I think my perception of cars has changed a lot since I moved to Seattle. In Detroit, you need a car if you want to get around. A few of the burbs do not have bus service, everyone is afraid to use the bus downtown (sometimes they even get hijacked), and urban sprawl means that you might live on one side of town and your friends on the other.
I used to think as you would make more money you should have a nicer and better car, maybe an SUV, or what not. Isn’t that how it goes?
Well, I have a car in Seattle, a 2006 Nissan Altima. It is leased through October 2009, and I am counting down the days until I can be done with it. It’s a good car and she has treated me well, she ever drove me across the country to move to Seattle; but I never drive her and most of the time you can find my Altima in her home, an overpriced Belltown parking lot.
Am I ready to go car-free? I do drive her to R’s place when it rains, the grocery store, we took her to Portland for the night… but I think I could rent a Zipcar or a Hertz for those special occasions. I’d still be saving money, for sure.
This is something I need to think about, a lot. I can tell you though, if it were today, I’d seriously be looking at Nissan Versa’s (I get an employee discount), Smart Cars and any other tiny cars that are good on gas and easy to park.
I used to think as you would make more money you should have a nicer and better car, maybe an SUV, or what not. Isn’t that how it goes?
Well, I have a car in Seattle, a 2006 Nissan Altima. It is leased through October 2009, and I am counting down the days until I can be done with it. It’s a good car and she has treated me well, she ever drove me across the country to move to Seattle; but I never drive her and most of the time you can find my Altima in her home, an overpriced Belltown parking lot.
Am I ready to go car-free? I do drive her to R’s place when it rains, the grocery store, we took her to Portland for the night… but I think I could rent a Zipcar or a Hertz for those special occasions. I’d still be saving money, for sure.
This is something I need to think about, a lot. I can tell you though, if it were today, I’d seriously be looking at Nissan Versa’s (I get an employee discount), Smart Cars and any other tiny cars that are good on gas and easy to park.
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