and seemed to like them, and so maybe I should start a blog so I have an outlet for it ). For about 3 years now I have been rolling the idea around of buying a new car, the reasons for wanting a new car, yes completely new not like new but technically used, are 3 very simple ones. 1st, not absorbing someone else’s risky unknown maintenance. A brand new car with warranty, that I personally could put 10sih years and 150Kish miles on rather than be the 2nd or 3rd owner getting it when it has said 10ish years, 150Kish miles on it already. 2nd, fuel/cost consumption. As automotive technology evolves, cars, not talking hybrids yet, are getting better and better fuel ranges, and while I really do like and enjoy driving my current car which in the condition its in and the fact that other than it being a 4 cylinder instead of a V-6 is exactly what I wanted when I was shopping for it and considered myself lucky to find, still gets less than 30 MPGs and when the new non hybrid mustangs can get up to 36, which is only 2 miles less per gallon than the expected minimum on a hybrid, I started to pay attention. But what to buy I asked. Well at first I though of going with a diesel car, like an older Mercedes or a VW Jetta or Passat TDI, then I heard of the new Mazda 6-D. But after some time researching and some experimental trips to dealers I found out that to get 2 simple features ( moonroof with a manual transmission ) I had to get the highest trim level at a price tag of nearly 38K before taxes, that idea went right out the window. Turns out you can no longer order a mixed trim car from the factory, excluding Teslas, they only come in 3 or perhaps 4 flavors and if you want X you have to get Y. Well I am the kind of guy who knows that I will not ever use Y, and Y, and Y (to get a stick shift with moon roof the ultra high trim versions had like 5 things included that I either would have never used or could have cared less about ) and I sure as hell wasn’t going to spend that kind of money so I went back to just driving my Solara while pondering what to do. And the 3rd and last reason was to build my credit rating, it was bad before but with years of effort and patience it is getting better. It still isn’t good but it is no longer bad either, its in that grey neutral area. The benchmark that I wanted to hit was to get financed without a cosigner for a lower interest rate than the last time I financed anything with a cosigner. I have at long last gotten there, but it is still not at what you would call a reasonable ( even for someone with bad credit ) or fair rate but it is lower. And that is what gave me my initial time table to aim for, 2 years from this past summer, 2014, at the earliest, 5 years max, so that my interest rate, with continued dedication to improving and building my credit rating, would be fair and reasonable, even if it was still considered high. But then I started to pay attention to who was going to be the most likely candidates for president, on both the Rep and Dem side, and my time table hit a snag. Both parties this time around want to discontinue the tax incentives Obama created for buying a electric/plug in hybrid car. The laymen terms of these decisions is that Obamas tax incentives are enabling electric/plug in hybrids drivers to use roads and highways that they are in simple terms not paying their fair share of taxes on while everyone else picks up the difference. So with a heavy sigh I figured the best time to make my purchase would be summer 2015 instead to get the best chance of the best price tag before the risk of these laws coming to fruition. A bit early, sure, a bit paranoid, yes, but I have wanted to make big decisions before and because of hemming and haying about the unknowns have gotten bit on the ass more times than I can count, and I figured, well for once I can actually afford to do something, and I certainly do not want to hesitate and have to pay more later like I have done in the past. So I started to research again and I will not bore you with the details, and this time I looked at hybrids instead of diesels, and hands down, when you compare price to miles, the Chevy Volt wins. It goes the farthest on a charge before the engine kicks on, and unlike other hybrids, the engine only powers a generator which then runs everything else giving you a flat consumption rate rather than a depending on driver input and conditions, causing fluctuation in your mileage. And, after taxes has the best pricetag. My dad wants a prius plugin, but 12 miles to a charge and between 4 and 8k in price more, and the thing is ugly, No thanks. Oh sure Teslas are awesome, but I don’t have 85k and there are not enough charging stations to make then capable of cross country driving. And yeah the Ford Fusion Plug in looks nice, but its still only 21 miles before gas, and the Honda Plug in is only 23 miles and looks almost as bad as the Prius. Sure the Volt is not good looking either, but it doesn’t look bad or dumb either. And when you consider these other cars are either the same price or more than, with less gas mileage and less than 35 miles to a charge, before gas, I think it is easy to see why that is what I am choosing to get. And if I am helping the environment on top of that I fail to see how that is a poor choice. So why summer of 15? Well I already shared part of why but here is part 2. During my research, I found out that the Gen 2 version of this little marvel is being released, with its public showing debut to be held at the Jan of 2015 Detroit auto show. I have my fingers crossed that one of the speculative mockups that I saw on goolge with be close to the finished product, the core design still intact but with slightly more contoured edges, a lower roof line and longer wheel base. Also why wait for the Gen 2? Well GM has stated several times that they hope to unveil this new model with this slight redesign with a lower price tag then the current model (4 to 7k is what they are hoping to pull off but ill believe it when I get to the dealership and see the price tag with my own eyes) and better battery range. If they can hit 50 plus miles to a charge and increase the mileage to higher than 45 with the smaller engine I will be in hog heaven. Weather they can hit these targets will remain to be seen and, only if they can will I be buying the 2016 when it becomes available, other wise ill stick to a late 2015 first gen model and save myself a few bucks. So that’s whats on my mind in a nutshell. If you stuck it out this long and read this entire post yay!
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 23:55:36 +0000
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