Cars...

Of all excesses I've reduced from the highest mountain of excesses I accumulated in recent years, the one remaining "excess" I keep dear to my heart are cars. Yes, I've downgraded to a compromise car, which is a powerful, relatively reliable 4-door, AWD handling car. But perhaps I can go one step further.

After I finally received my refund check, I've been noticing people have been offering to buy my car for virtually the same net value that I bought it for 4 months ago! If I decide I'm crazy enough to go through this hopefully last car dance, and pull off selling it for pretty much what I bought it for, this essentially means I've been driving it "free"! Well, there's also the $400 interest that my bank has added to my loan). So let's call it $100 / mo and call it even.

Somehow I get the feeling this current car's rate of depreciation may pick up speed again, though.

So, as a replacement, I believe I may actually come completely full circle, and get into a 2001 Camry-- with V6! And which means disc brakes on all wheels! For a whopping $7500. This was basically the Camry one generation newer than my first, personally owned car, a '96 Camry, and the Camry that I'd wished I bought instead of my old Camry. Although they're both essentially the same hardware underneath, the '97-'01 Camry's had a ton of nice refinements to it.

For $7500, I don't mind losing a stick (probably for good, for my life-- until I pick up a DSG or SMG-type driven car in the future), having absolute peace of mind with a car that has a completely predictable maintanance pattern, with costs all figured out, and a widespread network of support nationwide.

I think I'm completely done being halfway OCD with cars and taking them to specialty and/or enthusiast shops. I've discovering I have far too little precious time to waste on low-ROI activities like shop visits, and wish to dedicate that to studying, investing, etc.

People have asked if I'll miss the "performance handling" aspect of driving. I might-- but, frankly, right now, comparing a Subaru to a V6 Camry, I'll be losing anywhere from $1500-$2000 / year. In the grand scheme of my income, that's a very small percentage of my income-- but, like time, it's enough to matter how irrecuperable it is.