At Home Mechanic

The answer to these questions will shape the car buying decision made by the consumer. Every person who buys a car has a different set of values that they need a car to live up to; that is why the consumer has a choice of literally hundreds of makes and models to choose from. A car that I like may not be the car that you like. I will not assign a value to your choice and I ask you to please refrain from making a judgment about my choices.

Cars are important to me the way shoes are important to my fiancee. I own a pair of sneakers and a pair of generic black leather lace up... shoes. Shoes are such a low priority for me that I do not have the sufficient vocabulary to adequately describe the shoes that I wear for formal occasions. My lovely fiancee is a woman of taste and style that has closets full of the finest in Italian designer leather products. Every outfit in her fashionable wardrobe has a specific pair of shoes that compliments the ensemble.

My collection of cars is numerically inferior to my sweet intended's horde of shoes, but they answer a wide variety of needs that a single car could never fulfill. I own a staid and conservative daily driver that comfortably transports my family with an acceptable level of speed and economy. This mundane family-mobile does not call attention to itself yet has enough quiet elegance that parking attendants do not hide it at the back of the lot at the trendy restaurants I have been known to frequent. But the family ride is not a performance car; it cannot accelerate, turn or stop with the vigor that I appreciate. So I have a hobby car that sacrifices comfort, quiet and convenience in exchange for speed. I cannot haul the family and it associated flotsam and jetsam in my family car. The family truckster cannot carve corners like my hobby car can.

The third and final car in my fleet is a compromise vehicle in every sense of the word. My 16 year-old son is driving now and his very specific set of needs demands a very special set of automotive features. As he is a new driver and likely to have some sort of road mishap as he gains driving experience, the first car he drives regularly should be vehicle that I have no emotional attachment or great financial investment in. Safety and economy are of paramount importance to me; a modicum of style and the appearance of performance are his greatest concerns. The family car is my ride to work, the hobby car is far too much car for a youngster to drive on the street, so the kid's car is a 15 year-old Honda Prelude in sound mechanical condition.

All three of the cars in my possession are made by Honda; I think I have firmly established that I like the Honda combination of engineering excellence at an affordable price. But beyond a nameplate my cars have nothing in common. Because no single car can fill all the needs in my automotive life, I own more than just one. I like them all for very different reasons. There is no single "best" car for me.