Rogue

It's 1228AM and I'm still awake. The reason? I have this overwhelming urge to do something rather silly and I can't stop thinking about it. So much so that I can't sleep.

Follow up:

I think blokes have the same biological clock that women do except for slightly different things. In women they start to desperately want to have a baby, whereas in men it's not about the babies - it's about the gadgets. For me it's the suddenly overwhelming urge to go out and buy a car - a bloody expensive car. Do I need one? Not really. Will it make me almost a pauper? Almost definitely. Do I still want one? Strangely yes.

On friday night there was nothing going in town so I kicked back at home and did a little bit of surfing online. I can't remember what led to it but eventually I ended up reading stuff about cars. Now I'll be the first to admit I know literally nothing of any real value about modern automobiles; they have an internal combustion engine, cost a lot, arn't very environmentally friendly, but get you from A to B quite fast.

Eventually I ended up pricing some that appealed to me (for purely juvinile reasons like having riden in them once, or what some website says). And I found myself attempting to justify (budget and use, etc) going out and buying a brand spanking new Mazda RX-8 with leather interior and a whole bunch of other wizbangery; which would come in at a dainty $60,000. Where the hell am I going to get sixty grand?!? Then I looked around further and found 2004 dealer display models with extremely low Ks and all the extra stuff for $54,000, it's even in the color I want. Oh bargain! But still... where the bloody hell would I get that much money?

Sure I could take out a loan or lease it through work, but seriously let's just say the price out loud; fifty four thousand dollars. And that doesn't even include insurance (which would be immense) or the ongoing costs of fuel and getting proper mechanics to look at it for the regular services (since it is a 'new' car) which I'd need to go to Adelaide to get done.

But it's just so damn sexy. I want it bad.

Then it's slowly sunk in that I probably can't afford that much money on something I don't really need so aimed a little lower. How about the Mazda MX-5? Apparently it's rather awesome and would probably be better suited to me; it's small and efficient, and doesn't cost totally crazy money. But unfortunatly it's bloody hard to find one with a hardtop. I don't want to have to get out and put a roof on when it rains, driving around with the softtop on all the time is hardly how it is meant to be driven, and I don't really favour chewing on bugs on long-distance trips. But then again, the price is certainly better. But it's still not the kind of money you just throw away.

By Sunday night my standards had dropped even lower. And looking at the 'Australia's Best Cars' website I found the nominations for the 2005 sportscar of the year under $57000;

• Mazda MX5
• Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9
• Subaru Impreza WRX
• VW Golf GTi

Now if I saw myself driving around in a Golf then I would laugh at myself, nevermind the complete lack of coolness of having a sports car. The Impreza is a little on the expensive side, and also apparently it's necessary to pay more to get the 'best bang for buck' ones. I've got a workmate who recently bought a 'rex and now he does nothing but complain about how it's lackluster in performance. Lupin has got one though and it's damn pimpin. The MX5 I've already drooled over, and that leaves the Evo.

I'm not sure about the naming, but even if this is not the 'evolution' model of the lancer it's still seems like a bloody good deal. Alternitively if I wanted to pay more and stand out in a crowd I could get this pimp mobile although I'd probably end up wanting to get it repainted something a little more... bland, like maybe black or grey.

Regardless I can't seem to shake the urge to go out and buy a car. So here I am, blogging in the wee hours of the morning when I need to be at work in a few hours because I can't get to sleep.

I guess the big things are;

• It's a big outlay to buy a car... even with a loan.
• I've never actually bought a car before.
• Insurance and running costs for the kind of car I want is going to be huge.
• I don't have a garage to store it in, only a carport.
• Since I'm under 25 am I even allowed to get one of these things?
• Am I going to use it enough for it to be worth it?
• I don't know what is good and what is bad. I'm going to get ripped off.
• If I get any of those cars I would be sticking with it till it dies. No resale.
• Do I really need/want one?

I would really love to get something like the RX-8, but it's probably completely unrealistic especially on my meager (non existant) budget. I'm sure everyone I talk to about it is going to say I'm an idiot to get any of those as a first car.

Alas, my biological clock is going off and I can't seem to stop dreaming about a chunk of machinery.