Thoughts on buying a car

This weekend, my family and I went on a car-purchase scouting mission. For various reasons, we have been wanting to replace one of our cars, and we went hunting around for some models in which we had an interest.

Our primary foci, in this purchase, are

1) Style - or at least as much as we can find.
2) Space to carry a guest when we have the kids in the car,
3) Fuel economy with great performance (i.e. DIESEL)
4) Buying pre-owned, if at all possible, to avoid the significant premium of a new car over the first year or two.

That is about it in terms of defining our purchase.

Since desire for a specific design really doesn't exist, from the get-go the other concerns 2, 3, 4 have really dominated our decision. It is interesting to note that if there were to be a car to choose that is beautiful, gut-grabbing, and/or MUST-HAVE, then all other concerns would become impediments that you would hope to overcome so that you can simply get yourself into the car of your dreams, BUT that if the choice is more defined by a set of unremarkable vehicles, then the decision points become much more cerebral and the outcome more utilitarian.

To me it is revolting. The very idea that my family would ever buy something as expensive as a car and not be over the moon about the physical attraction to the product is repugnant. Call me vain or style-conscious, but I care what I am seen in - what I see my family in - and given a choice....just one small choice with beauty, style, sex, killer-looks, head-turning curves, and THAT is the vehicle I will buy.

This is the way much of our car buying public feels, and yet the car selection today does little to reflect these inner desires. If I have to look at another minivan, SUV, or Crossover, and rationalize how it fulfills our basic needs and doesn't look "all that bad", I am going to start my own car company :) ....whooops, already done that :)

The good news is that Local Motors is building my next car right now, and I am so crazy excited about it that I dream about completion day of my car.

Here's to the Rogers family's very own Rally Fighter in 2009. I am already fetishing over the graphic scheme!