random bits

[verbicide]

- I finally managed to eat a meal at Racha Thai that wasn't the won ton soup. I got the green chicken curry, which was fucking phenomenal.

- I signed up for and used the FlexCar today. My company offers it to us for free (a very cute Honda hybrid), and I really love taking the bus, and because of FlexCar, I continue to do so even if I have an errand to run. Like today, it was my turn to take Lisa's family dinner. I reserved it yesterday, Jeff and I drove it to Racha Thai, had lunch ourselves, and I picked up some stuff for Lisa, and then we drove back to work. I still get to keep my same happy bus route. The more I take it, the more I hate driving. I tend to drive on Wednesdays because I have errands after work and drive Jeff home, and I really hate sitting in traffic on those days.

I'm hoping to max out the use of my car for the next couple of years, and by taking the bus and using FlexCar and such, I think it'll both save in gas and wear/tear on my car and I can start socking money away (once the damn credit card is paid off) and I'm thinking that a shiny hybrid would be pretty freaking exciting.

- My apple was disappointing. Somehow, it never really compares with chocolate.

- And omg it's almost Friday. This week zooomed!

Comments

[margotheangel.livejournal.com]

*does the Hybrid Civic dance*

We love our (Brian's) Civic. It's no racecar, but it's a really good car - reliable, fun to drive, and gets excellent gas mileage. We're talking about what we'll get for the next car (the car I drive normally is Brian's 1995 Mercury Sable) and Brian is leaning towards the Hybrid Camry (which comes out this year, I think) or the Hybrid Accord. The gas mileage isn't as good on those as the Civic and they're more expensive, but we want one slightly larger car. We won't be buying until August of 2008 if everything goes well, though.

But anyway, YAY hybrids Civics!

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that's awesome. It's been so long since I've driven a car that isn't mine, it was kind of an amazing experience!

The Camry is such a nice car ---good luck with whatever you decide on!

[trtle.livejournal.com]

The FlexCar is a great idea. I think it's great your company offers it!

I either want a hybrid of some sort or a Subaru for my next car. We need a car that can have a dog and more than 2 people in it. It's a long way off for us getting a new car so maybe the Subaru will have a hybrid by then.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Cool --I think the Forrester is really nice, and has that great space for doggies. Ellie and Jeff have one and it really suits them!

That said, the Outback is a damn nice car.

[trtle.livejournal.com]

I love the Forester....and plenty of room for the "kid". Lucy just bought a new car and the first thing we looked at was the cargo space to see if it would fit both dogs nicely (it will).

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I absolutely ADORE our existing non-hybrid Camrys (yep, love 'em so much we bought a second one), so I can't recommend the hybrid Camry enough. My one regret is that we *had* to buy 2 years ago, and couldn't hold out for the hybrid version; it's out already, actually.

Our new Camry has a trunk that, along with being able to fold down the rear seats like a station wagon, will transport a seven-foot bookcase or twin mattress, plus seating for five people [with the rear seats un-folded]. It's deceptively petite-looking until you start packing shit in there and it just EATS things.

....no, I don't work for Toyota. :)

[trtle.livejournal.com]

Our Honda has weird spacing like that. It's amazing all the junk we can fit in that thing! I don't know if it's capable of bookcases though ;)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I've heard that about Hondas too! I swear, there's a portal to an alternate dimension in Japanese car design. :)

[trtle.livejournal.com]

The ad campaign I'm envisioning with this theme would probably be too obscure...but I'm laughing! :)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Hee. I can think of a couple possibilities, and they're wildly entertaining.

[(Anonymous)]

The Camry's are awesome, absolutely. But the hybrid's about $5K more than the Honda Civic's hybrid :(

Rest assured, that when the time comes to buy, I will definitely be test-driving both of 'em!

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Mrrrh. It keeps logging me out these days.

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I was something like the 20th person to sign up for FlexCar (PDX Car Sharing at the time). I broke down and got a car shortly after. However, it looks like the service is vastly improved since then.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

I don't know what your experience was, but it was really fantastic. Helped along by the fact that we don't pay anything for the privilege of using it. And, I'll be using it pretty infrequently as I don't generally need to go anywhere in the middle of my work day. But for times like today, or if we want to go have lunch out, it's pretty spectacular!

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I think that (especially at the time) it didn't meet my usage needs. My needs are more like: occasionally I'll want to take the car into town, or transport something. Now, if I have to take a bus across town to get to the nearest car, that's not entirely convenient. Especially if it's not there and I come home to an angry message asking me where the car is.

But I'm sure they're better these days.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

Let's hope so!

[lietya.livejournal.com]

FlexCar sounds like such a great idea!

And if you don't need a *large* car, the Yaris gets close to the gas mileage of the hybrids (40 mpg highway) and only costs $13,000. :) Of course, it's very, very, VERY small as cars go. Otherwise, a hybrid is well worth waiting for. I hope the car holds out for you.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to see it up-close-and-personal to see if it's too small. I don't carry a lot of passengers daily, but I get a lot of visitors up here, and I need to be able to schlep them back and forth from the airport!

(And I'm greedy about trunkspace, too!)

[lietya.livejournal.com]

It's almost certainly too small, then. :) There's technically room for five people, and both interior and trunk are surprisingly roomy for the size, but it's still about the overall dimensions of a Jetta or Bug.

(We can only buy it because we have the Camry for long trips. But I figured that on the off chance that you didn't use a car for much besides commuting, it was worth mentioning.)

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

I have a Jetta now--and that's definitely room-y enough for me now! The seats fold down and it has an enormous trunk (for me at least, but then I used to drive a Jeep and then a cabriolet, so I'm easily impressed by an actual trunk!).

So I will have to check it out, and who knows what else will be out by the time I'm ready to buy. I think some big factors for me will be:

- how much will my current car net me
- how much I can save up for a downpayment
- no penalty for paying ahead of time

I'd really like to be able to put 40-50% down and then pay the rest off in two years. No more car payment for 5 years for me, hopefully!

[lietya.livejournal.com]

Hm, then maybe! Or I'm misremembering the size of the Jetta, which is also possible. And I forget that while we're looking at the Yaris hatchback, the sedan is notably less teeny. So who knows.

The one thing it does have going for it is CHEAP. :) I'm hoping to pay cash for one in about 2-3 years. I'm with you on loathing the 5 years of payments, all right.

Do any car manufacturers have a prepayment penalty? That would fill me with rage. I don't blame you for making it a dealbreaker.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

I am so onboard cheap! Cheap is my new best friend!

And I think yes, some car places had penalty's for paying it off early, though the last time I car shopped was in 1998 :)