...so I'll hit the highlights.
We replaced the smart with a 2009 Volkswagen Rabbit, which we both love. We got a good trade-in value on the smart, and I think it's found a new home, as it's not on the dealer's Web site anymore.
My tenants moved out. We need new ones. I'm considering hiring a property manager. Last weekend we stripped the wallpaper from the downstairs bedroom, and I'm going to go paint it this coming weekend. It looks better already.
We delivered the art car to my niece a couple weekends ago. I spent about three hours teaching her to drive a stick, and it went pretty well with the exception of the clutch lasting a mere three days. They got it fixed, and she's doing pretty well with it. The only places we didn't finish were the roof and the edges of the front bumper where it wraps around on the sides, and she's been working on it some with her friends.
I've been skating more now that the rink at the state fairgrounds (where my club is based) is open for the season. Tonight I centered a bunch of spins (usually they're not that consistent), and this week my waltz jump improved as well.
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A smart decision
After much soul-searching, Steph and I decided to sell the smart car.
Why? Well, to put it bluntly, I don't love him.
I got in him a couple weeks ago and realized that I didn't want to drive him for the next 200,000 miles. I still don't like the transmission, despite a "lesson" from the dealership about how to drive it (they concluded that I was doing it right all along), and that's a deal-breaker for me. I don't need to have a car that's perfect; I don't even need a particularly luxurious car. I do, however, need to enjoy driving it. Buzz is cute, and he has some nice features, but the things I like about him (the CD changer in the dash, the auxiliary input jack, the outside temperature readout, the versatile cupholders) are readily available on other cars, cars that have non-annoying transmissions. (For the record, I think the smart car should have the option for a manual transmission. I understand that other people may not have a problem with its transmission; I just don't like it.)
It's a good time to sell Buzz: There's an 18-month wait for a smart car at the dealership. Also, yellow was discontinued for 2009, so it'll only be available if you order an extra set of panels.
You can see our eBay listing here. The reserve is significantly less than the Buy It Now price, although if you want to buy it for $22K, I won't say no.
I'm open to suggestions for alternate cars. We've test-driven several models, but we haven't made any decisions yet. For now, I still have the Honda, although I'll be giving it to my niece when she gets her license this fall. I also have Phoebe -- she's not going anywhere! -- and I can drive her in the meantime while we search for another car. I'm not restricting myself to new cars; a used car would be fine. I strongly prefer a manual transmission, and good gas mileage is also a major consideration. We'd like to stay in the same price range (or under -- I'd love to have extra money left over to add to the emergency fund).
Why? Well, to put it bluntly, I don't love him.
I got in him a couple weeks ago and realized that I didn't want to drive him for the next 200,000 miles. I still don't like the transmission, despite a "lesson" from the dealership about how to drive it (they concluded that I was doing it right all along), and that's a deal-breaker for me. I don't need to have a car that's perfect; I don't even need a particularly luxurious car. I do, however, need to enjoy driving it. Buzz is cute, and he has some nice features, but the things I like about him (the CD changer in the dash, the auxiliary input jack, the outside temperature readout, the versatile cupholders) are readily available on other cars, cars that have non-annoying transmissions. (For the record, I think the smart car should have the option for a manual transmission. I understand that other people may not have a problem with its transmission; I just don't like it.)
It's a good time to sell Buzz: There's an 18-month wait for a smart car at the dealership. Also, yellow was discontinued for 2009, so it'll only be available if you order an extra set of panels.
You can see our eBay listing here. The reserve is significantly less than the Buy It Now price, although if you want to buy it for $22K, I won't say no.
I'm open to suggestions for alternate cars. We've test-driven several models, but we haven't made any decisions yet. For now, I still have the Honda, although I'll be giving it to my niece when she gets her license this fall. I also have Phoebe -- she's not going anywhere! -- and I can drive her in the meantime while we search for another car. I'm not restricting myself to new cars; a used car would be fine. I strongly prefer a manual transmission, and good gas mileage is also a major consideration. We'd like to stay in the same price range (or under -- I'd love to have extra money left over to add to the emergency fund).
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Check engine light saga
The smart car started it all by throwing a check engine light on the way to work a couple Mondays ago. I called the dealer and made an appointment to have it looked at over lunch one day, and I decided to drive Phoebe the next day, both because I thought I'd give Buzz (Steph named him 'cause he looks like a bumblebee!) a rest and because I didn't want Phoebe to get jealous. Apparently I didn't reassure her enough that I still love her, or I mentioned too loudly in the parking lot that the Roswell show has been cancelled this year, or she just wanted to fit in, because she came up with a check engine light of her own on the way home.
I took the smart in and they diagnosed a bad part in the mechanism that blows warm air over the oxygen sensors in the exhaust pipe at startup -- it's the whirring noise that lasts fifteen seconds or so when you turn the car on. They had to order the part, so I dropped the car off last Friday and it was repaired under warranty. I made an appointment for Phoebe for this past Monday for the CEL, the window regulator from the Roswell trip, the battery fuse box that melted in California, the lid of the battery case that I cracked one cold winter day trying to get it to snap shut, and the brake light safety switch recall. Meanwhile, Steph called on her way to work today -- her truck has a CEL too, so I made it an appointment at Tune Tech for this Friday.
$806 later, I picked Phoebe up this evening (they wouldn't cover the $321 window regulator because I'd already had it done before) with an operational window, a clean throttle body, some new vacuum hoses, and a new battery fuse box and case. And yes, she was probably mad about me leaving her there for two days after she was done, so the CEL showed up on the way back home. Either that or the damn things are contagious. I'm kind of afraid to get in the Honda tomorrow.
I took the smart in and they diagnosed a bad part in the mechanism that blows warm air over the oxygen sensors in the exhaust pipe at startup -- it's the whirring noise that lasts fifteen seconds or so when you turn the car on. They had to order the part, so I dropped the car off last Friday and it was repaired under warranty. I made an appointment for Phoebe for this past Monday for the CEL, the window regulator from the Roswell trip, the battery fuse box that melted in California, the lid of the battery case that I cracked one cold winter day trying to get it to snap shut, and the brake light safety switch recall. Meanwhile, Steph called on her way to work today -- her truck has a CEL too, so I made it an appointment at Tune Tech for this Friday.
$806 later, I picked Phoebe up this evening (they wouldn't cover the $321 window regulator because I'd already had it done before) with an operational window, a clean throttle body, some new vacuum hoses, and a new battery fuse box and case. And yes, she was probably mad about me leaving her there for two days after she was done, so the CEL showed up on the way back home. Either that or the damn things are contagious. I'm kind of afraid to get in the Honda tomorrow.
Friday, April 18, 2008
smart car arrives!
Our smart car arrived on Monday, and we picked it up on Tuesday afternoon. They had it sitting back in a bay by itself, and we spent quite a while poking around it and playing with its various features because our sales guy was running behind. It's so cute!
I like it very much for the most part -- it's easy to drive and very cute. The interior is laid out pretty well, too, and the clear panel in the roof is a nice feature.
Everywhere we go, people stare and ask what kind of car it is. My co-workers were so excited that they called a 3:00 meeting in the parking lot so I could show it to them. We proved that it's roomy enough for tall people, that it has a loud horn, and that you can fit a medium-sized guy in the hatch if you need to.
It's been ten years since I got Phoebe, and I'd forgotten how fun it is to get a new car. Steph and I have been trading off driving it to work. She keeps apologizing when she gets to drive it -- she thinks she's keeping it from me somehow -- but I'm just glad she likes it. I hope to keep it for many years, so we'll both have plenty of opportunities to drive it.
The car only has a few flaws: its transmission, the quality of its parts, and the lack of rear speakers.
The "automated manual" transmission shifts quite slowly, and if you take off with any speed at all, the car nose-dives with each shift. It behaves better if you shift it yourself in manual mode, but the car can't decide what gear is appropriate at city street speeds. It constantly asks to be shifted up or down with an arrow that appears in the instrument panel, and there are some speeds at which no gear seems quite right.
When he was showing us how to open the hood, the hatch, and the engine cover, the sales guy emphasized how careful one must be with various parts of the car. It seems that many people have broken parts of the car already, as they're quite fragile. Also, the engine cover (which must be removed to check the oil) is nearly impossible to release. It requires you to press down on it with your full body weight while leaning over the hatch to be able to turn the screw. I successfully managed that only once, and I wasn't ever able to get it to screw back into place.
The sales guy had the attitude that I shouldn't worry my pretty little head about checking the oil, telling me that I should instead just bring it in once a year for an oil change. I'm pretty sure that if the car began to burn oil and the engine was harmed before that next yearly oil change, the smart company wouldn't be sympathetic to my story that the sales guy said I didn't have to check the oil. (I reminded him that the manual suggested that I check the oil each time I buy gas, and he said that that was just the manual and I didn't have to worry about that.)
I ordered the car with the $350 premium stereo package. The mp3-capable 6-CD changer and integrated auxiliary jack are great, but there are no rear speakers. The sound very obviously comes from in front of you, and the bass is distorted even at the +2 setting (out of 7) . My 15-year-old stock Honda radio that plays my iPod through a cassette adapter in a deck that needs cleaning sounds better (except for the one speaker that rattles).
Other than those things, it's quite fun to drive and it's completely adorable. I hope Phoebe isn't jealous when I get her out this weekend and introduce them.
I like it very much for the most part -- it's easy to drive and very cute. The interior is laid out pretty well, too, and the clear panel in the roof is a nice feature.
Everywhere we go, people stare and ask what kind of car it is. My co-workers were so excited that they called a 3:00 meeting in the parking lot so I could show it to them. We proved that it's roomy enough for tall people, that it has a loud horn, and that you can fit a medium-sized guy in the hatch if you need to.
It's been ten years since I got Phoebe, and I'd forgotten how fun it is to get a new car. Steph and I have been trading off driving it to work. She keeps apologizing when she gets to drive it -- she thinks she's keeping it from me somehow -- but I'm just glad she likes it. I hope to keep it for many years, so we'll both have plenty of opportunities to drive it.
The car only has a few flaws: its transmission, the quality of its parts, and the lack of rear speakers.
The "automated manual" transmission shifts quite slowly, and if you take off with any speed at all, the car nose-dives with each shift. It behaves better if you shift it yourself in manual mode, but the car can't decide what gear is appropriate at city street speeds. It constantly asks to be shifted up or down with an arrow that appears in the instrument panel, and there are some speeds at which no gear seems quite right.
When he was showing us how to open the hood, the hatch, and the engine cover, the sales guy emphasized how careful one must be with various parts of the car. It seems that many people have broken parts of the car already, as they're quite fragile. Also, the engine cover (which must be removed to check the oil) is nearly impossible to release. It requires you to press down on it with your full body weight while leaning over the hatch to be able to turn the screw. I successfully managed that only once, and I wasn't ever able to get it to screw back into place.
The sales guy had the attitude that I shouldn't worry my pretty little head about checking the oil, telling me that I should instead just bring it in once a year for an oil change. I'm pretty sure that if the car began to burn oil and the engine was harmed before that next yearly oil change, the smart company wouldn't be sympathetic to my story that the sales guy said I didn't have to check the oil. (I reminded him that the manual suggested that I check the oil each time I buy gas, and he said that that was just the manual and I didn't have to worry about that.)
I ordered the car with the $350 premium stereo package. The mp3-capable 6-CD changer and integrated auxiliary jack are great, but there are no rear speakers. The sound very obviously comes from in front of you, and the bass is distorted even at the +2 setting (out of 7) . My 15-year-old stock Honda radio that plays my iPod through a cassette adapter in a deck that needs cleaning sounds better (except for the one speaker that rattles).
Other than those things, it's quite fun to drive and it's completely adorable. I hope Phoebe isn't jealous when I get her out this weekend and introduce them.
Monday, April 07, 2008
The beginning of the art car
This weekend I began to attach the bottle caps to the Honda. I started on the door with the dent in case my adhesive didn't work, but it seems to be holding up well. Before I stuck the caps to the car, I sprayed them inside and out with a clear gloss Rustoleum paint that will hopefully keep them from rusting. The adhesive is 100% silicone caulk, and it needs 24 hours at a temperature of 40F or above to cure. I'd planned to adhere one cap as a test, but once I got started I didn't want to stop, so I did 15 on Saturday and 55 more on Sunday. 70 down, 12733 to go...
Thanks to Steph and Douglas for the photos.
Thanks to Steph and Douglas for the photos.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Bottle caps and more bottle caps
The art car project is moving along slowly. I currently have somewhere between 8000 and 9000 bottle caps, and I've sorted many of them. (Anyone who wants to come over for a bottle cap sorting party is welcome, by the way.) We're fashioning a bottle cap flattener to unbend the caps that didn't come off their bottles cleanly. I'm dying to attach a test cap to the car, but it needs to be dry and 40 degrees F outside for a 24-hour period afterwards, and that hasn't happened yet.
The distinctive smell of the bottle caps takes me back to when I was a kid. My family attended Labor Day pig roasts at the home of one of my dad's co-workers, and there were many kinds of soda and beer every year. I always got to keep the bottle caps. I especially like the stale beer smell for some reason, which is odd because I don't like beer.
The distinctive smell of the bottle caps takes me back to when I was a kid. My family attended Labor Day pig roasts at the home of one of my dad's co-workers, and there were many kinds of soda and beer every year. I always got to keep the bottle caps. I especially like the stale beer smell for some reason, which is odd because I don't like beer.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
I'm still here
This weekend I competed at the Deborah Burgoyne North American Invitational in Wyandotte, Michigan, and I tied for second. I was mostly pleased with how I skated. I two-footed my first salchow because I was concentrating on getting a deeper entrance edge -- we worked on that in my lesson on Thursday. The rest of the program went well, and I didn't shake at all afterward. I haven't watched the DVD yet.
I stayed with Dan and Melissa, and we had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up. Saturday night we made cookies and watched Kathy Griffin, and I left for home this morning after the freezing rain melted into rain.
In other news, Steph and I visited the Smart dealership this week. They had a black and yellow car inside, and we both really like the color in person. I test-drove a silver Passion Coupe (the trim level I'll be getting), and I liked it a lot except for its clunky shifting. The reason they won't offer a traditional 5-speed manual escapes me. My car should arrive in about two months. In the meantime, my Honda will probably turn over 200,000 miles in the next two and a half weeks or so, and I have the camera ready to document the big event. It is not allowed to break down at 199,999.9 miles like Marshall's Fiero did on How I Met Your Mother.
I stayed with Dan and Melissa, and we had a lot of fun hanging out and catching up. Saturday night we made cookies and watched Kathy Griffin, and I left for home this morning after the freezing rain melted into rain.
In other news, Steph and I visited the Smart dealership this week. They had a black and yellow car inside, and we both really like the color in person. I test-drove a silver Passion Coupe (the trim level I'll be getting), and I liked it a lot except for its clunky shifting. The reason they won't offer a traditional 5-speed manual escapes me. My car should arrive in about two months. In the meantime, my Honda will probably turn over 200,000 miles in the next two and a half weeks or so, and I have the camera ready to document the big event. It is not allowed to break down at 199,999.9 miles like Marshall's Fiero did on How I Met Your Mother.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Weekend update from last weekend
Lots of fun things were going on in town last weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Indianapolis Auto Show at the Convention Center downtown. It seemed small to me in comparison to Chicago's, but I expected that.
VW had a nice area with two New Beetles (a triple-cream 'vert and a Sunflower Yellow hardtop), assorted Rabbits and Golfs, and a Jetta sporting VW statistics all over (VW owners are 29% more likely to recycle, 70% more likely to maintain their own Web site, and so on). I asked the guy how much they'd pay me to drive around with statistics all over Phoebe, but he said they'd probably just give me the stickers.
We sat in numerous cars, including a Toyota FJ Cruiser, a Honda Element, and a Dodge Magnum. The Smart Car was in the middle of the Mercedes section, and t were so many people crowded around it that it was difficult to take a picture. I talked to the two salesguys there, and they put me on some sort of VIP list to go to the dealership and take a test drive. They also told me that I'm in the first wave of cars to come in based on my reservation date. Yikes.
At the Mini display, we sat in the new Mini Cooper Clubman. It's like a Mini Cooper with extra room at the back, kind of like a station wagon; it's nine inches longer than the Cooper. Steph fell in love with it and wants one. I wonder if we could fit both of them in the garage at the same time.
Saturday night we finally got to see the Naptown Roller Girls roller derby team skate a bout against the Kalamazoo Kamikaze. It was fantastic -- not something I want to do, as I sustain enough injuries on my own, but I appreciate the skill involved. Their next home bout is Feb. 9.
VW had a nice area with two New Beetles (a triple-cream 'vert and a Sunflower Yellow hardtop), assorted Rabbits and Golfs, and a Jetta sporting VW statistics all over (VW owners are 29% more likely to recycle, 70% more likely to maintain their own Web site, and so on). I asked the guy how much they'd pay me to drive around with statistics all over Phoebe, but he said they'd probably just give me the stickers.
We sat in numerous cars, including a Toyota FJ Cruiser, a Honda Element, and a Dodge Magnum. The Smart Car was in the middle of the Mercedes section, and t were so many people crowded around it that it was difficult to take a picture. I talked to the two salesguys there, and they put me on some sort of VIP list to go to the dealership and take a test drive. They also told me that I'm in the first wave of cars to come in based on my reservation date. Yikes.
At the Mini display, we sat in the new Mini Cooper Clubman. It's like a Mini Cooper with extra room at the back, kind of like a station wagon; it's nine inches longer than the Cooper. Steph fell in love with it and wants one. I wonder if we could fit both of them in the garage at the same time.
Saturday night we finally got to see the Naptown Roller Girls roller derby team skate a bout against the Kalamazoo Kamikaze. It was fantastic -- not something I want to do, as I sustain enough injuries on my own, but I appreciate the skill involved. Their next home bout is Feb. 9.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Art car progress -- sort of
I further researched the decoupaged quotes art car idea and didn't find a good sealant that I thought would work, so we're on to Art Car v3 -- covering the car in bottle caps. When I was little, I collected bottle caps, and my dad found them in the garage attic this summer and brought them to me. I was very excited to sort through them and think about what I could make with them now, and we have plans for further bottle cap art after the car is complete.
A week and a half ago, Steph and I went to dinner at Ralph's Great Divide with Dan and Douglas. While we were there, we thought to ask them to save bottle caps for us. Our server gave us about 200 that were still in the cap catcher under their bottle opener, and I stopped in last night and picked up another 330. A box of 4000 caps from eBay should be arriving soon.
The bottle caps are sorted by color, although I haven't figured out yet what design I want to make on the car. The caps are divided into containers of blacks, golds, whites, greens, yellows, blues, silvers, and reds.
A week and a half ago, Steph and I went to dinner at Ralph's Great Divide with Dan and Douglas. While we were there, we thought to ask them to save bottle caps for us. Our server gave us about 200 that were still in the cap catcher under their bottle opener, and I stopped in last night and picked up another 330. A box of 4000 caps from eBay should be arriving soon.
The bottle caps are sorted by color, although I haven't figured out yet what design I want to make on the car. The caps are divided into containers of blacks, golds, whites, greens, yellows, blues, silvers, and reds.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Long week. Already.
Recent happenings:
Kicked my tenants out. (Going to court next week.) Am having to do a lot of cleaning and stuff at house, plus taking many calls from prospective renters. Also letting in gas company and various other services.
Got in accident. Was turning in to McDonald's parking lot and a guy driving out of the parking lot didn't look and ran into me. Then he left. Driver's side rear door of Honda is bashed in pretty good. Fortunately, it looks like there's no structural damage, and I'm hoping to maybe find a door at a junkyard and have it painted and such.
Went to friend's wedding in Kentucky. Very nice!
Am watching a lot of cats this week -- four cats in two separate houses. One cat in each pair is shy.
Am tired. Have lesson in morning.
Kicked my tenants out. (Going to court next week.) Am having to do a lot of cleaning and stuff at house, plus taking many calls from prospective renters. Also letting in gas company and various other services.
Got in accident. Was turning in to McDonald's parking lot and a guy driving out of the parking lot didn't look and ran into me. Then he left. Driver's side rear door of Honda is bashed in pretty good. Fortunately, it looks like there's no structural damage, and I'm hoping to maybe find a door at a junkyard and have it painted and such.
Went to friend's wedding in Kentucky. Very nice!
Am watching a lot of cats this week -- four cats in two separate houses. One cat in each pair is shy.
Am tired. Have lesson in morning.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday update
Still not able to get online on my own computer for various reasons. I spent an hour on the phone with Bright House last night trying to troubleshoot my dialup connection, which appears not to play well with a certain Windows update.
We started out with 12 NBs yesterday in Joliet, IL, and picked up three more along the way. Lots of photo ops, including the Joliet Historical Museum, which opened especially for us. We also stopped at the Gemini Giant, an old gas station, the Paul Bunyan statue in Atlanta, the Dixie Truck Stop, Cozy Dog (very greasy), Chain of Rocks Bridge, and Ted Drewes' Frozen Custard.
At the motel in the morning, we found out that Howie had a scan tool, and he was able to turn off Phoebe's check engine light. It came back on at the frozen custard place, and Chris thinks it's a mass air flow sensor. It's a part that can be taken out and cleaned to see if it's the problem, and everyone assures me that she'll be fine until we get home unless the light starts blinking. In fact, there are three or four of us with check engine lights on now.
Our 15 NBs: two black, two silver, three red, two white, two bright blue, two orange, one Harvest Moon, and one yellow. Three TDIs. No convertibles. Only one 2006 or later, but four '98s! Highest mileage: 192,000. Phoebe's mileage: 76,4xx.
Today we're off to see Meramac Caverns, the blue whale, and a couple of other things I can't remember at the moment.
We started out with 12 NBs yesterday in Joliet, IL, and picked up three more along the way. Lots of photo ops, including the Joliet Historical Museum, which opened especially for us. We also stopped at the Gemini Giant, an old gas station, the Paul Bunyan statue in Atlanta, the Dixie Truck Stop, Cozy Dog (very greasy), Chain of Rocks Bridge, and Ted Drewes' Frozen Custard.
At the motel in the morning, we found out that Howie had a scan tool, and he was able to turn off Phoebe's check engine light. It came back on at the frozen custard place, and Chris thinks it's a mass air flow sensor. It's a part that can be taken out and cleaned to see if it's the problem, and everyone assures me that she'll be fine until we get home unless the light starts blinking. In fact, there are three or four of us with check engine lights on now.
Our 15 NBs: two black, two silver, three red, two white, two bright blue, two orange, one Harvest Moon, and one yellow. Three TDIs. No convertibles. Only one 2006 or later, but four '98s! Highest mileage: 192,000. Phoebe's mileage: 76,4xx.
Today we're off to see Meramac Caverns, the blue whale, and a couple of other things I can't remember at the moment.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
National Drive Your VW to Work Day
Friday, June 22 is National Drive Your VW to Work Day. Phoebe will be looking pretty, as we washed and waxed her this past weekend with my dad in preparation for our Roswell/Route 66 trip.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Art car v2.2
My first and second visions for turning my 1993 Honda Accord into an art car have proven to be unworkable, so I have a new implementation of an old idea: I'm going to decoupage quotes onto the car and seal it with some sort of acrylic or polyurethane sealer to make it waterproof.
My second plan was to use letters cut from bumper stickers to make the quotes, but there just aren't that many free bumper stickers out there, so it finally occurred to me to cut the letters out of magazines, ads, and other found objects and decoupage them onto the car. The background for each quote will be a different piece of colored or patterned paper so that observers can tell the quotes apart. Last night I bought some scrapbooking paper at Costco, and then I came home and started cutting out letters. I'm sorting and storing them in a many-sectioned tool organizer. I've been collecting quotes for some time, although I'll probably need more than I think I will. Feel free to suggest your favorite quotes in the comments.
My second plan was to use letters cut from bumper stickers to make the quotes, but there just aren't that many free bumper stickers out there, so it finally occurred to me to cut the letters out of magazines, ads, and other found objects and decoupage them onto the car. The background for each quote will be a different piece of colored or patterned paper so that observers can tell the quotes apart. Last night I bought some scrapbooking paper at Costco, and then I came home and started cutting out letters. I'm sorting and storing them in a many-sectioned tool organizer. I've been collecting quotes for some time, although I'll probably need more than I think I will. Feel free to suggest your favorite quotes in the comments.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
My next car
I just put a deposit down on a Smart car. I've wanted one since I went to Europe in the summer of 2000 and saw them everywhere. (My friends were taking pictures of architecture and I was photographing Smart cars.) I chose the base model in yellow with black trim, and the only option for the interior color was gray. It will have a 5-speed automated manual transmission, which appears to be very much like the old VW Autostick. (I hope it will work better than the Autostick did.) I'm going to miss the clutch, but I'll still have one in Phoebe. It will probably arrive in the spring of 2008, several months after my Honda turns over 200,000 miles (my goal).
The gas mileage is estimated at 40 city/60 highway, which is not that much lower than a Prius. The Smart car costs about half as much as a Prius, and I expect it to hold its value well. I may decide to sell it in a few years and buy a Prius when I get tired of not having a back seat.
Hey Elizabeth, it comes in a convertible -- you should get one, too!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Interesting site on traffic jams
A physicist has figured out all sorts of stuff about traffic jams, complete with animations to illustrate his points. Years ago I looked at a book that explained why traffic jams occur, and I've been using parts of this guy's technique ever since.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
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