Wednesday, May 11, 2005

 

My Subaru Kicks Ass!!!!!


The Subaru
Originally uploaded by Blind Orange Julius.
I've made a lot of bad decisions in my life. As I've stated before, given the option between two choices, I will undoubtedly choose the wrong one. It happened on Jeopardy! when I narrowed down the year of the Chernobyl nuclear accident to 1985 or 1986. I chose '85. TSA will be happy to let you know it was '86. Even if it isn't really relevant to the conversation, he'll bring up the fact that Chernobyl was in 1986. Serves me right for missing ONE question on the best game show in television history, I guess.

I was left with a choice of vehicles to buy when my 1991 Mercury Tracer was totaled after catching on fire FOR THE SECOND TIME in 1996. I was pretty much set on a Volkswagen Jetta, but after I accepted a price quoted by a salesman, he wouldn't go through with it. He wouldn't go through with it. Does that make any sense, he quoted me a price, I accepted, he said no! Out of priciple, I decided not to deal with that dealership anymore.

Eventually, I dropped by the Subaru dealership and drove a '96 Impreza Outback Sport. I really liked the car, but it was a little spendier than I would have liked. The saleswoman wasn't overly motivated to sell as she had already sold 3 Subarus that month. When I finally got them down to a price a little more than 10% under sticker price, I pulled the string. It was still just a little bit more than I wanted to spend, but unlike most of the decisions I've made in my life, I have never regretted this one for a moment.

I can probably count the problems I've had with this car on one hand. The most amusing was the opossum that built a nest on the intake manifold and chewed through an electrical harnass. That chewing caused some trouble with the ignition system for a couple of days, but it was an easy fix. Unfortunately, acts of marsupial weren't covered under the warranty. Every other problem with this car has been.

And it's been a joy to drive. It has full time 4 wheel drive and is just a little overpowered, so it doesn't get the best gas mileage, just under 30 highway, but I knew that going in. The major plus has been the handling. This car has a wide stance and is relatively low to the ground. That, coupled with the 4WD makes it unbelievable stable.

I no longer fear bad weather. Granted I'm a good driver in poor conditions, but this car gets around magnificently. I had this car out in southern California for the better part of 4 years, so I forgot how well it handles in the snow.

I got reminded tonight. We had freezing rain and sleet when I left for the open mic at 6:30 tonight. It was a little hairy getting down the hill, but I simply shifted down and crawled down the hill. No incident to report on the way to Dunn Bros. tonight.

This is the part of the blog where I talk about the open mic itself. If you want to hear more about the best car I've ever had, skip this paragraph and the next. I played with Mike and Eric a little at the beginning of the show. I tried to do a little Norwegian Wood with the guys on harmonica but I didn't really make it work. Also did You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Walk on the Ocean and finished up with Hotel California. I also did a couple of songs with Mike later and a couple of songs with Angel during her set.

TSA had a little trouble getting to the show from work, and most people had vacated by the time we got on stage. No problem, we just got to do some of the questionable material. We opened with Vibrator Dependent and followed that with Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus which we were going to play anyway, but Suzy requested it and who are we to say no. Mike then requested Wyle E. Coyote Blues which we played as good as we've ever played it.

While TSA and I were helping Mike tear down, Andy got a call from his roommate saying that a tree had fallen across the road to his house. You see, we got at least two inches of heavy, wet snow from the time the open mic until we started tearing down. It was a little bit of a strain on the trees. In fact, there were quite a few trees down on the trip to Casa de TSA. I offered to drive since he wasn't going to get his car all the way home anyway.

TSA left his car at Dunn Bros. and we headed out. No particular problems were encounted getting to his house. I was able to get most of the way down the dead end street he lives on, all the way to the fallen tree. I had to back out a ways to find a spot to turn around. Then it was back to the main road. He had warned me that entering that road can be tricky in bad weather since it's on quite a slope. No problem for the Subaru! As I drove through Rapid City, I was passing lots of stalled cars, cars unable to negotiate hills. I live on a hill about 200 feet higher than the surrounding terrain. I passed a couple of cars that were left by their owners, unable to make the hill. I had absolutely no problem. I have never felt so superior while driving a vehicle.

The only thing my Subaru couldn't do tonight was get me into my garage. If I hadn't had to stop to open the garage door, I may have made it. And maybe not, there's a downspout on that corner of the garage and it gets really slick when water comes out of there and freezes. Still, the Subaru got me all the way home without incident. Getting in the garage would have been great, but since there won't be any school tomorrow, I don't have to worry about scrapping the ice of my windshield in the morning.

I picked a good one when I picked my Subaru. If I only had the same luck with women......

BOJ

Author's Note - Officially, our little storm brought us 9 inches of very wet snow. I don't know what any of that means as far as the drought that we're suffering through here, but it sure has to help. I was driving that Subaru through close to nine inches of snow last night! What a car!

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