It looks like summer is over. Rain is falling. School is in session. And Kei and I are thinking about automobiles. With Kei at a full time job, I can’t use her Mazda 323 anymore. So I’m driving the blue gas guzzler to work most days. It’s a great reliable ride, but my internal calculus says that spending $150 on gas a month with the Ford is not money well spent.

The questions is, what is a good compromise on low price, high reliability and fuel sipping gas mileage? The Honda Civic comes to mind, but they are so expensive used. New ones are larger and nicer, but I don’t want to spend $20k. We may have found the answer. The honda fit. Small for parking yet room enough for a bicycle with only the front wheel taken off thanks to it’s “Magic” rear seat. Handling like the Mini, 33 mpg city, and only $14,000 base. No all wheel drive, but great for commutes and trips to Portland.

Is it worth buying a new car? I’m thinking about the song “I got this car to drive to this job, I got the job to pay for this car.” Am I falling into this all too common trap? We move in November, and it’s possible we could move to a place much closer to both of our workplaces. However, I would need to drive to sailing, and there are the trips to the mountains to consider. Decisions, decisions…