Start Your Engines

One of the other developers at the Fredericton office recently left for a new job, and it appears to have put the company into a bit of a panic.  (Given that the number of developers in Fredericton could be counted on one hand, and that's before he left.)  What's the point of mentioning this?  Well, today was my annual performance review, and I was offered what, considered percentage-wise, amounted to a significant raise — far more than I was expecting, and I was expecting a fair amount.

Unfortunately, the developer who left was also my car pool.  This means that I'm stuck taking the bus to get to and from work, something that Fredericton's bus routes & schedules leave as a less than pleasurable experience.  So, I've started thinking about cars, and what I'd like to get sometime as the year gets closer to summer.  I could buy something used (and undoubtedly will), but where's the fun in that?  Instead, I've been looking at new cars.

But not just any new cars.  I've been looking at the ones on Transport Canada's ecoAuto list of eligible 2008 models.  From there I've been narrowing it down.  Basically, I want a car to commute to work (10-15 minute drive), and to run occasional errands in; the grocery store is close enough that, on days when the weather isn't nasty, it's not worth it to drive most of the time.  As such, I don't want something expensive.  I've set under $20,000 before taxes but after various dealer fees as my goal, which narrows the list down to three options:

• Smart ForTwo Coupe
• Toyota Yaris (both the sedan and hatchback)
• Honda Fit

Each has something to recommend it: the Yaris is the cheapest of all the models, the Fit is four-door and comes with a good variety of options, and the ForTwo comes with the largest ecoAuto rebate and a smug sense of self-satisfaction that can otherwise only be found via a "Sorry about your small penis." bumper sticker.

Likewise, they each have something going against them: the Yaris may be cheap at its most basic model but comes with none of the options standard on other models (ABS, anyone?), the Fit is the most expensive of the models, and the ForTwo lacks cargo space (not a huge deal, mind you).

Granted, these are all just theoretical options at this point.  There's only one thing that's a given: due to a variety of reasons, Becca can't drive, so I can be free to look at manual transmissions.