With a hint of fall on the cool breezes I enjoyed riding in this afternoon, it dawned on me that with fall comes cold, and with cold comes winter. After 2+ years of being motorcycle only, its starting to get a bit stale. So I started car shopping this afternoon.
Strangely enough, I found two fairly rare optioned cars: a 5spd early Rav4 and a 5spd late 90's corolla, both for relatively good prices probably due to their transmissions, and the corolla its age and mileage. The Rav4 was ok, but the corolla was almost fun to drive thanks to being simple, lightweight, and manual everything with enough motor to get moving. It was also awkward driving a stick for the first time in since I sold my truck in June 2009, much more pita than enjoyable than I remembered.
On the new car front I checked out a Mazda2 automatic and came away pretty impressed. It definitely would be a funner car with a stick, but in auto form it was certainly competent and the transmission is worlds better than I remember small car automatics being. Its crazy how much nicer bottom tier cars are now vs the early 2000's and before. The little car scooted well.
Of course, I made the mistake of throwing practical out the window when i sat in a MX-5 on the showroom floor waiting for the salesman to come back with the keys. Miata's just always feel like home... so I've been NB and NA shopping lol.
