The Car I Will Not Buy

I WILL NOT BUY THIS CAR!!!!!

I have always liked the GTI Volkswagen models. Sleek, quick, good on gas, high on style, fabled german engineering, easy to park, and it won’t break your bank. It certainly won’t break my bank for I am not going to buy it.

Now I could definitely afford it if I were glued to the idea that I needed a car like most of the gluten consuming, over sized, gas wasting brethren I refer to as ‘Americans’. Most of us feel the car is a rite of passage of sorts. I do not. I have been lucky enough to live in places where a car was uneeded: Boulder Colorado, Portland Oregon, Phuket Thailand, Hong Kong China, and most recently New York City. I recently took a job in Tempe, Arizona and with it came the uneasy feeling that I would need to buy a car. Not so. Right down the street from where I work is a place called ‘The Bicycle Cellar‘, a state of the art commuting center for people who bike to work. Thanks ‘The Bicycle Cellar‘ you just saved me how much?

Yikes!!! Cars.com has several listed for just under $32k. Using their finance and loan calculator I could expect a monthly payment of $898.00 for 36 months with a down payment of $5000 USD, and today’s current interest rate 6.4%. Add to that Progressive quoted me at an additional $189.00 per month for insurance. Okay so 36 months from now I would have shelled out a total of: $44,024.00 not counting gas, maintenance, and any accidents.

So do I just really like riding my bike to work or is it the fact that I am saving approximately $50k by not buying this car? In addition to saving money I arrive at work clear headed and ready to kick some ass. When I get home I have spun off all the anxiety my job sometime creates. The hour or so I spend on the bike also replaces a 30 minute run, making that time on the bike MY TIME. Not time spent going to work mind you it is 100% my time, it just so happens I end up at work.

Ok so why aren’t you riding your bike to work?

Paul Romaldini on February 23, 2010 at 12:32 am

Because I have to take about 300 lbs of equipment with me…

kommute on February 23, 2010 at 6:28 am

How about this http://surlybikes.com/bikes/big_dummy_complete/ coupled with this http://www.bobgear.com/trailers/trailer.php?product_id=11. Surely you could get to work, complete with your 300 lbs. of goodies AT LEAST once in a while by bike?

I realize that some of us cannot commute and I make light of this with my comment.

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