Do inanimate objects take on a life of their own? If not, why does your car run better after a car wash? Doesn’t you cell phone work better after you have given it a good cleaning? Does you laptop run faster after you yell at it? Did you ever notice that the air conditioning seems to work better on some days than on others?
I have a 14 year old car. I have taken good care of it and done all the maintenance and only used factory replacement parts when needed. It has about 160,000 miles and the internet tells me that it is ‘only broken in.’ It runs very well. However…
Come on, its been almost a decade and a half since I have driven a ‘new’ car. Technology has moved on. For some a car is transportation, and my car fills that bill well. For others, cars are fun, exciting, and let’s face it, thrilling. I guess I fall into the second camp.
I went out the other day to look at a new car. It will be a one for one replacement of my existing vehicle. I drove to the dealership and parked in front. The salesperson showed me a car that had the same model number as my old one. Except it was a turbo and brand spankin new. I drove it around the neighborhood and damn, that sucker got up and went. A tap on the accelerator kicked in the turbo and wham, I was police ticket material. I loved it.
When I returned to my car, I fired it up, checked the mirrors, and touched the accelerator. It zoomed off with more pep than I had ever felt before. It was like it had a new engine with a turbo and all the trimmings. It didn’t stop then. In the five days since the test drive, the radio has sounded better, the pickup has been stalwart, and the ride has been smoother than ever.
I know, I know. You are saying that its all my imagination. But I’m not so sure. Is my nearly 15 year old IS 300 trying to tell me it doesn’t want to go? Is it telling me that its only middle aged and not ready for the wrecking yard? Or was it saying “don’t sell me to a stranger, we have been through a lot together.”
Sure the new car has bells and whistles my old car can only dream about. But do I really need that back up camera and sonar? I wonder what a $150 detailing and a bit of touch up would do?
Now what – that analog clock in the new car was really nice.
JVH
