Taking one for the team

In times of global financial crunching, aka negative growth (why they can't say shrink is beyond me), it is up to those who are financially capable of doing so doing something for the economy at large.I've made much (well, some) of having a shitheap of a car. We've always had shitheaps. Well, that's not true. Some have been shitheaps. Others have been reasonable 2nd hand cars that lasted a while. In fact we had a delightful 2nd hand mazda that alas we wrote off when we rear ended an older car with a fuck off large towbar. Anyway, of late we've had a 20+ year old Mazda that was on its last legs - despite a replacement engine. Pipes need changing, the aircon fan rattles, the thermostat is unreliable and the car actually leaks during rain - with water dripping on the driver. We'd had enough. TheWife put on her calculating pants and did some investigating. It turned out having a leased new car was financially more sensible than the ad hoc repair of Mr Shitty. So ... area couple have a new car. The old one will be sold off (with issues made known) at a low, low price. I'm sure it will get bought since it has some rego on it. I think that's how it works at any rate.It's the first new big ticket item we've bought in a while. And I have to say ... it is awesome having a new car. It has mod cons in it like controls on the steering wheel for the stereo (instead of that blind man feeling the face of a new friend fumble at the controls method in the old effort), and cruise control that is simple and easy to use. It even has a doodad for the MP3 player to hook into the stereo. The glove box can hold more than just three maps, the manual and (presumably) gloves. The foot well for a short arse like me means I can stretch out. And we don't have to pray the car will make it up a hill without overheating like the last effort.In short ... awesome. Don't bother thanking me leading economists for taking one for the Australian economy. I'm just happy we were able to do our part in stimulating things by buying an imported car and ... oh ...Imported ... Nothing to see here, move along.On a side note we had the car less than a week when we backed it into a pole. Needless to say we were somewhat upset...