My family thinks me evil, but I just feel done. Zipcar is fun, and it’s useful, and it’s served us very well. But yesterday, I had to set my alarm for 8 a.m. and call a cab to take me to the car that zipcar switched my reservation to. It cost $10 to get there, and then tonight, at 9:15 p.m., another $10 to get me back home from the new reservation spot. It is a reimbursable $20, but it takes time for me to 1) take a cab, 2) wait for cabs, and 3) submit receipts for reimbursement. I don’t like it. I am glad that the car I reserved wasn’t allowed to stay on the road with bad brakes, but I don’t know why they couldn’t move a working car into the spot I had made arrangements for – a spot that is 2 blocks from my house.
Also, the new house has 2 parking spots included in the rent. At our current building, we would have to pay $170/mo for one parking spot. It was so easy to smile at the fact that we didn’t need to pay extra for a spot.
Also (oh, my list is long), the new house is .4 miles from our current house – but it’s .4 miles further from the center of town, further from Trader Joe’s, further from Whole Foods, even further from Stop & Shop (ick). The only useful businesses it is not further from is a) a CVS (pharmacy) that sucks and never has anything and that has employees that are so slow and so non-responsive so as to make every visit an exercise in patience, and b) an awesome liquor store that I likely shouldn’t live so close to.
Also, the girls want to play more and more sports. Next year, both of them will be on soccer fields far away from home. It’s nice that we have a great social network that allows for carpooling and ride sharing, but I think the older they get, the more they’re going to want to do, and I am not that comfortable with just relying on others to transport my kids – I have always pitched in, but people always feel weird about it when they know that I’m “renting a car” in order to drive.
Therefore, I’ve made the proclamation: In 2009, I’m buying a car.
I know I can’t get away with (nor do I want) anything but a Hybrid. But while I love the Prius, Beloved does not. He doesn’t like the mirrors – or something. I looked at the Hondas, but they both (accord and civic) had negatives that outweighed the positives. The Car & Driver reviews spent the whole thing talking about why the Hondas weren’t as good as the Prius.
So Beloved said, “check out the Volt! Let’s wait for the Volt!”
So I checked it out.
Uh….

I think it may want to eat me. I decided that considering that you can drive up to 40 miles a day without even touching a drip of gas, and considering that it’s really freaking cool and the beginning steps at non-gas driven vehicles, I could deal with the scary look of it, and be proud of my electric car.
But then my research showed that it isn’t expected to be for sale until 2010, and right now is looking like it could come out at around $45,000. The more digging around I do, the more I see that we will certainly be dealing with a “waiting list” situation, and that it likely won’t be widely available for at least a year after that.
Hey! I didn’t want to pay $45,000, and I didn’t want to wait until mid 2011. Hell, I don’t want to wait until January of 2009 – I want a car NOW – but I’m not willing to screw up our finances while we’re looking forward to our move in July and hopefully a week in Maine in August and and and.
This is our new deal: I get my Prius in 2009.

If Beloved really hates it that much, he’s welcome to keep using zipcar. Then, in 2011 when the Volt comes out, he can have that. Perhaps (she says after hearing the girls yell in disgust at the idea that we would have two cars), we will lease the Prius for 2 years, and then return it and buy a Volt in 2011.
The girls are pouting, Beloved is slightly scowling over the fact that I essentially made this decision on my own, but I am looking forward to being able to grab my own keys and walk 2 feet from my own door to hop in a car to run to Target or to the Apple store, rather than make arrangements a week ahead of time. Heck, I could even decide last minute to go and visit my nephew!!