He was very enthusiastic about the spray hose.

But was somewhat less helpful when it came to the soap part of the process.

Fun times.  Can’t wait till he can wash our cars for real. Every weekend. Right after he’s done mowing the lawn.

Nothing says “you need to get a car very, very soon” like having to wake up your wife and toddler well before their normal rise-and-shine time to drive you to work in their car so they’re not stranded at home the whole day.

The last time I bought a car for myself, I was just out of college, living with my folks, gainfully “dot-com” employed and without a need for my car to have LATCH seat connectors.  The Celica was fun, a little different than the Integras and Eclipses that seemed to dominate the import scene, and offered a somewhat more reliable ride when compared to other speedy cars in 2001.

Things are quite different now.  Spending a third of my monthly income on your car no longer seems like such a spectacular idea, and four doors are a requirement.

Based on a few factors – price, a week long test drive of the previous generation Corolla four years ago, and the fact that Toyota was heavily discounting their cars last month – we picked up a dark gray 2010 model.  It’s the base, so no fancy GPS nav or lazer guns, but comes with lots of good things for a commuter like me.  Ride quality is smooth, and the motor is matched up well for the size of the car. Steering is fine, but noticeably less direct than the Celica.

Unlike the Celica which came with a revolutionary war-era cassette player (and CD player), the Corolla came with an mp3 player and iPod plugin port, which fills me with happiness.  It also has lots of storage spots inside and two glove boxes! Really…who carries 2 sets of driving gloves these days when they drive?  The steering wheel is telescopic, which is new for me, and makes for a pretty comfy driving position.

It also comes with good gas mileage.  Right now I’m getting 34mpg in my mixed highway/traffic-light commute each day, and that’s without trying.   And its a 5-speed!  I’d much rather choose my own adventure gears when driving, so getting one in manual was great.

The car has lots of thoughtfully designed components that make it feel much more substantial – like the afore mentioned second glove box, a gas mileage indicator and a charge port hidden under the center arm rest with a tiny groove in the plastic that lets the recharger cord stick out.   And a back seat that normal humans can sit in!   This feature lets Ted ride comfortably with Kate and I, and that’s pretty cool.

And the speedometer and tachometer, check this out:

I didn’t notice it until after driving it for a few days.  It’s like the car is waking up its gauges with a big yawn-stretch.

It was the first new car I bought, right out of college.  I loved driving it, loved driving around with Kate in it, and did not love putting a car seat in the very small back seat.

Here’s a photo from the fall of 2001.

Here he is in the front seat of a new Dodge Challenger. Such a nice car on the outside. Kind of so-so on the inside.

This is the engine from an Audi R8. This will be my next car, assuming my lottery plans pan out.

Ted likes motorcycles.

I was uninjured, luckily enough, and we have spare cars around, so things could have been way worse. Still a drag to have a working vehicle taken out of service like that, though.

Its certainly sad to see the car go, it’s been through a lot with us.  When Kate first got it (while still at school in Newport), she did not tell me.  When I came down to visit her, she walked me by it where it was parked and asked me if I liked the way it looked.  I said I did, and then she said lets take it for a ride!  I was about to shout car thief! and run, but when she produced the keys I held back.  

The Sentra was also the car we packed up and moved to NC with, the car I drove Kate to the hospital in for Ted’s big day, and the car we drove him home in when he still had his own new car smell.

As much as cars are mostly devices that move us about, they’re also markers for spans within a life. I know when I think about the past, I usually think of either the car my folks had at the time, or the car I was driving around it.  

Here’s a pic of the Sentra in shinier days.