My old car Rudat has, alas, gone to that great junkheap in the sky. My folks chose to scrap him rather than put the repairs in place so that it would pass safety standards. The car drove fine, for the most part, except when it would inexplicably stop. It made it 11 years and 210,000 miles, so no complaints.

When we go back to Colosse, we typically do not rent a car. This was particularly true when there were three cars hanging around. Still true with the two remaining, a Ford Mustang convertible and the Ford van.

Mom and Dad left for a cruise the day after Thanksgiving, so we had our choice of cars to take to visit her family in Beyreuth. The van has seen better days. It’s poor reliability, tape player instead of CD player, and the lack of a power plug made us decide to take the Mustang.

I had driving the Mustang around the Mayne area (the part of Colosse where I grew up) and had some real fun driving it with the top down. It was a great reminder of the fun I used to have with the old convertible when I was 17. It also made looking around easier because I had so much vision.

Without the top down, though, I can’t say that I’m a big fan of the Mustang. Most notably, convertibles have poor 360 when their tops are up. It’s also a particularly short car, though I don’t know how much of that is “Mustang” and how much “convertible”. The handling was nice in the overall.

However, what I found frustrating about the car is that it had the worst size vs interior space ratio of any car I have ever driven. There is not enough space for our suitcases in the back, the rear legroom is virtually nil. Overall, it seems less spacy than the Escorts I’m used to driving. Despite all of this, though, doesn’t have the small-car maneuverability that the Escort does. The handling was nice overall, but it was nice for a car of its size. It’s wider longer than the Escort and yet feel more cramped in every direction except width.

Maybe I need to go through a midlife crisis to appreciate sporty cars. Some day it would be cool to own a turbo engine vehicle of some sort, but if I do, I doubt I could ever get that far away from practicality. The mileage on a Mustang may be better, but I can’t imagine driving it enough for that to make a huge difference. It’s not exactly a long distance car.

I think I’m just unhip to the very fiber of my being.