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Malvina ForesterMarch 24, 2010 Return, if you will, to my blog entry of March 7, "Travvy Got His RN!" Or let me refresh your memory. En route to our Rally Novice title, I ran Uhura Mazda over a rock. A fairly substantial rock, at least a foot tall at its highest point. This is not the sort of thing I generally do. It was so very not the sort of thing I generally do that now I suspect the Fates and Muses played a role, the way they did when my sourdough starter died. Driving home from dog class that night, Uhura Mazda's steering was seriously funky. The next morning, in broad daylight, I couldn't help noticing that the left front wheel was out of true. No way was Uhura going off-island to the Rally trial. I made other arrangements, Travvy finished his title, and first thing Monday I took Uhura down to Courtesy Motors. At first Larry and crew couldn't pinpoint the cause of the problem. They were focused on the left front wheel. Then they noticed the significant dent in the front axle. I saw it too. That's how I know that I ran over the rock, not just the stone-edged curb. It takes a head-on impact to make that kind of a kind in a solid steel axle, especially when you're going less than 10 mph. How did Uhura get over the rock? WTF was I doing that far to the left? Sure it was dark, but I've been in and out of that parking lot a couple dozen times at least and my headlights were most certainly on. Larry called the next day with not good news: That particular axle was used only on 1996 and 1997 Rangers and Mazda pickups. It wasn't being made any more. He said he'd put out the call to the salvage yards on- and off-island. I said go ahead. But even if an axle was found, we didn't know how much damage had been done to the wheel or the brake. Uhura just hit 99K miles. The upholstery Travvy ravaged a year ago was still a mess, and the passenger-side seatbelt was hanging by a few threads in several places -- and we had to get inspected by the end of the month. More, I've known for several years that I didn't need a pickup, even though they come in handy for hauling hay, shavings, and other stuff. Once Travvy and I started going to dog trials, the pickup's limitations became more obvious. At the March 7 trial, Trav was happy in his crate (with a couple of peanut-butter-slathered bones) in the back of Katy's Subaru Outback. I got to watch more of the trial than I had last September. You can't leave a crated dog in the bed of a pickup unless the pickup has a cap on it. In my datebook, at the top of the page for March 8–14, I wrote, Think cars. I started researching small wagons: I read various online reports and started haunting the virtual used-car lots of Cape Cod dealers. Sticker shock was immediate. Almost exactly seven years ago, in March 2003, I bought a 1997 Mazda B2300 pickup with less than 49K miles for $7,200. Allowing for the passage of time, I figured, Hey, I should be able to get something with less than 50K miles for $10K or so, right? No way, José. If I wanted relatively low mileage, i.e., under 50K, I was looking at $15K minimum, and probably a bit more. I resigned myself to car payments, which I haven't had for nearly 20 years. Once I accepted that, my budget slithered upward. Uh-oh . . . Within a few days my rational self had narrowed the search to Subaru Foresters and Outbacks and Toyota Rav4s. Once rational self had collected the information, gut and intuition could take over -- I don't generally make decisions: the decisions make themselves and I have to figure out what they are. The basic ingredients: I don't especially like the look of the newer Rav4s, the Falmouth Toyota website wasn't all that easy to navigate (I could chat with an online salesperson if I wanted to, but I didn't want to yet), the Atlantic Subaru website was well organized, and several friends and acquaintances raved about their experiences with Atlantic Subaru -- like if your car needs servicing, you can put it on the boat, they'll drive it off in Woods Hole and return it thither when the work is done, and you can drive it off in Vineyard Haven. Plus they have a salesman who lives in Edgartown and gets the hassle factor of living on Martha's Vineyard. Tuesday I called Atlantic Subaru and asked for Tim, the guy who lives in Edgartown. Tim was on vacation; I was talking to Mike. I told Mike what I was looking for, what had caught my eye on the website, and what I wanted (hah!) to spend. He asked if I was willing to consider a standard. Willing to consider a standard? Be still, my beating heart! I'd almost resigned myself to an automatic, but maybe there was hope? He called my attention to a white 2008 Forester with 24K miles and a five-speed transmission. It was also almost $20K, and that was far enough over the top to make me say no. He pointed out a couple of other cars, including a 2005 Outback with 61K miles for $15,900. I said I'd think about it and call him back the next day. I thought about cars. I thought about money. When I was supposed to be working, I kept going back to the Atlantic Subaru website -- cars can exert a pornographic pull; don't let anyone tell you different. I spotted another 2008 Forester very like the white one. It was gold, it had 31,500 miles and a standard transmission, and it was more than $1,500 less. Wednesday I called Mike and asked about the gold Forester. Indeed, he said, it was very like the white one, only the white one had fewer miles and leather upholstery. Leather upholstery? With a molting Malamute in residence, I should be interested in leather? I'd like to come have a look, said I. How about tomorrow? Thursday was Mike's day off. I went over on Friday. The gold Forester and I were on the 2:30 boat coming home -- I'd stopped at the Burger King in Falmouth for a celebratory bacon double cheeseburger, of course. Sunday morning I loaded Travvy's crate and gear into the back, Travvy into the passenger's seat (swathed in a blue and white throw that's been stowed in my cedar chest waiting for a purpose in life), and headed off to Franklin for the Rally trial. We had a ball and got a 94 for a run that wasn't quite as good as our March 7 one but did make us fourth in the Novice A class. I played a Malvina Reynolds CD all the way up and back, and by the time we got back to the island the gold Subaru was Malvina Forester. I still haven't figured out how everything works, but I'm getting the hang of the power windows and I figured out how to turn off the seat warmers when my butt got too warm. I'm thrilled. Uhura Mazda was a marriage of convenience; I never had the same feeling for her that I did for her predecessor, Tesah Toyota. Uhura handled more like station wagon than a pickup, she was ungainly in an unattractive way, and the lack of 4WD has been a real pain the last two winters. Malvina is sleek, solid, and fun to drive. She's also flexible in ways that a pickup isn't. Some doors are closing, but new possibilities are opening up.
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