No excuse for not blogging

So I bought us a new car. Well, it's new to us anyway. It's old, though. 1998. Volvo V70. That's right. The wagon. Again for those of you who know me really well, it's my dream car. Since high school. I know it seems odd, but hey, they used to race them over in Europe. And anything that can be raced as well as used to handle a bevy of Ikea purchases is ok in my book.

I bought the car last Monday at CarMax after checking it out on Saturday night. However, after I drove it on Monday night to pick up a friend (so we could go back to CarMax and take the Jetta home, too) the check engine light came on. So I left it with them. It took them until Thursday to fix it, but I was busy that night. (And no, I didn't pay a thing for the repairs.)

Well, Friday came and it was off to Akron to see my brother right after work in the early afternoon. So the car continued to sit in the lot, unloved, until Sunday night when I got back and picked it up.

Why did I buy a 98? Well, this particular car only has about 66,000 miles on it. And it's nine years old. That's nothing. One owner, in Indy. So it was probably never taken out of state. And it was probably taken care of by the dealer -- something I still need to confirm.

To demonstrate what a paltry amount 66K miles is, consider that our 2005 MKIV Jetta bought in Nov. 04 has 65K miles on it. And I managed to get an extended warranty on the Volvo -- 3 years, 36,000 miles. I'm on my own with the Jetta. Thank God it's an indestructable diesel.

Anyway, I don't have any photos of the car because really, I haven't seen it during the day. Seriously. Maybe on Thursday when I come home early I might. If not, I have to wait for the weekend. It looks decent lit by streetlights, though. It's a really light tan color, I think.

The interior is uh, grey? Cloth. But mysteriously there are heated seats. And yes, it's an automatic. This is basically going to be Maria's car, and the one we'll take on longer trips. A description of the car now and then how it seems to handle ...

The thing about me and "new" cars is that I'm always put off at first by the interior. I'm not used to it. But after a while, you're sitting there, at a traffic light, and you don't even realize that you have issues. It's strange switching between two totally different cars. For one, the Volvo is obviously larger. But not so large as an SUV. But still, there is the matter of a large empty space behind me, floating around. The windscreen is tiny, too. It feels a lot lower to the ground. The doors are almost perfect rectangles, which is very odd, but I really, really love it. If you notice on a modern car the front door is usually sloped heavily, and the rear door is the same. The handle-side on the Volvo is almost perpendicular to the ground. The rear seats fold down and there is a sunroof. These meet two of my three car requirements (the other being a manual transmission.) I am looking forward to having this car with the new house, because it should make trips to Home Depot that much more fun.

The worst part about it so far are the cupholders. They slide out of the armrest. Why bother? The bottom part that supports the "cup" is about an inch an a half below the ring that would cradle the cup. So beyond a can, everything put in there will tilt and likely spill. I'm not big on drinking and driving, so this isn't an issue. Might come up on longer trips, though.

Somehow, I got an all-wheel drive car without getting the Cross Country. Without offending too many people (Jenn, Corey) I don't really care for the XC model. It's too jacked-up for me. I might not mind it so much but then they put all the extra plastic on it. Our is just normal looking. It looks slightly raised, but nothing that annoys me. Of course, the interiors of the cars are the same.

The ride is very smooth. I'm getting used to driving an autobox again. It's really weird. Because you just ... sit there. And turn the wheel. With one hand. I guess that's why it's so easy for people to eat soup, baked potatoes, burritos, Cinnabons, salads, pizza and General Tso's chicken while driving. I find myself also driving a lot slower, too. That's right. Slower. I mean, what's the hurry? There's no passion here. No playing with the gears. No feathering the clutch. No downshifting. Just sitting.

I have taken it on small trips near the apartment thus far. I want to get it out on the highway at the end of this week to see how well it keeps up. It's really quiet, too. No steering wheel controls, but it does have dual-climate control. I'm apprehensive about the four-speed autobox. I'm sure it'll be crap for gas mileage, but since Maria will likely put well under 10,000 miles on it per year, it's all good. It's got an 18-gallon tank, so what, like, 20 mpg? Maybe better? I guess that's about 400 miles. On a drive "home" to Lancaster that would get us to just past Pittsburgh. Good enough. Everybody loves Breezewood, no?

Next post: My test drive experience at Mitsubishi and a recap of the weekend in Akron, Canton and Pittsburgh