The Core Dump

The Core Dump is the personal blog of Nic Lindh, a Swedish-American pixel-pusher living in Phoenix, Arizona.

By Nic Lindh on Wednesday, 04 June 2008

Conspicuous consumption

Nic and his wife buy a brand-new Acura TL. It’s a beautiful machine.

Our conspicuous consumption, let me show you it:

Acura TL 2008

Acura TL 2008
Click for larger version.

The wife’s 1997 Honda Civic with 146,000 miles needed $2,500 worth of repairs to stay road worthy, so we decided it was time to bid it adieu and move on into a vehicle from this century.

And boy howdy is it ever. From this century, I mean. This is one tight driving machine.

You might be wondering why we would go overboard with a luxury car instead of sticking with a Civic or the like, and the simple answer is that we plan to keep the thing for a minimum of ten years, and for that kind of time frame, why not get something really nice?

The same reasoning applies to why we didn’t avoid the depreciation tax by buying one coming off a lease—we plan to drive it till the wheels come off, so it makes sense to have a vehicle we know has been properly taken care of and gently driven.

Meanwhile, my 1997 Accord with 126,000 miles on it is still trucking along…

What’s blowing my mind is that if everything goes to plan, the vehicle in the picture is the one Andrea will use to learn to drive in ten year’s time.

You have thoughts? Comments? Salutations? Send me an email!

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