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a civic spirit
Jan. 16th, 2005 08:16 pmHere I am in SoCal again, though not yet installed back in my dorm. Currently hanging out with my dad in his hotel room; little place called the Rodeway Inn. It was the closest (and cheapest) hotel to Ontario Airport, though I'm not entirely clear why it only got 2/5 stars; the room is pretty enough, neat and clean, A/C works, service is nice and polite. Maybe it's their lack of decent food. We ended up getting dinner at the China Star near school; a restaurant that provides a truly alarming amount of food at very good prices. That willl probably also account for dinner and possibly lunch as well.
So, Daddy came out with me in order to help me buy the car -- well, honestly, to buy the car, since I have neither the money nor the credit nor the insurance to buy it for myself. Before we left we pored over the Consumer Reports until we had narrowed the choice down to two or three models; the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, or Toyota Echo. Last night stayed up late last night researching on cars.com (thanks to Sol for the link to carstalk) for cars of those models within a 30-mile radius of this hotel. We came up with in the end a list of eight or nine hopefuls, four of which were at a single place, Pasadena Car Dealers (including the two that headed the list.) We decided to check that place out first, logically, and though we were surprised to find that it was more of a little mom-and-pop type auto place than one of the bigger chains (I guess you don't get as good prices with the bigger chains) we ended up buying one off the cars on the lot.
I'm very excited about it. My biggest impression during the test drive was that I'd never driven a car so light (and responsive.) It's a cute little car -- all Honda Civics are little and cute -- a silver 2001 sedan with manual transmission (beauty! we thought we wouldn't be able to find a used car with a manual) and 50k on the odometer. There was another car on the lot, same year, for $500 less -- but there were enough differences (it was a 2-door, no A/C, no CD player, a thousand more miles on the odometer) that I really preferred the slightly more expensive one. Both cars were well within the price range we were aiming for, anyway.
I don't have it yet, of course, but after the payment clears (probably some time next week) I can beg a ride over to Pasadena, or figure a route on the Metrolink, and drive it back. This week I should talk to Campus Security about getting it registered.
I'll probably go back to my dorm to sleep tonight, although (alas!) it has no computer as of yet. Tomorrow will be spent variously going with my dad to meet with a State Farm agent to settle insurance, and running to Huntley to get a full accounting of the books I have to buy on Half.com. My dad goes home tomorrow night (overnight flight) and my classes start on Tuesday.
So, Daddy came out with me in order to help me buy the car -- well, honestly, to buy the car, since I have neither the money nor the credit nor the insurance to buy it for myself. Before we left we pored over the Consumer Reports until we had narrowed the choice down to two or three models; the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, or Toyota Echo. Last night stayed up late last night researching on cars.com (thanks to Sol for the link to carstalk) for cars of those models within a 30-mile radius of this hotel. We came up with in the end a list of eight or nine hopefuls, four of which were at a single place, Pasadena Car Dealers (including the two that headed the list.) We decided to check that place out first, logically, and though we were surprised to find that it was more of a little mom-and-pop type auto place than one of the bigger chains (I guess you don't get as good prices with the bigger chains) we ended up buying one off the cars on the lot.
I'm very excited about it. My biggest impression during the test drive was that I'd never driven a car so light (and responsive.) It's a cute little car -- all Honda Civics are little and cute -- a silver 2001 sedan with manual transmission (beauty! we thought we wouldn't be able to find a used car with a manual) and 50k on the odometer. There was another car on the lot, same year, for $500 less -- but there were enough differences (it was a 2-door, no A/C, no CD player, a thousand more miles on the odometer) that I really preferred the slightly more expensive one. Both cars were well within the price range we were aiming for, anyway.
I don't have it yet, of course, but after the payment clears (probably some time next week) I can beg a ride over to Pasadena, or figure a route on the Metrolink, and drive it back. This week I should talk to Campus Security about getting it registered.
I'll probably go back to my dorm to sleep tonight, although (alas!) it has no computer as of yet. Tomorrow will be spent variously going with my dad to meet with a State Farm agent to settle insurance, and running to Huntley to get a full accounting of the books I have to buy on Half.com. My dad goes home tomorrow night (overnight flight) and my classes start on Tuesday.
