the FE (fundamentals of engineering) exam is coming up in april and i'm debating whether or not to take it. i already have plans for the days it's on and paid for those plans, but then again the FE is only offered twice a year. however, since i have zero motivation or interest right now, i'm thinking i should just take it in the fall and study up all summer and since i'll be in the full excitement of starting grad school then.
in semi-related news, my car was totaled two weeks ago, to the day. so now i must get a new car if i want to get around at all. and get home to dallas to catch my flight to ireland for spring break. i've spent two weeks researching online - makes, models, and specific cars i want to look at in person and test drive. i thought i had it narrowed down to two models and a few great vehicles. turns out there are no real quality used cars in college station, so this weekend i am home in dallas. i drove in friday morning and started in fort worth, working my way east. what a bust. the cars i thought were great turned out to be falling apart or not what i expected in person. some places tried to tell me the price on the car was $2K more than listed online. do i look like an idiot?? then i test drove some of the cars that looked great on paper (honda fit) until you actually drove them. in a honda fit, i felt like i was driving a golf cart that was just trying so hard. i couldn't even hear the person in the passenger seat due to road noise and engine noise. no get up and go. which was depressing, because i loved everything else about that car. then there's the honda civic. everyone knows hondas are built to last a long time, and that the civic is an all around great car. but still true to honda driving - no get up and go. i felt like i was never going to get through the lights after they turned green because the car wouldn't accelerate. but then again, maybe that's done on purpose so it's more fuel efficient, which i do appreciate. then there's the love of my life, the jeep liberty. i love this car with all my heart. it drives fantastic, it's beautiful, it's affordable, and i'm obsessed with them. i can even live with it's awful gas guzzling. but the only people i know with them all say that they break....often. repairs all the time. and i'm just not sure i can afford that. we're keeping it on the list because i can't bear to rule it out, but it's still not likely.
after two days of nonstop searching at cars i thought were on my list and even ones i had never considered, i've decided to turn to the consumer reports list of best used vehicles between 2000 and 2009. these are the ones on that list:
- ford escape '02, '04-'07
- ford escape hybrid '05, '06
- ford focus '05-'09
- honda civic '03-'09
- honda cr-v '00-'06
- hyundai tuscon '05, '07-'08 (yes, the '06 is not on the list for some reason)
- hyundai elantra '07-'09
- kia sportage '06-'08
- mazda mazda3 '04-'07, both sedan and hatchback
- mercury mariner '06-'07 (V6)
- toyota corolla '00-'08
- toyota prius '01-'06
- toyota rav4 '00-'05
- toyota 4runner '00'-03
i have only test driven an '04 civic, older cr-v, '06 tuscon, '06 sportage, and a mazda3. the rest are all recent editions to the list after the failure of a weekend. my tentative budget is $10K, but if i can find cheaper ones that are still good quality with a few years left in them, that would be ideal. my to-do list this week is to test drive as many of these as i can - used, not new - so i can get a feel for them to see if i could even like them. after the honda fit disaster, i know now that i need to test drive every car before buying! to be fair, the brand new model drives pretty well, but is double my price.
rental car til wednesday so i'm thinking of going to houston tomorrow to look at individual cars, and then tuesday trying to test drive as many as i can find in college station. wish me luck!
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