halfgeek.codes

I love my car.

We paid off my car last month. Even though I don't drive it for long distances — It gets driven nearly every day, but for just a few miles while I'm running errands — the joy of knowing the title is in the mail is nearly indescribable.

Yet, I'm torn. I live in a city where bougie foreign cars are the norm. The other night I was out to pick up meds for kiddo and a red Lamborghini Diablo drove right by me at the intersection. To be honest, I think the make I see most often is Mercedes Benz. Some of those sedans are gorgeous. So, in short, there's a part of me that would really like an upgraded car.

I just need to remind myself when I see these lovely machines that MINE IS PAID OFF.

But there's probably no harm in making a checklist of "wanna haves" and "gotta haves" for succession planning, right?

I love my car.

Years ago when I was looking for another car, I test drove racy, sporty cars like the Ford Mustang and the Chevy Camaro... and I didn't care for them at all. Why? They look and sound AMAZING — and they are — but they lack what I want more in a car, and that is comfort and elegance. Those cars are built for speed, and they've got some damn fine hardware under the hood — but to keep the cars light, their interiors are thin black plastic.

Not for this kid. I want the lovely leather interiors that feel like a leather chair or sofa. I'm built for comfort, not for speed. So those amazing sporty cars aren't for me.

This past week, my beloved car had to spend some quality time in a shop, getting a solenoid valve replaced. Specifically, the intake cam solenoid. $122 part, and labor cost 3.5 times what the part did.

By the way, a solenoid valve is simply a value that is opereted electrically/electronically.

My car is a 2013. My daughter is a 2006. I think you can appreciate where this is headed. Well, for now, I'm not ready to give it up or buy something else. We'll have it paid off at the end of the year — I want a few years without a car payment. No. I need a few years without a car payment.

This car has been extremely dependable — I think the most money I've put into it has been for new tires, before now. But if I start spending more maintenance money, then might be the time to think about what I'm putting into it versus what it's worth.

I'm hopeful that won't happen for a long time.

Where does the time go?

We've only two payments left on the lease of our "van," a beautiful brown, um.... large SUV with third row seating. So it was time to get serious about our next car.

Now that we're living in the "Big D," we have many more options available to us than the Ford, GM and Nissan dealerships where we used to live. In fact, one normally doesn't see any of those cars where we live now — Ford and Chevrolet are favored in trucks. About the only Ford car you'll see on the road here is the Mustang; about the only GM car you'll see on the road here is... mine.

But this wasn't about my car; this was Laurel's show. Topping her list were:

• Mercedes-Benz GLC300
• Mercedes-Benz GLA250
• Inifiniti QX50
• Jaguar E-PACE
• Land Rover Discovery Sport

In our testing, we felt the GLC300 was superior for its comfort, but the Jaguar was the only vehicle to offer emergency braking, lane keep assist, and adaptive cruise control in a 9-speed, all-wheel drive small SUV.

The Jaguar was also the only car on the list that offered maintenance included in the lease, and a dealership willing to pick up the vehicle from the house and return it once the maintenance was completed.

All-in-all, The Jaguar E-PACE was a complete "no-brainer" choice. It out-featured every other car on our list.

... and my wife gets to say she drives a Jaguar.

Well, it's that time of year again — temps have plummeted and driving has become tricky. Laurel has insisted I now drive her car back and forth and leave mine at home for her if needed.

Her car certainly doesn't handle like mine does. It's way bigger and has four-wheel drive — which, of course, is why she insisted I take it.

I confess I like my zippy little car.

• As mentioned in previous posts about the truck, the truck was low on amenities to which our other car introduced me, and on which I've probably become spoiled — chiefly, Bluetooth connectivity for my mobile phone so that I can effortlessly have a call over the car stereo instead of having to dig my phone out of my bag or pocket and hold it up to my head while I drive. More than being a pain in the arse, it's unsafe.
• AWD is a big factor for us — ever since we got the big snow a few years ago, my wife has become a firm believer in solid and safe performance on snow.
• Back seat access (for kiddo) is important, but she's so excited about having a "slug bug" she doesn't appear to be too concerned.
• Kiddo taught me the value of a leather interior. The beetle's seats are cloth, yet has heated seats (really? They can really do that??) and I'm going to be a big fan of those, particularly with 40 fewer pounds of insulation on my body.

• The car has been in service for 3,454 days.
• Over it's operational life, it has been fueled 483 times.
• On average, I burn $3.24 in gas per day, spend $1,184.22 on gas for this car each year.
• I have spent $11,193.30 on fuel for this car in total.
• My lover believes I'm completely dorktastic for having calculated all of this.
• She's right.
• I have had the oil changed 26 times.
• I've only ever taken this car to ONE place to get it cleaned, and have done so 50 times.
• Including the work done today, I've spent $9,175.77 on maintenance; that's 41.4% of the original cost of the car.
• Spread over the life of the car, I spend an average of $969.65 on maintaining that car each year.
• When boiled down to an average per day, maintenance costs $2.66; when added to the $3.24 in gasoline, it costs me an average of $5.90 to drive this car each day.

Today, I can tell you to the penny how much money I've spent on that car. And I can tell you confidently that it costs nearly three times as much to drive it today as it did then. The charts below depict the prices I paid for gas over the six-year period and my gas costs per mile, respectively.

In November and December of 2001, the price of gasoline flirted with, and actually fell below for a day, $1. I spent roughly $.07 on gasoline for each mile I drove. Lately with gas prices above $3.25 per gallon, that per-mile cost figure has reached $.20.

Now you may not care that you're handing over $1 for every five miles you drive. But think about it the next time you use your car for company business. Will their per diem rate cover your gas expenses?