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Author: Nathan Chase

4 Aug 2004

I’m sad. I am going to miss Eisley when they come to Florida for Labor Day weekend as I will be gone on vacation in Ohio.

Hopefully they will return and come to Orlando after they release their new CD.

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Filed under: Miscellaneous

car buying is exhausting

Author: Nathan Chase

6 Jun 2004

Looking at car buying lately. My Altima is about ready to die. It’s 9 years old and has 150,000+ miles on it. I’m looking at some different models and trying to decide what it is I really want in a car.

2005 Totoya Matrix XR
My first pick as of now. Has a cool look, good colors, lots of space, 130hp isn’t too shabby, pretty good options, overall good value.

2005 Scion tC
Don’t know much about this one yet, has a nice look, price is good, good standard features.

2005 Scion xA
Similar to the Matrix, the cheapest of my picks, plenty of cargo space, not much pickup-and-go.

2005 Mini Cooper
Tons of style, great options, fairly inexpensive, virtually no cargo space, probably not practical.

2005 Nissan Altima
A little more expensive, like my Altima I have now, nice new features, the high-end of my selections.

2004 Toyota Prius
Gas!, hybrid engine is cool, no horsepower can’t drive it fast, sorta space-age looking not sure if I like it yet or not, little more expensive.

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So I want my car to look pretty sporty, but I’m not obsessed over 0-60 or horespower.

It has to have good audio, which if I were to buy I could always put my own custom system in afterwards. But if I were to lease I have to live with whatever comes standard.

I like having 4 doors with my Altima that I have now, so I dunno if going to a 2 door would be a problem for me or not.

Having room to put my drums in my car is sort of a problem, and obviously the MINI wouldn’t be able to do it, and probably not the Prius or the tC either. It’s not a vital thing but something I think about.

Would definitely get automatic transmission, cruise control, anti-lock brakes (need them in this wet road Florida weather).

Things I’d like to have as extra goodies would be fog lights, a cool exhaust tip, 17″ alloy wheels. Don’t really like sunroofs/moonroofs, although that’s part of the tC’s design.

Gas would be easier on the pocketbook with the Prius, and it has tax writeoff too for it being an enviro-friendly car or something like that. 60MPG is nothing to sneeze at. Although the other cars do pretty well for non-hybrids, especially the Matrix and MINI.

All in all the Matrix seems to have the space, the sporty look, and the price. But I haven’t test driven any of these yet so I’m not sure. The 2005 Altima SE-R when it comes out looks like it should be pretty nice.

Too many choices. Anyone have any thoughts?

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Filed under: Miscellaneous