garmana::blog

2922 days and counting

Eight years ago today I bought my Honda Prelude. It looks little more worn and a little less red than when I drove it home for the first time, but I'm still in love with it. It's been a reliable car for me minus one $1000 timing belt mishap (knock on wood), and it's really only in need of some new tires. Okay, and brakes. And shocks. But it's been paid off for four years and gotten me 103,000 miles, and so I'm not complaining.

Eight years ago today I was the textbook lesson in how not to buy a car. I had been having problem after problem with my old car. I had replaced the timing belt, tires, brakes, and exhaust system all in the last two months. It was ten years old with 170,000 miles and it was beyond worse for wear. The night before the alternator had conked out, and so I had the car towed to the local Honda dealership. Lesson in stupid car buying #1.

I was intending to get a 3-4 year old Accord, thinking that it would be reliable and affordable. Somehow the dealer got me behind the wheel of the brand new black Prelude SH in the showroom, and somewhere through the cloud of New Car Smell® I heard him tell me that he would open the double doors and let me drive the car off of the showroom floor for a test drive by myself. I was 22, single, and three months into a full-time salary. And of course the carcass of my last car was rotting behind the building, junkyard buzzards circling. He had me.

I drove the car out of rush hour traffic and into the country, opened the sunroof and windows, and cranked the stereo. I had ascended out of Jalopy Hell and landed in New Car Heaven. I floated back into the dealership parking lot and the smile plastered across my face let my salesman know that the 94 Accords just weren't doing it for me anymore. I feigned boredom but I was as transparent as the windshield. Lesson stupid car buying #2. We started negotiating price, and soon I was signing my name on the dotted line.

Fast forward eight years, and I still love the feeling I get sitting behind the wheel. I love the handling and the styling, and it fits me like a glove. It's just a car, but after all this time it's become my car. I'd love to hit 200,000 miles in it...