It's the great pumpkin....

And just like the great pumpkin it's equally elusive.

you see - i have a problem.

I have a wrecked left knee. I also drive a 5 speed which means a clutch. This means that I can no longer drive my car safely. I might heal in a few more weeks and be able to drive, but I can't guarantee this is not going to happen again. So i'm looking for a new car.

The problem is that i'm REALLY upside down on my current car. Which sucks. it's only a year old, has less than 10K miles on it, and i'm taking a 10k hit on depreciation. I'm hoping it will be less when i sell it to a famous used dealership (name withheld :) ) rather than trading it in. Key is i have to do it before i get the new car, so i know how much "downpayment" i have left after paying off the rest of the loan on my current car.

So now i'm searching for new cars. And usually i absolutely *ADORE* car shopping. Comparing features, and driving them to see how they handle etc. But this time it's not as much fun. i'm having a harder time picking a car. I love my current car which is making it difficult. BUt i can't bring myself to go into an automatic version of my current car, b/c the depreciation is so bad that i don't want to put myself in that same situation again.

So i'm driving a bunch of different things. And now i feel guilty too. Cuz the dealerships are being *SOOO* nice to me. I know that's their jobs and all, but they are coming to my house to pick me up for test drives because I can't drive to go to them.

I'm also kind of frustrated because i really want my mom to go shopping with me, but she can't get up here in the time frame i need to get a car in. We did the next best thing, and she test drove a car down by her that i was looking at up here and i was on the phone with her during the test drive which was really a lot of fun.

One car makes more financial sense than the other 2 that will cost the same in the long run, but i'm not getting a "this is definitely my car" kind of feel. And i don't know if it's because i'm being "forced" to get a car when i didn't plan to, or just that it's not my car ya know?

It's a very frustrating situation. and because i'm on a time crunch as well, i'm feeling pressured about making the decision which isn't helping at all...

So like the great pumpkin - the new car is elusive...
*sigh*

have a good weekend everyone. I'll let you all know my decision once i've made it.