Today’s Post by Joe Farace
It’s been more than a year since I sold my Mercedes Benz CLA 250 and I’ve officially been car-less. Since then I’ve been driving Mary’s 2016 Beetle convertible and even did a vlog while driving it, talking about my lack of success in finding a car. It hasn’t gotten any better since then.
The Beetle is a relatively fun car to drive, especially around town, except when it snows, which it’s been doing a lot of lately. One morning I was having coffee and donuts with Barry Staver when it started snowing. Almost immediately I headed for home in the wet heavy snow and the car handled reasonably well until I got home; it would not make it up the driveway, which is not all that steep. I got out of the car and shoveled the driveway to be able to park it inside the garage. And get this: Last month I had five doctor/dentist appointments and it snowed on four of them, so Mary had to drive me to the docs in her Ford Escape company car. I have a dentist appointment this Thursday; snow is forecast.
How this shot was made: How about an AWD Audi TT (not mine) that I’m driving in an autocross at Sonoma Raceway? My friend Peter K. Burian shot this photo using a Panasonic Lumix G5 with a (not in the EXIF) zoom lens (at 30mm, 60mm equivalent) and an exposure of 1/400 sec at f/10 and ISO 400.
I’m really hoping to find a nice used AWD station wagon and Mary would prefer I not get a wagon but I like the idea of a Subaru WRX wagon. A WRX hatchback (aka wagon) has not been available since 2014. I don’t want to buy a SUV although I might make an exception for a Mercedes Benz G-500 (can’t afford it) and because I’m an unabashed Anglophile, a Series II Land Rover Discovery. I’ve been looking for one but so far none of the Land Rovers I’ve found have appealed to me, although I’m not sure I can afford Land Rover maintenance costs. My former Range Rover Evoque was the very model of low-cost Toyota-like ownership, although I know that isn’t the norm.
Previously I asked readers for advice on what (used) car I should purchase and some of your suggestions, that I have vlogged about, have been creative but not necessarily practical. But what the heck, you might have some better ideas than I’ve come up with lately, so please click the above Contact link and make a suggestion. I can’t promise I’ll buy what you suggest but do promise I’ll look into it.