The end of the road

I bought a new car this week.

Is it wrong that, as happy and relieved as I am to get a new one, I was sorry to see my temperamental baby go?

It's been kind of a rough year, what with the dog and now the car. Maybe I'm a sap, or maybe I just get attached to things too much.

More than six years and just shy of 160,000 miles of adventures and misadventures, you'd be attached to your car, too.

But it was still tough to see the saleswoman drive it into the back lot. I hope my baby gets a good owner, and doesn't wind up in a junkyard somewhere.

She was my first new car, and the first car I ever bought. So much money, frustration... and so many miles on the open road. Parting is, indeed, such sweet sorrow.

As for my new baby, well, she's big and shiny and smells a little funky (I can't say I'm a big fan of the new car smell), and while I have less stress over the wheels, engine and other assorted parts (Mitsubishi has a much better warranty these days), I get to stress a car payment again.

And with all the damn house bills, I don't know how I'll do it. Plus, she ate my tax refund.

I got a top-of-the-line Mitsubishi Outlander, a little SUV with all-wheel-drive, an MP3/CD changer and a sunroof. Dark gray with cute little pinstripes. Less powerful than my Eclipse, but it runs smoother and has fatter tires (thank God).

Of course, it doesn't have a tape deck, so I need a new adaptor for my iPod. Hmm.

You buy a new car, you can't help but feel like you're being screwed, but somehow, I feel like I actually got a good deal. They're redoing the Outlander for '07 so they seemed eager to get the '06 off the lot - it was their "trophy" model out front - in fact, they were so eager, the sales guy overnegotiated and had to rather red-facedly tell me he couldn't make the deal we agreed on. But he made one close enough. It strikes me that I got a $28,000 car for about $19,000 plus my tax refund and my car (which essentially covered the interest on the loan). Maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure that math doesn't add up. But as long as I believe it, I'll sleep better, at least until I start getting the bills.

Tell you what, though. Nothing like a new, slightly wider vehicle to make a guy sweat pulling into and out of his garage, eh?

So I'm either driving too fast or too slow, I'm sitting about two feet higher up than I was last week and I still flinch when I hit bumps in the road. Four-year-old habits die hard, I guess.

(Anybody want a 17" sports tire, a dented rim and some brake rotors? Guess I won't need my little busted-but-useable parts pile anymore...)

Well, readers, think of it this way: You'll get more posts, since I can't afford any more books or DVDs or other things that occupy my time instead of this.

Links:
• Mitsubishi Motors, makers of the Outlander and Eclipse, both in new 2007 versions

And for the curious, I bought another Mitsubishi because I like the dealer where I get my service done. That's probably stupid, but I got a $500 loyalty bonus and everything.

Mood: Nervous. Or speedy.