A Mercedes is the car I covet.
This is the issue, the problem, the mania. I'm old and I've never had a luxury car. But now I can never again afford a new car. So, I've been researching used for a week. I've got gearslutmania. Just like with all the canoes, the paddles, the knives, the axe. But now it's big retirement bucks that can't be replenished.
But I'm old, and I'd like my last vehicle to be one that I can luxuriate in while I drive hundreds or thousands of miles
to and from the put-in. I don't care if you guys and gals think I look like a douche
at the put-in. I'm a douche for many other reasons, anyway.
TALK ME OUT OF IT.
(no)
TALK ME INTO IT.
(???????)
Yes, you can put racks on a MB E-class. Cripes, you can fly it to Jupiter. See the little rectangle on the the side of the glass roof. There are four of them. They are little spring flaps that cover screw holes for custom racks. The racks are made by Thule but are much less expensive under the MB label.
If you want longer bars, you have to spring for bigger bucks from Thule or Rhino.
My 1997 Dodge van, the Magic Bus, isn't going anywhere. I can continue to look non-douchie in it.
Nor is my 1995 Mustang convertible, useless for canoeing, going anywhere.
But both of these vehicle cost $500 a month. There are 500 things in each of those vehicles that cost $500 to fix, and they seem to be breaking once a month. And you have to be a weight lifter to push in the Mustang's clutch. I need something more comfortable and reliable to drive around town.
My last new car, a Honda CRV, which used to be my canoe vehicle, was bought in 1999, has 350,000 miles on it, and is now driven by my son. No pictures.
Never again can I afford a new car. Well, maybe a Kia. But Mercedes' depreciate so rapidly that very attractive ones can be had used for 1/3 the original price, about the same as a Kia.
No new boats if I go ahead with this insanity.
Cripes, I only drive about 3,000 miles a year aside from canoe trips. The Mustang and van are good enough for that.
No, I'm sick of them, and I want a Mercedes.
No, I don't; it's a ridiculous waste of meager retirement income.
YES. NO.
No one said life, or canoeing, was a piece of cake.