Should I buy a new car?

After writing those recent posts about driving -- here and here -- and getting some email from other road trip fans, I find myself thinking a lot about getting a new car. I've been driving a Cosmic Green New Beetle since July 1999. I've been admiring the Audi TT Coupe for a while. Most cars are too boring to me to even make me think of spending the money and going to all the trouble to buy a new car. The brochure for Corvette that came in the mail the other day made a big impact on me and got me thinking again about how fun it would be to drive out over the American western landscape again. So help me decide by answering this poll. And don't forget that I live in Madison, Wisconsin. Also, I live in an old house in an old neighborhood, where I park the car in my driveway. [ADDED NOTE: The Corvette I'd buy is also a coupe -- no convertible is wanted.]







UPDATE: Prof. Bainbridge weighs in. Interesting, at first the proportions stayed the same even as many new votes came in, but now I'm seeing an upstart trend in the Bainbridgean direction.



ANOTHER UPDATE: Wow! The Bainbridge endorsement is powerful! Remember I need a car I can drive in the winter. He's writing from Los Angeles.



YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Several people have emailed to suggest this. Are you kidding me? Not only is it horribly ugly in the completely objective sense, but subjectively, a person who likes the looks of an Audi TT Coupe and a Corvette cannot possibly be thought to find this attractive.



AND YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Now Glenn Reynolds has sent the Instalanchers over, and the Corvette is tearing out ahead of the poor Audi TT. Do you folks know what driving in the snow and ice is like? I've gotten a lot of email like this:

There simply isn't a car made that is worse [than a Corvette] in the snow. Unless you have no interest in driving it in the winter .... Rear wheel drive, very wide tires and a front to rear weight ratio heavily tilted to the front, all have the makings of disastrous snow driving. Fun is nice, but so is staying alive. On the other hand, the TT is available in all wheel drive, has narrower tires (a plus in the snow, large tires tend to act like a sled) and a better weight distribution. Between those two, and living in Madison ... the TT is the better choice.

Before the Bainbridge (and Reynolds) link, the poll maintained a very stable 40% for the Audi, 30% for the Corvette, and 30% for the Beetle. But now ...



Anyway, there is the official Instapundit car, here -- which emailers have been recommending too. Maybe that should be the official car of the blogosphere. Glenn also links to this L.A. Times article about a study of German men who, it turns out, would rather spend a weekend with a Lamborghini than with Britney Spears. I mention this to Chris, and he says:

"Well, if you spend the weekend with Britney Spears, you don't know if you'll be able to have sex with her, but if you spend a weekend with a car, you know you'll be able to drive it."

So, you see, there is one sense in which a Lamborghini is cheap.