Hope you’re all having a wonderful start to your new year! Me? Eh, maybe not so much. Just 11 hours in to Lucky 2013 and I had a near death experience. Big bad car accident while heading over to work on the Rockaway house. That will teach me to work on New Year’s Day.
The good news is that Hubby (who was driving) and I walked out of the car without a scratch, as did the woman we t-boned who ran the red light. Sure, we’re feeling a bit sore now, but there’s no doubt that those seat belts and airbags saved our lives.
The bad news is that my beloved RAV4 is a goner. We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but that gal took a bullet for me and didn’t survive. I’ll miss her. She was good to me even though I treated her like shit. Between the dogs, the salvage, my trash and my bad driving habits, the car looked ready for the scrap yard anyway. Ah, but she ran beautifully.
With all this construction I’ve been up to, I was in fact eying bigger cars on the street. I figured I’d get through this one house and then trade RAV4 in for something more suitable for renovations. Ok, so I’m going to get a new one sooner than I had thought without a trade-in value on the RAV.
Seems I’m a year or so too early for the compact van. These are somewhat like mini vans, only cuter. I’ve been crushing on the Ford Transit Connect. Looks like there’s an adorable Fiat/Chrysler compact (below) and a Nissan (not as cute) that won’t be out for awhile.
My litmus test is “Can it fit a 4×8 piece of sheetrock or plywood?” I know that some SUV’s can do that but it would also be nice to have height so I can go on furniture excursions. Of course, gas mileage is a big issue too! Man, I never should have sold my van. I just can’t drive (or park) something that big around the city.
Anyhoo, I hope this finds you safe and happy at the start of the new year. And once again, just like after Hurricane Sandy and Sandy Hook, we should consider ourselves lucky to be here no matter what is thrown at us. What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger, even if it is a big, fat pain in the ass.
By any chance, if there are any urban contractors reading this, please fill us in on your vehicle of choice.
2 Comments
Hi,
Not a contractor but we are moving from overseas and also have 1 grandchild with one on the way. We just bought a Honda CR-V. We looked at a Mazda CX-5, Ford Escape, and the Toyota RAV4. All of the cars drove well and they all had wonderful storage capacity.We liked the feel of the Honda, but do not like the bluetooth display.It has the backup camera which I like, and the comfort is wonderful. All the cars had easy conversion from seats to flat storage. Sorry about your car. Been there done that.
Thank you, Karen! I wish I could get the storage space of a van with the driving ease and has mileage of a car. Until then, I’ll look into the CRV as well as a few others. Just been too busy in insurance/towing/police report hell to go shopping.