I woke up an hour earlier than my usual 9AM sleep fest. I had had a weird dream, the bulk of it was me trying to figure out a phone number I had been given, and around waking up I figured what that the phone number I was trying to get at was one I knew a long time ago, and which has since moved to a different area code.
Then I had a stimulating time in the shower working out the psychology, and shoring up some personal hypotheses, but I'm likely to forget them with time because I don't write the really personal stuff down anywhere. I guess there's some psychology to shower over in that.
And then I had a bowl of oatmeal. First time I've done that in California!
So, Honda Insight is hard to get a hold of. One dealer told me they get about one a month, and the other said they get two or three per month, and are charging more than two thousand over MSRP. I've read that some dealers auction their allotments to the highest bidder!
So I did more research. The government has a great web site about fuel economy and after some research I became interested in a Volkswagen Golf or Jetta with a TDI, or "turbo diesel" engine. Basically, it is a diesel engine with improved fuel injection. They run at a lower average RPM, so they have less pickup than other cars, and plenty of torque for highway driving over mountains and the like. They burn their fuel very clean, but due to impurities in our nation's diesel fuel, they put out more sulphur and slightly higher nitrous content. The nitrous content is still below even California emissions, though I've discovered that diesel engines are exempt from California Smog requirements. What attracts me is that they get about 45 MPG on the slightly cheaper diesel fuel. For someone whose main purpose in buying a car is for long-range cross-country driving, the diesel just seems sensible. That and if petroleum came to be in short supply, you can always refine diesel fuel from vegetable oil made from soy, maize, wheat, or the fat from a deep fryer. KFC is my Amoco!
But you know how the Insight is in short supply? Well, while California has no emissions requirements on personal diesel vehicles, they are trying to discourage sale of diesel "fleet" vehicles in favor of alternative energy fuels. You know, municipal busses burning propane or running on electricity. In order to keep their fleet average right, Volkswagen will not make TDI-powered cars available to people who intend to register them in California.
Interestingly enough, I can register to vote in California, but the proof-of-citizenship requirements are more stringent at the DMV, so I don't have a California driver's license either.
So, any time I'm told I can't do something, I want to do it all the more. A TDI fan I met on the Insight mailing list has given me the name of a good TDI dealer at the Autohaus back around Chicago. Dan suggested that I could take the train out to Chicago, for just over $200, and pick up my new car.
And it would be oh so tempting to get an Illinois registration, so that the cops don't feel as obligated to fine me for my Illinois license. "Just visiting from Chicago, officer!" I could get a Chicago sticker and everything, "Look! Would I pay $65 for a Chicago city sticker if I didn't have to?"
Insurance would give me away though. Doh!
But if I'm going to look for a TDI in Chicago, I can ask Carpoint about Honda dealers as well. The way I break it down, is that I can get a TDI with a sun roof and lots of options and 150% more passenger capacity than I would get at an Insight, for 50% more fuel consumption. I can also get a TDI, although Insights may be more available in Chicago. I hear they are more available out East. My suspicion is that Californians, especially geeks, are more enamored of buying slightly pricey newfangled eco-vehicles than Midwesterners. I searched many Chicago-area Volkswagen dealer inventories and found very very very few TDIs.
Some other concerns about the Insight have been fairly well addressed. I've read that tall people fit quite comfortably in the little two-seater, and while Honda say you shouldn't put more than three hundred and some pounds of passengers and cargo in the car, nobody has found it to be a practical limitation. I'm pushing 200 pounds these days and the rest of my family are not at all twig-like, so if I bought the car and was showing it off to the folks then the car would just have to take it.
Either way, I should probably purchase train or plane tickets really soon, in case I do drop the ball on this as yet unfunded car fantasy. Reviews are off until a pretty inconvenient time, though with good reason.
In other news, I've found that putting my Grateful Dead mp3s on repeat play is an effective way to keep me chilled at work.
5 July
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