I’ve almost always had manual trans hatchbacks, and when one of my childhood friends saw my 6-speed Mini Cooper S in British Racing Green with black bonnet stripes, she said, “That car is soooo you!” But alas, an F150 didn’t realize that he couldn’t stop as quickly as I could, and hit my corner when traffic was coming to a stop in front of us, sending us into a spin, and then a roll when We hit the muddy median. sigh… I miss that car; she died saving my life.
Her replacement is a VW Passat – my first sedan and my first used car. I wanted to get out of the payments I had with the Mini, so I bought what I could get with the check from the insurance company. She had 40k when I got her in April ‘10 and is about to turn 100k. She’s been very reliable, and sometimes I think it’s nice not to stand-out on the highway the way the green mini did—it’s kinda nice blending in with all the other dark grey sedans as we zip past the trooper hiding in the bushes.