Thursday, June 28, 2007

Thoughts from my first day driving our new car

Today I drove our new car to work. It was my first chance to drive it in place of my truck. I had some thoughts along the way.

  1. It's hard to drive the speed limit in a new car
  2. I'm no longer a cool chick in a truck
  3. I'm no longer a weird and/or possibly lesbian chick in a truck
  4. Feeling safer (real or contrived) feels good
  5. I'm interchangeable with most other people on the road
  6. I will miss my truck
  7. Sitting lower than other drivers provides a new perspective
  8. It takes longer to change the temperature of the air in a wagon than a truck cab
  9. I should more closely consider where I park
  10. Accidentally turning on the heated seats switch makes a 100-degree day feel even hotter
  11. I look forward to testing the limits of the all-wheel-drive-ity of the new car
  12. A shorter wheelbase allows one to drive faster over speed humps

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definately, I had most of those same thoughts when my beloved truck finally died and we got the Prius. Though I felt like the truck was safer -there may not be factual evidence for that, though, it may just be that I felt safer high up. (Plus, I had been in one really bad accident in my first Toyota truck, and escape with barely a scratch, so I just had complete faith in the design.)

betsy

Nita Stelling said...

It definitely takes a while to adjust to a new car, since the mechanics will not be the same. Even things that you didn’t quite notice before, like how deep you should press the pedals on your previous car for it to stop or accelerate, are different. It’s important to give yourself time to really learn the ins and outs of the new car, so test-driving it on your free time would be a good idea.

Ernest Houston said...

This post emphasizes the need to take your new car for a random, stress-free spin a few times after you first bought it in order to get used to it. As Nita pointed out, there will always be something different between your previous car and your new one, and it usually does have to do with the little things. The sooner you get used to the car, the better you’ll be able to drive it out on the road and the safer you’ll be.

Brittanie Holderness said...

I used to drive a pick-up myself – a Mitsubishi 4WD Strada – until I sold it to my brother, who had more use for it than I. I got myself a used Mitsubishi Evolution, and it also took me a while to adjust to a smaller car, but I found it was easier to maneuver narrow streets, tight turns and small parking spaces.