Even though you may drive a 10 plus year old car in good mechanical condition…do you think a newer car gives you more personal energy…to want to
get up an go…more zest for life…want to get out and do more things, take more trips? From your experience do you think…True or pure malarky?
malarky
How is this different from the short-lived rush that any shopaholic experiences?
Doubtful, had a blood test a couple of weeks ago, very low vitamin d3, on 50,000 whatever a week, what a difference! New car for wifey a year ago no big deal, but suppose that would not count,
Even though you may drive a 10 plus year old car in good mechanical condition....do you think a newer car gives you more personal energy...to want to get up an go...more zest for life...want to get out and do more things, take more trips?
Only for the real immature.
Only until the first payment.
Ed B.
Probably make you EXERT more energy, as in, you’d feel compelled to wash, wax, & vacuum it more often, and worry about all kinds of things like shopping carts hitting it in parking lots, stuff you don’t have to bother with so much with an older car.
HowEVER, once you pass 20 years and the car really starts falling apart. . . well, it would be nice to take a roadtrip on a whim and not have to wonder if I’m going to be riding home shotgun in a towtruck 
I appear to be in the minority here, but I’ll say yes. I enjoy driving in general, but doing it in my current car, which is one year old this month, is especially fun. If I’m doing something a few times a day that I really enjoy, that puts me in a better mood overall, which probably does give me more energy to do other things. If nothing else, that means that I jump on a chance to run some errands instead of putting them off and getting behind.
As for the “more trips” question, I wouldn’t exactly say that, but I will point out that I do start adjusting my travel planning a bit once my cars reach their later years, when I know a breakdown is more likely. For instance, in winter, I might wait until Saturday morning to make the five-hour drive to my dad’s house instead of setting out Friday night after work and arriving very late. With a new car, it’s nice to have the freedom to drive anywhere anytime.
What does you car have to do with your zest for life? Who comes up with this crap?
‘‘recreational’’ or ‘‘therapy’’ shopping can manifest itself is many ways.
For some …it’s a new car.
others ; shoes, clothes, fancy restarausts, etc.
The personal energy part has everything to do with your newly enegized frame of mind and nothing more.
Just like the supposedly UN-healthy foods I indulge in on occasion.
’’ un healthy for whom?. It’s graciously heathy for my mental state…and that’s a good thing.’’
Maybe people that have “zest for life” are more likely to buy a new car?
I think there are a lot of areas where we get cause and effect backwards. “cum hoc ergo propter hoc”
I got a prescription from my doctor and be wrote on the form “For my mental health I should have a Mazda Miata”. Unfortunately, he checked the box that indicated that the prescription could be filled generically, so Mrs. Triedaq filled it with a,minivan. Therefore, I have to keep taking Geritol® to keep Geezeritis in check. One symptom of Geezeritis is that the person so afflicted, upon getting something new, likes the old one better.
I haven’t always had good luck with new purchases. We bought a new Toyofa, Runner in 2003. After 4 trips back to the dealer, I told them they had one more chance to make it right or they would be buying it back under the lemon law. They finally got it right and we still have it, but it took the thrill out of owning a new car. On the other hand I bought a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander that was a,program vehicle with 15,000 miles and it was great from the start. Twenty years ago, I bought a newFrench horn and had to send it back to be rebuilt. It was acceptable when I got it back, but always has had a couple of funky notes that I get around with alternative fingering. Right now, I am in the process of buying a horn from a friend who has quit playing. This horn is 35 years old. I have played it in a couple performances and it plays beautifully. When you are a geezer maybe older is better.
A new car might require a great deal more energy to be applied toward work in order to make the payments.
I’m going to say a mild cautious yes. Not that you have more energy but its more fun to drive a new car and you aren’t worried about taking trips with it. When I was driving my work car with 500K on it, it really was in the back of my mind constantly that at any point it could stall. When its 10 below out, that takes something out of you. When I got a new car for work, it was a lot more fun and didn’t worry about a thing. Plus all the buttons worked-it was amazing. Now when we get to the point where we have 50K or so on a car, I like to trade.
As long as we’re entertaining concepts as nebulous as “personal energy,” I’d posit that and older car is more dear to me because of the energyI’ve invested INTO it. A brand new car–I’ve git no “skin in the game”; a car I’ve owned for a decade–I can remember replacing the clutch, all the positive experiences I had in trips in it, ETC.
A house ain’t a home until you’ve spent some time there; for me, same goes for a car.
PvtPublic said, “What does you car have to do with your zest for life? Who comes up with this crap?”
The car manufacturers, or more specifically, the advertising / marketing firms they hire to advertise cars & trucks. They try to get everyone to believe they need to buy* a new car every 2 or 3 years. If everybody bought a new car and kept it for 15 years, most of them would be out of business.
*Correction: These days they don’t even want you to buy a car at all, they want to let you “drive” one for “only” $$$/month, and after so many months you have to give it back and sign up to “drive” another one. . . that way they stay in your pockets forever, I guess that’s what “customer for life” means, sounds like a prison sentence to me. . .
It’s possible…but the feeling will diminish just like everything else in life.
So what about a new pair of pants, or better yet, running shoes. Running will give you more energy and probably healthier for you and your pocket.
If you have “new car itch”, just rent one for a weekend, much cheaper-they get old pretty fast.
PvtPublic: My Austin Healey MK 1, MGAs, MGB, RX7s Miata, Mitsubishi Eclipse current Kia Forte SX and USA muscle cars that were driven for transportation/pleasure definitely enhanced my life. The Miata, Eclipse, and Forte were the only new ones but were frequently driven for pleasure (life enhancement) only.
I like galant’s comment…good idea! I’ll try it.