Amazing. I went to the GMAC website two weeks ago and set up automatic payments for the new Vibe from our savings account, and today was the day for the first withdrawal. What do you know, it worked. Now we only have 59 more payments to go!

It always surprises me when these things actually function the way they’re supposed to. These automatic electronic withdrawals have always scared me, but I realized that this is the easiest way for me to handle the payments. That’s a good thing for a lazy guy, as it reduces the chance of screwing up: all I have to do is make sure that particular account stays above a certain level, and we’re covered. For someone like me (the Mother of All Procrastinating Fools), this is just fabulous. I can even transfer money into the account online. I have to have some, obviously, but all this voodoo happens with the MacBook I’m using now. Fun with computers, not “paying bills.” Not bad at all.

The entire car buying experience has been rather like floating down a wide, languid river. First we drove off in our new car without writing a check, thanks to zero percent financing and no money down — that was surreal enough — and we’ve been enjoying it for six weeks without having to make a payment of any kind. Oh, and guess what? The damn thing is getting almost 35 mpg in town.

Now we’ve paid the first installment, but I didn’t have to do anything: General Motors just stepped inside our savings account and took it. You’d think I would absolutely hate that, but I don’t. I’ll never have to write a check and fill in all those numbers, which is actually rather kind on GMAC’s part. No painful emotion involved, as in “My God, are we paying THAT MUCH for this heap!?” That’s because the transaction remains abstract, so long as I toss a couple of checks into the relevant account every month.

This probably relates to why everything is to be going to hell in the world at large. I suppose I should get out more, but having only recently partaken of the Great American [fake] Free Lunch, I’m still grinning like a happy idiot. (The characterization may be apt, since we’ll soon be upside-down on the auto loan for the duration.)

The car, by the way, is a total delight. I never knew it would be such fun to drive.

Okay, the title’s not so original, but it’s accurate! If you want to take these in order — FotoFeed having been updated from last Thursday — start here. The reason I sometimes post images in a series is to make it easier for viewers to know if they’ve missed a few days — so that one can always go back to the beginning of a series, in other words. FotoFeed is a labor of love. See if you can feel it.

Look, we can park in the driveway again!

That’s another sign of spring, the fact that the mud has dried enough to get the car down to the house. We still don’t leave it there most nights, however. There’s a nicer place to park up at the top of the hill. I’m still trying my damnedest to baby the new (2007 model) Vibe, considering the chassis-twisting rutted road between us and Vista del Valle, a dirt road that’s actually been graded, que milagro. I just hate to see it age at all, and of course there are already a few chips and scratches.

But boy do we like this car. Given our lifestyle and where we live, we’ve hardly had the thing in 5th gear at all. Even so, the last fill-up yielded 34.5 mpg, and that was all in-town driving. I can hardly wait to take a real road trip, like up to Iowa and back. I’ll bet we crack 40 mpg, easy.

Re the Pontiac Vibe, total miles now just over a thousand. Second fill-up, all-city driving: 30 mpg. Third fill-up (today), mostly highway driving: 37 mpg.

I am not unhappy.

I really like the way this Pontiac Vibe drives. [No, not the cow!]

Thank Zoroaster, because as you remember, we took our first and only test drive just before my honey signed the papers. Too bad the road is so awful again that we’re not getting out as much as we’d like.

This is a left-over 2007 model, brand new. The 2008s are essentially the same, but the 2009 models are substantially revised. I’d seen pictures of the new models and didn’t like the styling changes — they even messed with the dashboard, one of my favorite features — never mind the mechanical improvements. And as for those, they “improved” a lower gas mileage rating out of it, which ticked me off, so I had our salesman hunt for a 2007 model with the power package, alloy wheels, monochrome paint, and a five-speed transmission. He found three within 650 miles, and we ended up getting the white one. We could have had silver and the high-zoot sound system for less than a grand more, but it had the lighter of the two gray interiors. I thought about it for the longest time and eventually accepted that the best looking combination was the white car with the charcoal interior, the same version my wife had picked as her first choice days before. As it turns out, I’m madly in love with the white color we got.

Where a garage is just a dream

Did you know that before I ordered the only other new car we’ve had in our lives, our ‘84 Jetta GLI, I used to haunt the dealership so I could sit in all the cars? I was hung up on color combinations then, too. Can you believe that? I can’t. Hot Rod Johnny with a naugahyde freak-out? But there I was: “Get out the keys, here comes the guy who sits in the cars!”

It’s true. That’s what the sales guys yelled to each other whenever I drove up. I even became mildly famous.

Meanwhile back in Ranchos, I filled up with gas today, $3.29/gallon. Worked out exactly to 30 mpg for 240 miles of mostly city driving, and the car has less than a thousand miles on it. I still haven’t opened the hood or checked the tire pressure, very unusual for me. On the other hand, it’s new, dammit, so I don’t have to. Besides, I’m rebelling against squatting in the slop. It really is fun to tool around in this thing, too. BIG belated cover-my-ass there, gang. The seat grabs my butt, the steering is quick, the suspension well-damped. There’s only 126 horsepower to pull 2,700 pounds, but the engine makes a satisfying little snarl as the revs climb, and it’s very smooth. I’m still babying it, but man, that 5-speed is nice.

(Come spring, we might even get to take it out on the highway.)

For the vast multitudes following our new car purchase — for which we have yet to pay a single cent, very weird — I’d like to comment on and correct something I said earlier about the steering: no, it isn’t “twitchy.” There may still be an alignment adjustment in the future, but I’ve calmed down about it. As one of my commenters speculated, I think I was just used to sloppy steering! The Vibe’s rack & pinion steering gear has zero play, so what’s needed is a lighter touch. I’m getting used to it just fine.

Getting better all the time

I have a pernicious habit of examining new purchases microscopically and then laying awake at night cursing the flaws, but there are always flaws in anything built or cared for by humans, like the all but unnoticeable two or three marks on the windshield, and the less than elegant spot weld on the bottom corner of the passenger side front door. So far, however, I’m 99.8 percent pleased. Actually, the worst things are a scratch I accidentally made on the front fender that my wife doesn’t know about and the holes made in the “bumper” by the installation of the front license plate bracket, which I plan to remove. (We don’t use front plates in New Mexico.) I found a state-of-the-art hot rod builder and body shop facility where I’ll be able to have the scratch and the bracket holes repaired, so the Vibe has a clean, smooth nose. My nose will be clean then, too!

The DRIVING is excellent, I’m happy to report. I could hardly be more content on that score, unless the thing had double the horsepower. The 5-speed manual transmission is an absolute joy to play with, and my wife loves it. With the stick shift, you can keep the engine RPMs up high enough to have plenty of oomph in most driving situations. The seats are comfortable and slightly elevated over sedan-height cars, and the vehicle is fun to drive.

What constitutes “fun to drive,” though? In this case, it’s the light touch on the delightfully ergonomic controls, good brakes, secure stance on the road, visibility, and the unquantifiable pleasure of the sound of the engine working through the gears. I even like the red dash lights and the chrome rings on the dash!

You have no idea. I could talk about nothing but cars for days at a time.

Today we took the Vibe on a spontaneous jaunt. At first we were just going to drive up to the top of U.S. Hill, but my wife asked, “Will it be sunny?” and I had to admit that up there on the switchbacks in the folds of the mountain, it probably wouldn’t be. We certainly didn’t want to go into town or anywhere that would take us through it, which only left the road to Santa Fe. Normally that wouldn’t get me all excited, even though it’s a fairly spectacular ride down to the Rio Grande. But we were stressed and tired of gray skies. It had actually been overcast all morning with a damp, sharp wind. “Eastern Shore weather,” she remarked, and she was right.

“SOUTH!” I shouted. “Let’s go south!” At that time of day (mid-afternoon) I knew there would be sunlight in the canyon. Besides, south is where you go for sun. South is where it’s warmer.

We’d hardly had the car out on the highway at all. It did just fine, though. I thought things were a trifle twitchy in the steering department (too eager to go right or left), but that sounds like it needs an alignment adjustment, which wouldn’t surprise me a bit. The steering is quick, if not overtly crisp. Choice of tires on a front wheel drive car is critical for tailoring the kind of steering response you want, and I’ll bet something other than the Goodyear Eagle all-season variety it comes with would put a doorstop on the outer range of motion.

The ride is very comfortable, better than I expected: nicely damped, but with a decent amout of travel in the suspension. The car loves curves and holds its own on the straights. I expect more improvement once we have the alignment tweaked, too. The big treat of the afternoon, however, was discovering how much usable horsepower there was on tap with the manual transmission. Climbing long grades wasn’t embarrassing at all, and I had great fun downshifting to make it work.

In the end, we went to Dixon and then all the way back to Taos on Rt. 518 (the High Road). We ended up on U.S. Hill after all, then, and true enough, it wasn’t sunny. There was also deep snow at the top of the pass, and the woods were embedded in winter.

I think the car is rather unusual somehow. Maybe it’s the horsepower-to-weight ratio and the gearing that give it such a different feel,or maybe that’s just because I’m used to driving an ‘89 Dodge, for heaven’s sake. One disgruntled reviewer whose impressions I read this evening called the Vibe a “buzzbox,” which has a certain validity to it, but it’s certainly a playful machine that seems to want more thrashing. While being easy to maneuver, the whole package feels solid and sturdy. And the view from inside this thing is nothing less than panoramic.

Well, we shall see. Interesting car, and interesting times.

Drove to the grocery store today like a normal person. I swear I’d forgotten how that feels. Thank you Baby Jesus and all the little angels in heaven for getting us wheels that don’t suck.

You gotta have a horse

Ladies and gentlemen, that is one very decent little car (our new 2007 Pontiac Vibe). I’ve now driven it all of 20 miles and I’m settling in. Good thing my wife likes it too, since it’s hers.

Most of the gripes I read about in owner reviews are jokes, by the way.

For example, what about the alleged engine noise? Bah! It sounds fine. There’s a modest induction roar that lets me know the thing is working and sounds good enough to make me want to wind it out. ENGINE NOISE? Thank you, Jesus, yes, amen. One reviewer complained about the awkward position of the gearshift lever. Come again? Seems like it’s right where it ought to be, and the gears go snick-snick-snick like a good Japanese gearbox should. The knob is perfect for resting my hand on while we’re oozing through traffic in second, and the clutch is light and smooth. I can’t believe anyone would ever get this car with an automatic transmission. I know, some of you have perfectly valid reasons for preferring an automatic — creeping through the middle of Taos at 10 mph is one of them, too, but let’s not go there!

The point is, there’s so much more you can do with a manual transmission. Matching the gear ratios and resultant rpms to the torque and power I need at any moment is a visceral thrill for me. Yes, even with a “little” engine. I love this stuff. For example, a few months from now I’ll have all the nearby mountain passes mapped out in my head for how high I can climb in third and where I need to go to second. I’ll know how to pass semis in the canyon when my honey isn’t looking. (Some people just drive, I have car sex, what can I say.) All this direct involvement in the dynamics of motion and inertia is important, and it fleshes out the whole experience.The engineers had to have put some thought into the gear ratios, what with 2700 pounds and only 126 horsepower, and so far I think the engine and the 5-speed make a pretty good match, considering.

And one more thing: the visibility out the front and to the sides is fabulous! Not toward the rear, forget that. But moving forward, the view is outstanding. From the driver’s seat — I’m about six feet tall, or was once — I can’t see any part of the short, sloping hood, just the road and scenery ahead. What a kick not having to look at dusty bird poop while flying along. And that reminds me: we absolutely cannot park this thing under the elm tree when the magpies are bingeing on juniper berries.

So far, so good then, as we discover the 21st century. Tomorrow, I tackle the radio!

Well, we did it. Sitting in the semi-frozen mud at the top of the driveway is a new 2007 Pontiac Vibe, actually a Toyota Matrix with different packaging. The dealer let us drive it away without paying a cent, and the first payment isn’t due until April.

One very nice little machine

I have to say, this is the way to buy a car, even if we are still in shock. We could have taken the substantial $1,750 rebate instead of the zero percent financing with no money down, but I worked out what the finance charges would be on the best auto loan I could get elsewhere, and there was no contest: even with the rebate deducted, the interest would still have been substantially more than the rebate. Zero percent is zero percent, and who has a down payment, anyway?

If anyone from Taos is reading this, Leo Wilson at Friday Motors is a good guy to work with and couldn’t have been more helpful. (He even lives just down the road.) We wanted to buy from a local dealer because back in Maryland, taking our old VW Jetta in for service meant an 80-mile round trip. Bah! Been there, done that. I wanted my wife to be able to pop right in and get advice or repairs if she needs something done on the car, and this place is just 10 minutes from where we live. Life on the frontier is hard enough, and we deserve a few breaks after all this time. It just killed my wife to have to drive the new car home on our awful road, but the mud won’t be there forever. I hope.

As for the car itself, I’ll have to report more on that later, but first impressions are pretty good: the steering is quick, the 5-speed stick is nice and slick with short throws, and visibility out the front is great. The car feels solidly planted on the road with its wide low-profile tires, and I actually had fun driving it. Acceleration is leisurely but encouraging. When it’s broken in, I’ll bet it does better at higher rpm. The engine also makes a pleasant rorty sound. Many of the owner reviews I read mentioned “loud motor” as a drawback, but I like to hear the engine. Anyway, this one is lots quieter than the agricultural four-banger in the old ‘89 Dodge, which used to sound like it was 30 seconds away from turning into a collection of spare parts. And thank God we didn’t get an automatic after all.

The base radio is decent, too. Imagine that. There’s a CD player as well.

But you know what I really like? The dashboard! It’s sort of like the one in a ‘57 Chevy, if that means anything to you: a cluster of chrome-rimmed cylinders with the gauges inside. An AMERICAN-looking dash, if ever there was one — you may hear me diss the government and decry our fates, but some things this culture has produced are just fine and dandy, like V-8s and dual glasspacks. Too bad the Vibe doesn’t have those, I know. The last time I rode in a car like that, gasoline was something like 25 or 30 cents a gallon. (Man, I have got to get out more.)

Okay, that’s it for this post. It ain’t literature, but sometimes real life just has to do.

Well, we all hope this isn’t part of something very ugly about to happen. But I don’t like the sound of it:

A third undersea Internet cable has been damaged in the Middle East [my emphasis], adding to the disruption in online services after two other lines were cut earlier this week, the cable operating firm said. The Falcon cable was cut 56 kilometres (35 miles) from Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates, according to its owner, FLAG Telecom, which is part of India’s Reliance Communications.

This is supposedly due to large ships dragging their anchors in a storm. Certainly possible.