I messed up. Big time, I'm told. I kind of didn't end up getting the Mercedes. I test drove it and it was nice, but the salesman also showed me this super-cute pre-owned Porsche Boxster, and it was THOUSANDS less than the Mercedes. I took it for a drive and all of a sudden I could see Julian and me, driving along the coast on our way to Santa Barbara or Sonoma, with the top down and the wind in our hair. It is super-cute! Here it is (ad is now down but I nabbed a pic before it did: Boxster) -- dark blue with a stone leather interior.
So I kind of thought it would be MUCH better than an SUV -- I'm only 24 (well, 25 in 10 days) and it's not like I need to transport kids around or anything. And also it was cheaper! I thought I might take the extra J wired me and put it towards a down payment on a house or something. I thought J would be happy that I got something that I thought suited me, and was a reflection of who I am and not a soccer mom (which is kind of what the Mercedes made me feel like). So I decided to take it! I signed all the paperwork and the dealer told me everything would be ready for me to pick it up on Friday. I thought I'd be getting it today and was prepared to give up Nick (which they wouldn't take as a trade-in, which kind of hurt me in a weird way) but in the end I have a few more days. I guess I'll sell him on Craigslist, or donate him to charity.
Anyway, I called Julian with my news and oh god. He was NOT happy. I can always tell when he's really angry because his voice gets very calm and low. The conversation went something like this:
J: So darling, how did it go?
M: Great! But I didn't buy a Mercedes in the end.
(silence)
J: As in you didn't buy anything in the end or a Mercedes in the end?
M: I tried the Mercedes and it wasn't for me. It just seemed too...old.
J: Promise me you didn't do something stupid.
M: Oh no! No!
J: Like buy something utterly unsuitable. Like another Nissan.
M: No.
J: Spit it out, Melissa. What did you do?
M: I bought a 2006 Porsche Boxster for $27 grand! It's soooo cute and it was way less than the Mercedes --
J: WHAT?
M: Honey, it is really cute and it just suits me so much better than an SUV. I mean, we don't have kids or dogs or anything, so why not get something --
J: Melissa. You are not capable of handling an automobile of that specification. You have a hard enough time riding your bicycle in a straight line and I have yet to see you parallel park that heap of a Nissan in less than 16 maneuvers.
M: That's not fair.
J: Melissa, it's true. And whilst we may not have any children or dogs right now, we will soon. Where are you going to put those in a Boxster? Do we put a baby seat in the boot?
M: No... but we could just trade it in and get an SUV later.
J: And get how much for it then? $27k? For a 4-year-old Porsche? They must have seen you coming a mile away. They ripped you off! You need to go back there right now and cancel the contract.
M: I can't Julian! There's no cool-down period in California! And I love the car!
J: Melissa, I am putting the phone down now. You are not able to drive that car. You never should have been so bloody stupid as to buy something we had not agreed on. We agreed on the Mercedes. You are going to scare yourself driving a Porsche. I will call you back when I have calmed down a bit.
M: When will that be? Julian, honey, I love this car!
*click*
Maybe he's right, maybe I'm not able to handle a car like that. Maybe I should be afraid.
Showing posts with label Nissan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nissan. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Good-bye, dear Nick
I'm off to the dealership to go buy my new car! I am so excited I couldn't eat breakfast so I'm drinking a Slim-Fast shake (I stocked up recently because all that Chinese is going right to my hips) instead. I have the morning off of work to do the deal. Julian gave me a pep talk and told me to stay focused and not let myself get pushed into anything that feels not right. So excited to try my new car! I hope I like it.... what if I don't like it? Oh, like I won't! J said to call him immediately and put him on speakerphone if anything does not go according to plan.
I'm leaving dear Nick the Nissan there. :( I'll miss him.
I'm leaving dear Nick the Nissan there. :( I'll miss him.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
New car? New car!
So Julian and I have been discussing the state of my car recently. I have a 1997 Nissan Sentra, which I've had since I left for college. It's not bad for a 13 year old car, I think. Nothing really catastrophic has gone wrong with it, except for the air conditioning dying on a road trip back from Vegas. In August. I get the oil changed regularly and mind the tire pressures, and always keep the fluids topped up. The paint is pretty terrible -- like a lot of cars out here in the Valley, the clear coat has peeled away on the horizontal surfaces and there is a gigantic scratch down the passenger side. But there is nothing wrong with the car mechanically, and I have never seen the point in replacing it because I am actually really fond of him. (Yes, he's a him. His name is Nick.)
Julian... let's just say he is not so fond of Nick. Julian showed up very dramatically on my doorstep on January 2nd unannounced and looking to win me back after the tough times we had in 2009. (It worked.) Since he had never driven in America before, never even been to anywhere in America besides New York a few times, he hadn't rented a car so we used my Sentra. Since we didn't actually leave the house for a couple of days after he arrived (*blush*), he didn't have the chance to see my car until the 4th or 5th, I forget which. Anyway, he said, "Are you kidding me? You drive THAT?" I said there was nothing wrong with Nick, he was just a little old and worn at the edges. Julian said that no wife of his -- and at this point he hadn't proposed (for the second time round), so I got all goose-pimply -- would be seen dead driving in a beater like that. Why didn't I take better care of it? Why did I leave all those bags and empty soda cans in it? Why did I appear to have an entire year's worth of Glamour magazine stored in there?
I felt kind of defensive about it at first. This was MY car that I paid for out of MY money. I had saved up for two years after I got my license to buy a car. It was only 6 years old then and it still looked pretty great. My parents aren't exactly poor, but they made it clear to my sister and me that we were going to need to earn the big purchases in our lives. I'm a little better than my older sister at not complaining about that! (Sorry Rachel -- it's true!) I'm proud of the many hours I spent working at the Gap to earn the money.
Julian always seemed to be needling me to think about upgrading Nick. It makes me still kind of sad to think about losing my trusty steed, which took me to college and back, and even up to Seattle once when I was dating a guy who had relocated there and I was thinking about going there too. However, once we got engaged, J became pretty adamant that his wife would not be seen driving something so "pedestrian" as a Nissan Sentra. (lol) I was worth so much more than that, and it would reflect poorly on him too if he had something new and I was still with Nick, like I wasn't worth anything more. So he has decided to wire me the money for a new car. Wow! He thinks I should get a Mercedes -- wow! I can't believe I'm going to have a brand-new car and it's going to be a Mercedes!
So after a while looking at all the info online, I am going to test drive the GLK350. It's a compact SUV. J wanted me to consider one of the more luxurious SUVs but I think the GLK is fancy enough for me! He spent a lot of time researching the model and he feels comfortable with it. He's given me a LOT of advice about how to behave at the car lot, and he's already called the dealership to tell them I'm coming in and that I am only interested in looking at the GLKs, and that I am a cash buyer who does not want her time wasted. I am so excited!
But then... it always seems to be coming back to money these days. Sigh. I'm not doing too badly in my job, and feel like I'm making a respectable wage for someone my age and experience. My little apartment is cozy and quirkily furnished and I go out to some decent restaurants, bars and clubs. But it's... well, it's nothing compared to Julian's family and sometimes I feel the weight of expectations. His mother doesn't seem to like me very much, although J always says that I'm just being overly sensitive. She is still pushing for us to do a pre-nup -- "Just look at that Paul McCartney! He wouldn't do a pre-nuptial agreement and now look where he is! How do you know Melissa won't do a Heather Mills on you!" she said to Julian. In front of me. J is refusing to sign one, and although I won't say a word to his mum about it, I'm glad he's standing up to her. The fact that we are now on our second round of engagement makes her even more suspicious of me, like I'm only after J for the money, and that somehow I charmed him back so I could get my hands on their money, when he was the one who came back to me.
She has said some truly unbelievable things to me in the past. One time, when we were in her kitchen and I was slicing some bread for a sandwich, she said, "Melissa, you do have rather fat calves for someone your size don't you?" I didn't know what to say. Once she came over to our house in Suffolk (I think of it as our house even though it's Julian's really) when he was out; we used to go to the house about once every other weekend for some quieter living than we got in London. I was sorting laundry and she offered to help fold, which I thought was so kind and maybe even a peace gesture. Instead, she looked at the label inside one of my skirts and said "Size 2? Really? I heard they did vanity sizing in the States and now I believe it." Julian said this was his mother's idea of a joke and I was supposed to have laughed. I was so shocked that I just kept folding.
Oh god, I don't seem to be able to shut up in these posts! I guess I should have been blogging for years! So... yay! New car!
Julian... let's just say he is not so fond of Nick. Julian showed up very dramatically on my doorstep on January 2nd unannounced and looking to win me back after the tough times we had in 2009. (It worked.) Since he had never driven in America before, never even been to anywhere in America besides New York a few times, he hadn't rented a car so we used my Sentra. Since we didn't actually leave the house for a couple of days after he arrived (*blush*), he didn't have the chance to see my car until the 4th or 5th, I forget which. Anyway, he said, "Are you kidding me? You drive THAT?" I said there was nothing wrong with Nick, he was just a little old and worn at the edges. Julian said that no wife of his -- and at this point he hadn't proposed (for the second time round), so I got all goose-pimply -- would be seen dead driving in a beater like that. Why didn't I take better care of it? Why did I leave all those bags and empty soda cans in it? Why did I appear to have an entire year's worth of Glamour magazine stored in there?
I felt kind of defensive about it at first. This was MY car that I paid for out of MY money. I had saved up for two years after I got my license to buy a car. It was only 6 years old then and it still looked pretty great. My parents aren't exactly poor, but they made it clear to my sister and me that we were going to need to earn the big purchases in our lives. I'm a little better than my older sister at not complaining about that! (Sorry Rachel -- it's true!) I'm proud of the many hours I spent working at the Gap to earn the money.
Julian always seemed to be needling me to think about upgrading Nick. It makes me still kind of sad to think about losing my trusty steed, which took me to college and back, and even up to Seattle once when I was dating a guy who had relocated there and I was thinking about going there too. However, once we got engaged, J became pretty adamant that his wife would not be seen driving something so "pedestrian" as a Nissan Sentra. (lol) I was worth so much more than that, and it would reflect poorly on him too if he had something new and I was still with Nick, like I wasn't worth anything more. So he has decided to wire me the money for a new car. Wow! He thinks I should get a Mercedes -- wow! I can't believe I'm going to have a brand-new car and it's going to be a Mercedes!
So after a while looking at all the info online, I am going to test drive the GLK350. It's a compact SUV. J wanted me to consider one of the more luxurious SUVs but I think the GLK is fancy enough for me! He spent a lot of time researching the model and he feels comfortable with it. He's given me a LOT of advice about how to behave at the car lot, and he's already called the dealership to tell them I'm coming in and that I am only interested in looking at the GLKs, and that I am a cash buyer who does not want her time wasted. I am so excited!
But then... it always seems to be coming back to money these days. Sigh. I'm not doing too badly in my job, and feel like I'm making a respectable wage for someone my age and experience. My little apartment is cozy and quirkily furnished and I go out to some decent restaurants, bars and clubs. But it's... well, it's nothing compared to Julian's family and sometimes I feel the weight of expectations. His mother doesn't seem to like me very much, although J always says that I'm just being overly sensitive. She is still pushing for us to do a pre-nup -- "Just look at that Paul McCartney! He wouldn't do a pre-nuptial agreement and now look where he is! How do you know Melissa won't do a Heather Mills on you!" she said to Julian. In front of me. J is refusing to sign one, and although I won't say a word to his mum about it, I'm glad he's standing up to her. The fact that we are now on our second round of engagement makes her even more suspicious of me, like I'm only after J for the money, and that somehow I charmed him back so I could get my hands on their money, when he was the one who came back to me.
She has said some truly unbelievable things to me in the past. One time, when we were in her kitchen and I was slicing some bread for a sandwich, she said, "Melissa, you do have rather fat calves for someone your size don't you?" I didn't know what to say. Once she came over to our house in Suffolk (I think of it as our house even though it's Julian's really) when he was out; we used to go to the house about once every other weekend for some quieter living than we got in London. I was sorting laundry and she offered to help fold, which I thought was so kind and maybe even a peace gesture. Instead, she looked at the label inside one of my skirts and said "Size 2? Really? I heard they did vanity sizing in the States and now I believe it." Julian said this was his mother's idea of a joke and I was supposed to have laughed. I was so shocked that I just kept folding.
Oh god, I don't seem to be able to shut up in these posts! I guess I should have been blogging for years! So... yay! New car!
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