3 posts tagged “cars”

It just occurred to me today - oil companies aren't advertising gasoline anymore.  They must be too ashamed.  Remember the cute cartoon cars for Chevron with Techron?  I haven't seen one of those ads for ages. 

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I wonder what their marketing departments are doing with themselves.

Well, last Tuesday night, as we were coming home at 9:15 in the evening, we hit a deer with our brand-new car.  It was standing on the side of the road, just waiting for the right moment to jump right in front of us. 

Mule deer

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Luckily, it didn't hit the front, but we winged it pretty hard on the drivers side.  The left headlight wasn't hit, but a circle of plastic popped out from the impact.  The front bumper, left front panel, drivers door and left back panel are all pretty wrinkled.  The door makes a yoink sound every time we open it.  Took it to the body shop on Wednesday morning, and got the parts ordered.  Decided to wait until we were past the 4th of July weekend, otherwise it'd just be sitting there while we're paying for a rental car.  So we just brought it in today.  Driving a Mazda 6 rental car until it's finished.

On the holiday, we went to a neighbors house for a get-together.  Another neighbor told us about these ultra-sonic whistles you can put on your car.  When you're over a certain speed, they emit a high-pitched whistle that the deer can hear.  They either freeze or run off.  They're pretty cheap, and somewhat controversial (some folks apparently think they don't work), and we ordered one.  Hopefully it'll help.  I guess we're pretty lucky -- we've been driving that road for 4 years and this was our first deer collision.  We hope it's okay.  I figure if no bones were broken, it'll be fine -- just bruised all to hell.

I call them big bunnies, because they essentially are.  They eat salad, have large black eyes and enormous floppy ears, they boing like Tigger on springs when on the run and show you their fluffy white cottontails, they're not very bright, they have a reputation for being gentle, but can fight like hell when properly motivated.... 

Last weekend, Rich & I went and got a new 2008 Toyota Yaris. 

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We don't really need the Ford Ranger anymore, and it only gets around 18 MPG.  We're currently spending about $600 a month on gas with our 500-mile-a-week commute.  And it just keeps going up and up with no end in sight.  So we did some research, and came upon this.  It gets the best mileage of any car that's not a hybrid.  We didn't want a hybrid for a few reasons.  They're more expensive, people can get comparable mileage from fuel-efficient gas cars, and we're concerned about the cost and environmental impact of having to replace and recycle those batteries later on.

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We felt a sense of urgency, as it's becoming clear that it's getting harder and harder to unload trucks and SUV's with each passing day.  They only had 3 Yaris's on the lot, and this is a huge dealership.  One was used and overpriced.  The second one had 4 doors, more expensive.  We got a 3-door hatchback in slate blue, manual transmission, with A/C (a must), for only $12,790.  We didn't even get terribly ripped-off on the Ranger, as it did have 122,000 miles on it.  Actually lowered our payment by $45!

We just LOVE it.  It's cute as a button.  It's enormous on the inside - very comfortable, quiet, smooth ride.  The doors have a nice closing sound.  There's an iPod port, and it also plays MP3's and WMA's.  There are three, count 'em, three full-size gloveboxes, a small closing compartment, three open cubbies, two side door cubbies, and five cupholders.

Now for the best part:

First tank: 41.5 MPG.

Second tank: 42.8 MPG.

Third tank: 41.9 MPG.

We couldn't be more pleased.  I highly recommend these puppies.  :-)