New Car Regret?

Here is Doug's rusty Dodge Dakota


and his new VW Jetta TDI.


You might think I was relieved that he has a better looking car. But I'm loving his old truck more than ever.

My sister recently turned in an 18 month old Prius for a used BMW convertible (?, don't ask). And I know people lease or drive cars for 2 or 3 years and turn them in for a newer model. I don't understand it at all.

While I pushed for this new car so Doug could do his NJ to Boston commute with airbags and better music than his AM/FM radio provided, I'm feeling bad about getting a new car while his old one still runs. For the commute he was doing from Fair Lawn to Hackensack the truck was great. It had been paid off the day we got it in June 1993. It carried logs and brush and grass seed and furniture. It was cheap to maintain and cheap to insure. He never had to worry about anyone scratching it. In fact, other people probably got out of the way when they saw it. The paint was peeling, but the toughness remains. In fact it has only about 115K miles, since it spent much of its life doing short commutes. My van has more miles, 118K.

Alas, maybe I'm just feeling bad about the car because of what it symbolizes. Doug's going to Boston, selling our house, moving, change. I guess it's not really fair to load all this baggage on a terrific little deisel that gets over 40 mpg on the highway. In fact, if everything works out, and Doug ends up with a public transportation commute in Boston, I'll probably use it all the time.