So back in the Before Times before covid ruined the world, I came to terms with the idea that I would be buying a new car in 2020 because the BRZ just didn't meet my needs anymore.
Indeed, in the work from home lockdown era, I just plain didn't drive it. The Outback is better for getting groceries, even though I had to go steal dad's keys every time. So I made it somebody else's problem.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine bought her boyfriend a brand new car. That situation fell to bits shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, in California, there is no cooling off period on car purchases and there was no way in hell it made financial sense to either keep it or sell it back to the dealer.
The car was one I'd had on my shortlist of things I was interested in, but I'd discarded it for being too obvious - there were more esoteric selections on the list.
But, in a fit of altruism, I bailed my friend out and embarked on the literally months long mission of financing a private party purchase of a used car so new it didn't have permanent license plates yet, and no book value.
My credit union actually had to have internal meetings to decide how to do it (in the end they treated it as a new car for underwriting and a private party used purchase for the titling).
Then the seller's bank somehow managed to transfer legal ownership (not the lien, actual ownership) to my bank. That was exciting.
Then the DMV couldn't decide how to tax me because it had no book value and my purchase price was over new MSRP (I had to pay off seller's loan, which included tax and an extended warranty and some fake dealer addons. The proceeds from getting the warranty refunded will come back to me and cover most of it)
Anyway, here is the most practical, civilized car I've ever owned for my own use:
It's a 2020 WRX. Base model. It has a key you have to put in a hole and twist, like some kind of animal. It has no heated seats. I do not know if I will survive. It is... Disturbingly well mannered.
I drove out to CA. Slept one night in the BRZ, dropped it at CraigB's, rented a shitbox Ford, slept in that one more night and made it to LA in 3 full days on the road (without the whole 'selling your car' part in the middle it would have been 2.5)
It had 40 miles on the clock when I collected it, and a thick layer of wildfire ash all over it.
I'm hanging around town for the rest of the week, visiting my significant businesspartner/lifepartner/bestfriend/howyoudoin/other and her/my Subaru Ascent (with dog containment cage), which was also covered in ash. Fifteen bucks of pressure washer time at the self serve wash and another 16 bucks at the Costco autowash (the self serve wash had everything I needed but the delay between changing product while the hose cleared meant I just didn't have the patience not to suck)
I'm waiting for a good opportunity to go take some cool pictures somewhere cool (this hopefully involves being able to see the sky instead of an ash cloud ...) so here are some random photos from my phone camera instead:
(I had to be restrained from trying to buy this guy's Loyale.)
... And as a bonus, here's what we do with boring rental cars.
Indeed, in the work from home lockdown era, I just plain didn't drive it. The Outback is better for getting groceries, even though I had to go steal dad's keys every time. So I made it somebody else's problem.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine bought her boyfriend a brand new car. That situation fell to bits shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, in California, there is no cooling off period on car purchases and there was no way in hell it made financial sense to either keep it or sell it back to the dealer.
The car was one I'd had on my shortlist of things I was interested in, but I'd discarded it for being too obvious - there were more esoteric selections on the list.
But, in a fit of altruism, I bailed my friend out and embarked on the literally months long mission of financing a private party purchase of a used car so new it didn't have permanent license plates yet, and no book value.
My credit union actually had to have internal meetings to decide how to do it (in the end they treated it as a new car for underwriting and a private party used purchase for the titling).
Then the seller's bank somehow managed to transfer legal ownership (not the lien, actual ownership) to my bank. That was exciting.
Then the DMV couldn't decide how to tax me because it had no book value and my purchase price was over new MSRP (I had to pay off seller's loan, which included tax and an extended warranty and some fake dealer addons. The proceeds from getting the warranty refunded will come back to me and cover most of it)
Anyway, here is the most practical, civilized car I've ever owned for my own use:
It's a 2020 WRX. Base model. It has a key you have to put in a hole and twist, like some kind of animal. It has no heated seats. I do not know if I will survive. It is... Disturbingly well mannered.
I drove out to CA. Slept one night in the BRZ, dropped it at CraigB's, rented a shitbox Ford, slept in that one more night and made it to LA in 3 full days on the road (without the whole 'selling your car' part in the middle it would have been 2.5)
It had 40 miles on the clock when I collected it, and a thick layer of wildfire ash all over it.
I'm hanging around town for the rest of the week, visiting my significant businesspartner/lifepartner/bestfriend/howyoudoin/other and her/my Subaru Ascent (with dog containment cage), which was also covered in ash. Fifteen bucks of pressure washer time at the self serve wash and another 16 bucks at the Costco autowash (the self serve wash had everything I needed but the delay between changing product while the hose cleared meant I just didn't have the patience not to suck)
I'm waiting for a good opportunity to go take some cool pictures somewhere cool (this hopefully involves being able to see the sky instead of an ash cloud ...) so here are some random photos from my phone camera instead:
(I had to be restrained from trying to buy this guy's Loyale.)
... And as a bonus, here's what we do with boring rental cars.