Posted by Patrick on December 3rd, 2008
In light of my own recent driving shennanigans, I made the decision that it was time to teach Ted how to drive. I mean, you know, its never to early right? Why not get the basics down when his rapidly developing brain is thirsty for knowledge. Nothing too fancy, just the basics.
The first step was explaining the whole “10 and 2″ o’clock hand positions. Ted countered that he couldn’t see out the windshield, and that he really wants to eat the ‘cruise control’ buttons.
In traffic, Ted got a little too confident and kept looking at his mother. I had to shout ‘Keep your eyes on the road!‘ more than once. That boy!
Soon he learned to focus. It’s tough to tell in this shot, but he’s actually parallel parking our car into a really tight spot. He’s using those side mirrors to his advantage.
Ted seemed to really like driving, and agreed to take a leg on our trip up north next month… but says he doesn’t want to drive through Jersey because he hates the tolls. Fair enough, I said.
ps – We would never, ever drive without Ted completely secured in his car seat. The car was off, keys in my pocket.
Posted in Automotive, Baby, Dadness, Ted |
6 Comments »
Posted by Patrick on November 6th, 2008
The employment front
Did I mention I changed jobs again? This is the last time for a while, I swear. I did really love what I was doing at the newspaper (and the cool people in the media group there) but I developed a feeling that someone was about to move my cheese, so adaptation was needed.
Per the Aftervictory Code of Secrecy, all I can say is that I’m still a web designer, but now working in the public sector. It’s quite a thing to change a job when you’re the sole source of income, but they made me a pretty outstanding offer. So far so good there.
Two years
Hard to believe but it’s been two years for us here in the northern of the two Carolinas. It’s gone by so fast! Still a little weird to write ‘NC’ on our return address labels. It’s still good though, and still tough to be away from our family and friends.
Cars
We now have three cars, which for those keeping score us one more car than licensed operators. Kate and Ted cruise around in the Versa while I take either of the remaining vehicles to work.
Keeping versus trading in came down to value. While we would have received some money for a trade in, we get much more value out of having an extra car. By equally spreading the mileage over the older vehicles, hopefully we can delay having to purchase a commuter car for me for a while.
Television
As new parents, our TV time is pretty limited. After Ted goes down for the night, there’s only maybe an hour before we’re both asleep. We have to choose our viewing wisely.
We watch almost all our TV from the internet. Sites like Hulu.com and the various network websites allow us to watch what we please whenever we like, without having to pay for cable tv.
Right now we watch The Daily Show, How I Met Your Mother, and the very dark comedy Its Always Sunny in Philidelphia.
If you haven’t checked out Hulu.com yet, you need to. It’s way easy to use, free, extremely well thought out in it’s design, and has a ton of shows, many from long ago.
Posted in Automotive, Employment, Homeownership, The South, family |
4 Comments »
Posted by Patrick on October 2nd, 2008
This past Friday night we had our first really long ride in the new wheels, traveling from tobacco country all the way up to the Ocean state.
Really all new car purchase decions should be made after a 700 mile trip with a six month old baby in the back. They could call it ‘real world’ testing. Lucky for us, the car performed admirably.
Storage
The hatchback held all our stuff with relative ease (says the guy who didn’t pack it). I think we would have been able to pack the same amount in a sedan, but it’s nice to know the room is there if we need it.
Interior storage was well used on the trip, filling available spaces with maps and sodas and toys for Ted. I think the cupholders in the Yaris would have caved under the pressure of the large coffees and sodas that kept us going on the trip.
Seats
The seats remained comfortable for the entire trip, with no weird cramping. I sat in the back seat with Ted for some of the trip and found it to be very napworthy.
Kate remarked that the front seats weren’t as comfortable for sleeping as the Celica seats are, and I tend to agree. The side bolstering in the Celica is both nice for turning and keep you in place while napping… but the Versa seats are certainly comfortable enough.
The Versa seats are vertically adjustable, something I hadn’t had in a car before. The headroom is great and when the seat is elevated, you get an almost van-like view of the road. The visibility is great, but you need to watch your head when you exit the vehicle, as the rigid steel door frame hurts when it smacks into your forehead.
Performance
I’m quite sure that the CVT will be the automatic transmission of the future. Hill climbs make themselves known (as they do in most 4-cylinder engine cars) but there are no jarring gear changes through the hills of Virginia. When one has a sleeping infant in the back seat, one appreciates any amount of improved smoothness.
It makes me curious as to how well the 6-speed manual Versa performs in comparisson.
Baby Compatibility
When we test drove the Versa initially, we spent a fair amount of time at the dealership test fitting car seats. We were happy to discover that Ted would be able to travel with us safely. And unlike the Celica, it’s possible to recline the seat in front slightly, preventing a post-roadtrip back pain from having the seat straight up.
We were able to keep all the requisite baby gear in the passenger compartment with no trouble. There’s also plenty of legroom for a passenger sitting/napping next to Ted.
This trip validated our thinking about this car purchase. We may have had more room with a Hummer H1, and we certainly would have arrived more quickly with an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, but neither of those were as important as arriving safely and comfortably.
Posted in Automotive, Ted |
4 Comments »
Posted by Patrick on September 25th, 2008
Before we picked out the Versa, we had considered a few other vehicles as potential family transporters. The Honda Fit was cool, but in short supply. The Scion xD was a possibility, but hard to get without expensive dealer add-ons. The Veyron is cool, but lacks a back seat.
We sat in a Toyota Corolla, but it had expanded to “mid-size” since we last drove one. Kind of a shame, wider and longer is not always an improvement.
While at the dealeship, we looked at a 2009 Toyota Yaris, in sedan form. It’s shape resembled a shrunken Camry, and was sized smaller then the Corolla. Optioned correctly (airbags, mp3 connection), it would have come with everything we needed.
The dealer had just unloaded a black 4door Yaris from a delivery truck, so we took it for a ride.
It was the base model, so it had roll up windows and manual locks and mirrors, but the engine was the same so it seemed like we could make a judgement based on that.
The engine was 106hp, so it’s not quote ready for the track, bit was able to move the car around safely due to it’s light weight.
The interior was comfortable enough, but both Kate and I questioned a few of the design decisions. The speedometer was in the center of the dash (vertically in line with the stereo) instead of being directly in front of the driver. I’ve seen this before in Scions.
It was a strange sensation, driving without a speedometer in it’s normal spot… like the speedometer was broken and all your driving feedback came from what you could see/hear/feel. I imagine you’d get use to of but I’m not sure long term if I’d like it.
Also, cupholders were mounted directly in front of air vents, and were quite small (soda can sized). Not a huge deal, but I could see it growing to annoy me.
The temperature controls were cool though, 3 dials control everything. Features are great, but it’s nice just to adjust the temperature without looking away from the road.
Ultimately this would be an ok car to own, especially for the short money invovled, but it all depends on how you feel about the driving experience.
The dealership was ultimately unable to find one with the options we wanted, and really it was for the best, as we’re both much happier with the Versa. It was a little more money, but a lot more car.
Posted in Automotive, Car Reviews |
1 Comment »
Posted by Patrick on September 11th, 2008
Earlier this week Kate and I had a chance to drive a 2009 Nissan Versa hatchback. It’s the smallest Nissan offered here in the States. In other parts of the world, it’s called the Tiida. The one we drove was navy blue and was an automatic.
The automatic is so automatic that it doesn’t even have gears in the transmission! It uses a Continously Variable Transmission to get power from the engine to the wheels. From what I’ve read, it gives a little better fuel economy then a traditional automatic transmission, and even bests the 6-speed manual MPG version of the Versa.
Once thing you notice with this CVT is that there are no lurches (since there are no gears being changed) as the car accelerates. It was a weird feeling, and I kept wanting to reach for a shifter of some kind to move into a different gear, but before I knew it the engine sound and RPMs told me that everything was going to be ok. Maybe this is the future?
Other then the non-shiftyness of the car, it drove well enough. The seat-of-my-pants accelartion test told me the car got up to speed quickly enough, and I was unable to roll it over when taking a corner.
It’s a hatchback, which I’m a big fan of, and has the usual fold-down seats in the back. Not quite as cool as the Honda Fit fold-down-and-up-and-up-further seats we saw in Jay and Erin’s hatchback, but functional and utilitarian none the less. The rest of the inside of the car was cleanly laid out, offering features that most people would want (ac, power windows, ample cupholderage) but nothing too fancy. I read there’s an optional overpriced GPS system that’s available, but it wasn’t in the version we drove.
The radio was pretty fancy for stock, it had a 6-disc changer that played MP3 files burnt onto discs, as well as having an auxillary port for plugging in one’s ipod. This should be standard on all cars! It also has the power button as a large circular dial in the center of the radio, sort of like sister-in-law Chris’ Honda Accord.
The car had lots airbags (6), a feature that I see as more appealing now that I’m a dad. I sort of regret not checking off the side airbags option box when I bought the Celica in 2001. Everything I’ve read since then has said that its the safety feature that is the most effective. Apparently just driving a nice looking car is not enough to thwart portential redlight runners. Who knew?
Both Kate and I liked the it. It seemed to offer lots of car goodness and usefullness in a tiny little hatchback, so we bought it. Its sitting in our driveway now.
Posted in Automotive, Car Reviews |
7 Comments »
