The Deed is Done

Well, after what seemed like forever of obsessing and thereby pissing off the wife and the good folks in site chat, I finally made it happen and am the proud owner of a new car. Yup, new, not used. All my other cars have been used to keep away from that 25+% depreciation the second you drive off the lot, but in the reality of today, the end price isn't that too far removed. Between the cash incentives, the 'job loss' protection plan (Ford will pay up to a year of my payments if I go out of work), and the tax incentive as part of the stimulus bill (I'll get a rebate for the entire sales tax on the car), it was worth going new. I ran the values over at kbb.com, and I actually got it under invoice! And well, the idea of knowing nobody else has owned it is really nice. So what did I get?

2009 Ford Mustang 2-door Premium Coupe with a whoppin' 42 miles on it. Black with a glass roof, dark leather interior, 5-speed manual 4.0L V6. 500W sound system. Etc. Etc.
 

That's not the car itself, but add in the glass roof and it might as well be. I'm not picking the car up until Friday. There wasn't enough time between our kids engagements on Saturday to do all the paperwork, and my wife wants to be on the title. That, and having the weekend to remember how to drive a manual - last time was 20+ years ago. But even with the test drive, it was starting to come back, albeit slowly. Needless to say I'm excited and anxious at the same time, but a good type of anxiety is tolerable, especially given the shit that's been going down in my life as of late.

Was this a mid-life crisis? I don't think so, but who knows. I'm not really old enough for that. What I do think it was more than anything was wanting to have something a little more than bare minimum. My past two cars have been pretty much that - used 4-door sedans that, while certainly not shitboxes, weren't anything to get excited over. And, well given that the price was less than - for instance - a new Camry...I can't complain.