We bought a “new” car.

The old car is twenty years old and slowly disintegrating. For about a year the engine vibrated like crazy because the rubber mountings had worn through but replacing them would have been ridiculously expensive. That was seriously annoying, but we learned to compensate for the vibrations by accelerating judiciously – and with time the vibrations went away on their own, without spending many thousands on re-mounting the engine. But then wheels started falling off, and next during an unplanned tire change one of the beams of the frame partly collapsed due to rust. The verdict from the most recent inspection was that the other beam was also near death and we’d either have to fix it within a month or have the car declared not roadworthy.

This car is not worth fixing any more so we bought a new car instead.

The new car is only half as old as the old car, and all pieces are strongly attached, and nothing at all is falling off yet! And it’s noticeably quieter, which is a nice bonus. Right now it’s also cleaner than the old car but I’m sure that will change quickly with all the dust and pollen in the air.

We thought very long and hard about buying an electric car or a hybrid. (We’ve been thinking about this question since last summer already.) But we drive so very little – sometimes weeks can pass without us using the car – that it’s simply not worth the upfront cost. So a petrol car it is.