Grand Prix

I took another inevitable step today in the walk of life. I have been looking for a car off and on for the past year and a half, but only very seriously the past few days. It all started when I went to visit Mr. Cox (a member at my church) at his small car lot in Anderson. I only went with the intention to take him up on his invitation to stop in to visit for a while before school started up again. I had no intention to buy anything; but it is always fun to dream. One car caught my eye. A clean looking, '95 VW Jetta, with 108K miles, manual transmission (which I thoroughly enjoyed), a moon roof (which didn't work), and red paint on the outside of course, --red does not fancy me the same as it does most people my age; I would prefer a metallic silver, or something close to it, so I would not stand out to much--none the less, it looked nice and I wasn't apposed to its color. Latter that day I showed Mom, and she was pleased except for the number of miles it had; I would have her consent if it were something I wanted and was willing to pay for. So the remainder of that day was spent number crunching. I Got insurance quotes and considered registration (which would have to be paid in a few months). Then I added all my money I could find together and determined the size of loan I would have to take out, also if I could have it paid off with interest along with my insurance, and having enough money set aside to pay for my insurance through my slow (unemployed) winter months. I made it work but it was very tight and I might not have had enough money left over for gas. :S I showed Dad that night when he got home and told him how it could work. He did not tell me no upfront (which I was pleasantly surprised). He told me he thought it was a nice car and then he gave me his concerns with it. First of all, He wanted to be sure I fully understood that if I took this step I would be accepting all financial obligations involved with owning a car (which he has said many time prior to this) and then he stressed upon me that he would rather me not take a loan on a car while I am in school, and he said he thought it had to many miles already to get me through seven years of school. So I prayed about it.

The next morning Mom called Christy at Taylor Motors to see if she had anything comparable. She just got a car in a few days ago from an 84-year-old lady and it was still up on the racks getting the oil changed, and getting checked out. So Mom and I went that morning to check it out after I did some research on the Internet about it. This was a '94 Pontiac Grand Prix, which also just happened to be dark red (darker than the one in the picture below). My first impression was negative partly because it still needed to be detailed, waxed, and buffed, and the other part was because it had an older body style with the same buttons as the newer Pontiacs. For some reason it just didn't seem to go together. But on the flip side, it only had 62.5K miles on an 11-12 year old car which is outstanding, very little wear in the upholstery, and it was kept in a garage out of the sun most of the time. It was obvious that it still had a good life ahead of it. It had a similar engine as the '89 Oldsmobile my family has been driving for the past many years. Our '89 Olds has at least 225K miles and is just starting to show symptoms of serious problems (ie. rough shifting in the automatic transmission). No one knows for sure, but I would like to think the Grand Prix would go at least that far as well. They said it would be ready for a test drive in a few hours, so Mom and I got some lunch at Del Taco, and hustled as quickly as possible to my grandma’s rental in Cottonwood where we got a call about a broken water line in the yard. After all that was taken care of and daycare left, Mom and I went back to test-drive it. It road very nice, quiet, smooth shifting, had the expected acceleration for a V6 3.1Liter engine, the brakes worked well, responsive steering, and low road noise for a coupe; I was very impressed. To add to it, this car was almost $1000 less, the registration was just paid, and insurance was $5 cheaper per month. It was just enough cheaper so that I didn't need a loan; I paid cash for the car, and my first and last months of insurance. I guess it is obvious which car I bought and that I am very critical in my analysis of the cars and my finances; I don't think that is a bad thing. That night I showed Dad and he didn't have much to say about it good or bad; he had already given his concerns the night before and I took care of them all. Friday morning I called Christy and told her I wanted it. I went in that afternoon to fill out the paperwork, told her I was having my funds mailed overnight to me from a fanatical institution in Sacramento, and so I would be able to pick up the car just as soon as the check arrived. I didn't get to drive it much more then ten minute that day because I had to be at the school by about noon that day to go sing in Eureka. That was kinda disappointing. :( But when I got back Sunday night a friend of Christy was going to have my car waxed and buffed for me as part of the deal, so it was okay. It looked really nice inside and out after being detailed and waxed; and after driving it for a few days, I really like how it looks and handles on the road. I am glad it came with a full tank of gas 'cause I am broke for the week. :)

VROOM…VROOM…VROOM

Here is a picture to give you a gerneral idea of what it looks like.