Put Up or Shut Up

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So one thing I alluded to in my previous post about the buying a car or a laptop was the possibility of socializing with attractive people that live further away. Whether it be in North Seattle or on the East side where the overpaid programmers dwell.

Space Needle

Seattle is so much more awesome than Bellevue or Redmond :P

A solution to transport is that I could bum lifts off people but that would only work for so long. I can’t very well force people to come into my part of town just for me. There needs to be a reasonable compromise here. My initial equation was flawed because stuff does happen on weeknights sometimes and I can’t always just rent a car just in case something is going to happen.

Right now, I’m probably overreacting. I’ve found maybe two or three good reasons to want a car but really that isn’t a good enough justification to spend tens of thousands of dollars. As I described to someone today, this whole “no car” is an extensive exercise in whinging, it is an effort to make Al Gore like me and add me to his F***book and it is a test of will. The cheap but really scary (for me) option is to make friends closer to where I live. Boy, that’s scary but probably far more valuable than any Volkswagen.

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Jen

hot? As in “Hey baby, I have a VW. Wanna riiiiide? And after, WANNA RIIIIIIDE??!”
Jack

Yes but with more caps and more exclamation points. I find a lot of girls just don’t get it unless I turn caps lock on.

Oh and don’t for a second think that I see a VW as a babe magnet. I don’t. It’s far too sensible a car. I just have weird tastes in cars (VW Golf GTI, Honda S2000, Ferrari F430, the new Jaguar XK).
Fay

um……..stupid question I know…but….why don’t you buy a cheaper car??
Jack

Not a stupid question at all! I could totally by a cheaper car.

Two things I’d need to do to do that: 1) lower my expectations to reality and 2) learn what constitutes good value in a used car.
AkaiChou

Get a Jazz!! :D It’s relatively cheap, got buckets full of safety features and is a low emission vehicle. And it’s a hatch! You could get more stuff from Ikea with minimal transport/shipping hassels and impress your friends with your cool furniture instead!
Lachlan

Just buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of shit for the girl. Transportation problems solved!
Jack

Only solves the problem for one girl. What about the other three that I am sleeping with?
Lachlan

Hundreds of thousands of dollars then :D
Mike

I say if your gonna get a car, do it properly. Get the car YOU want. You seem pretty set on the Golf. So take the VW Golf for a test drive (or have you already?). Then take the Honda Jazz for a test drive…………. BAAAaaahahahahahahahhaha. Honda, VW,………..Honda……………VW. HHhhhhmmm…….. All else fails, be stupid like me and get a ute…. or in American - a “Pickup”
andrew

You need to take a ute for a test drive. Utes are cool!!! You can drive up to a cliff and put aforementioned girl in the back and make out, just like in those romance/teenage coming of age comedy/horror movies. You could also transport hay and motorbikes and umm toxic waste. Honda don’t make utes so you can ignore hui ai. she is small and doesn’t get attention from chicks anyway, just like a honda jazz.

this is all supposing you want to buy a car to impress girls.

oh and on the grapevine i hear that they will be a making replica Camaro (bumblebee) from transformers available. V6 base model will cost $21,000 US.
Jack

It’s called a Honda Fit over here. And uhh… not really interested. I might take a new Civic for a test drive though. They look nice.

No way am I getting a Camaro. Just… no way. I will leave that to Shia LaBeouf. To be honest, I much preferred the old Camaro they showed in Transformers to the new one.
karan

Only if the Civic is the hot one they have over here in England.

Used cars that you probably want to look at would be in the 1 - 3 year old range, where the walk-out-the-door drop in value is gone but the car’s still modern and has all the goods.

If you’re looking at a Golf GTi, why not stretch it a little and look around at Audi A3 - starting from $25k according to their site. Spent some time in one over here when I was looking for a place, and it’s a nice car. Golf does have its own image, though.
Jack

Hahaha… the GTI is already stretching my budget. It seems the more I save, the more I aim to spend. Besides, the GTI is all the fun of a Audi TT in a hatch anyway (some TT owner is going to clobber me for saying that).
AkaiChou

USA doesn’t have the Type R. The only countries outside of Europe that have it are Australia and Singapore. So there! :P And what’s wrong with Honda (re: Mike’s comment)? Civic Type R is better than the Golf GTi…according to Stig. So there! :P
Jack

There’s the Civic Si over here but it is manual only.
Daniel

Well, I hate to be predictable, but I don’t think you should get a car. Waves little green flag. Why the hell are you living downtown if you are then going to go get a car? Think of your driving pattern when you were in Aus, living in a part of town where driving is totally justified. Versus your situation now? Any car will just end up taking room in your garage, negating any possible chick pulling potential.

And anyways, overally, taxis will be cheaper to get home at the end of the night. As for renting: when you find something is on at the last minute, catch the free bus downtown and go to one of the half a dozen rental agencies- one will surely have a car.

If you end up getting a car, it’s because you want a car or want to spend the money, not because you need it.
Jack

Woohoo yay for Daniel :D
karan

If you end up getting a car, it’s because you want a car or want to spend the money, not because you need it.

I fail to see the problem here. :P

Taxis are a good point… if you can get them. Taxi service in London is very lousy after 12:30ish, making it doubly hard to get home, though night buses abound. Seattle is no Manhattan, and if your friends or interest-inducing parties live out in the burbs then a bus etc is just gonna be lame, especially on weekends.

On the other hand, convince them to come downtown and retire to your place for post-game drinks / chill because you’re in the city!
Daniel

It’s not a problem aside from the whole rampant-consumerism-is-killing-the-planet angle. I just object to the attempt to dress up a want as a need.

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