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April 30, 2005
Everything is now organized for the Highlander
Well we went to the Toyota dealer this morning and Dianne got to pick out everything she wanted to put on her Hybrid Highlander. (The Limited version didn't provide anything additional we could use to justify the cost. Dianne hates leather seating, the side curtain airbags could hurt Alexis in her car seat, and what difference does wood grain make really?) I've been debating the 4x4 decision for the last couple of weeks and still up until we were there I hadn't seriously decided. We need 4x4 about 4 to 6 times a year. Depending on the snow we get here in Maryland. Our street is ultra low priority for the city to plow. They do what is referred to as a passable plowing of the road. That's code for running the plow at about 6 inches above the street level. Luckily we live towards the end of the street and the next cross street is a higher priority and usually gets down to street level after a couple of days, but in the meantime to get out anywhere we need 4x4. The problem is balancing those handful of times that we need it with the fact that it costs us 3 miles per gallon because of the additional weight the 4x4 adds to the Highlander. In the end, I fall back on my standard philosophy, err on the side of caution. The gas mileage difference between our current SUV and the Highlander is nearly double, so take the improvement for what it is and call it even. Another disappointment of the day was that the State of Maryland discontinued the tax free Hybrid sales. Sort of disappointing, but at the same time insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Since I didn't know what state taxes would be I had just left them out of my calculations. So all things being equal it works out to our advantage anyway. So now all we have is the waiting for them to build the Highlander to Dianne's specifications. Oh that's the other disappointment, the on board DVD video system wasn't offered as a package option, but the Toyota salesman gave us some people that could do that for cheaper than Toyota itself. I'm not convinced of that yet, but it's background noise in the end. Another funny thing, Toyota has some sort of graduating college senior discount and as luck would have it Dianne is graduating. So we are probably going to do Toyota financing, which will save us time, which is all I ever want to do.
If you would like to learn more about the Toyota Highlander Hybrid in the meantime, click here. I'm sure Dianne and I will be providing commentary on the vehicle when it arrives.
Posted by ManDrake at April 30, 2005 9:42 PM
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Comments
Is it not great to live in a society that pays you well and allows you to buy the vehicle of your choice?
My first self financed vehicle was a Chevrolet sedan back in 1965. As I recall, it cost me $2,600.
Posted by: Lonepine at May 1, 2005 12:37 AM
Well to put it bluntly, I'm paid for working, so it's not like my check just magically appears in the mailbox for being a good citizen or something. And I would not use the word well to describe my pay. I get enough to keep me on the edge of abject poverty. It's hard for me to refer to that as being paid well. Yes, I could be worse off and have been in the past, but I like most Americans live the constant knowledge that my family and I are a single unfortunate event away from disaster. I get paid well enough that it will a few months before we scum instead of days. But the end result is ultimately the same. As for living here allowing me to get the vehicle of my choice, I could have had it 10 years ago if I had lived in Japan. So it's hard to talk about how great our society is when we are getting scraps off the table from a truly technologically advanced society.
Posted by: ManDrake at May 1, 2005 7:36 AM
So, you agree with me as your capitalistic comments reveal.
As my boss once told me, "keep your nose close to the grind stone and work like hell".
Posted by: Lonepine at May 1, 2005 8:39 AM
There was nothing in what I said that even suggested that we have agreement on anything. I was simply pointing out the obvious problems that you were ignoring with your idealized view of our society and culture. If my comments revealed anything it's that I live in a capitalist culture rather than any grand buy into the ideology. I aspire to someday not to be trapped in the nose to the grind stone kind of world that I live in today.
Posted by: ManDrake at May 1, 2005 12:41 PM