I just want Glenn to know there are non-superficial women out there! I’m a single woman in my late 40s and I drive a 1998 Chevy Metro (3 cylinders!), which also gets 50 mpg on the highway. My friends tease me and my mom asks when I’m getting a new car… but until I can afford a Volt or a Leaf, what’s better than what I have for saving money on gas? Personally I’m more impressed by that than by a gas guzzling SUV or a sports car with a big car payment. Hang in there Glenn… but you really should at least move the stuff out of the passenger seat when you take a girl on a date. BTW I’m in NC, too 
Also wanting Glenn to know that there are plenty of women who could care less about a man’s car! Eleven years ago I finally had to let my 1981 Honda Accord go. It was a great, reliable car for 20 years. I would have kept it longer if I could; it was much better than the one I replaced it with which only lasted 5 years! I now have a car that I hope will hold up as long as the 1981 Honda. In any event, I would prefer a man to spend money taking me to nice (not necessarily expensive) places and maybe buying me a nice (again, not necessarily expensive) token from time to time rather than putting money into some high-priced status symbol!
Triedaq is a lot like Glenn. When I first met him, he was driving a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-4-2. We had been married 31 years when he finally sold the car. He kept the car running so that I could drive all over our state collecting data for my research for my degree. Our son learned to drive in that car. Triedaq insisted on driving the car to social functions we had to attend with the big shots at our university. He thought as a faculty member that it made more sense to go looking poor. I finally encouraged him to sell it. I was afraid it would become like the Ford Pinto featured in another post.
Mrs. Triedaq
Heard Glen from Chapel Hill and the guys discussing whether or not Glen’s luck with the ladies was due to his car. Hey, all you guys out there, here’s an easy test to determine that it is probably you and NOT your car:
- You have to clean off a week’s worth of Taco Bell bags and food wrappers from the seat while she waits, just so she can sit down.
- The car has so much dust on it, it looks like it’s a moving billboard for global warming
- When you think that our idea of “sparkly things” is watching the sun bounce off the crack in your windshield
- Even though the car gets 50 mpg, you still ask her to chip in for gas
- She wonders why you didn’t take her out in your Ferrari because the bumper sticker says your OTHER car is one
Hi Glen (Glenn) in Chapel Hill,
Your conversation with Tom and Ray made me chuckle because like you, I love my old vehicle, a 1989 Honda Civic with about 238,000 miles. And I am not a cheapskate and bet you are not either despite Tom and Ray’s accusation!
My car was looking shabby so I had it repainted about a year ago and they also cleaned up the inside. Still, it is not a guy magnet–most men here in southern Colorado drive big, really big, or really really big pickups. Also like you I am currently single and we are about the same age. So if you want to visit beautiful Colorado, let me know!
You are right, it is “green” to keep an old car humming along. I only use 8-10 gallons of gas per month because I live in a small town and 1 1/2 miles from work. I rent a car when I travel, which is more economical than buying another car (even a used one) and safer because the rentals have air bags and other safety features that my old Honda lacks. Which is being frugal and practical, not cheap!
By the way, I have some things in common with Tom and Ray too.
CookinColorado
Maybe it’s just me, but I think a good strategy would be to take the money saved on car payments and detailing and invest it in some reservations-for-two at fine dining establishments.