Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Researching things on the Internet is making me crazy. Consumer Reports (which I've long subscribed to online) will only show used car information back 10 years (to 1997). They won't even publish their road tests of older cars, which would be incredibly useful to me. So, I'm left to research based on much more... variable, I guess, data sources.
The chief vexation is coming from the "user reviews." Of course, the only people who write them are pissed off that their car just broke for the 10th time. But when I see 326 pages of reviews (and 90% of them are of the "arg, the transmission fell out again" variety), it gets depressing fast.
Add onto this that I have this weird set of conflicting priorities, and things get messy fast. For instance, I want a vehicle which:
Problem is, there is no vehicle which meets all those requirements, period, the end. If there is, no one's let me in on the secret.
Little truck? Can't carry people at all. Cheap and reliable cancel each other out.
Minivan? Apparently it's impossible to buy a minivan for under $4500 which isn't a horrible pile of scrap. I'd live without the dirt-hauling capability, but still, they're either $6000 and up, or prone to the transmission falling out (why can't anyone figure out transmissions?). Against all odds, something like a Chevy Astro (which is otherwise about right) has the worst crash test results in the world.
Full sized van? Neither cheap nor fuel efficient, and not necessarily all that reliable. Probably not all that safe either, but then I'd have mass on my side.
Station wagon? Not all that capacious for either cargo or people, although something like a Corolla Wagon hits cheap, reliable and efficient pretty well. So I'd still have to rent a big truck (or get a trailer) for moving anything bigger than boxes, which kind of negates the benefits.
Another key part of this whole thing is that it changes by the minute. For instance, between when I wrote that last paragraph and started this one (about 10 minutes), I've come around to the idea of getting a small station wagon with a trailer hitch, and just renting a lightweight trailer from Uhaul when it comes time to move the sofa or any other big things. It's very confusing.
So, the short version is, "I don't know." You've seen the long version above. Rest assured that whatever I do, I'll doubtless report it here.
I definitely remember why I hate buying vehicles.
Posted at 15:14 permanent link category: /misc
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater