I think I'm having a mid-life crisis...

I have concluded that the mythical male "mid-life crisis" is in fact, a real thing. 

Wife and I are in the market a new car, well me more than her. I love researching and reading consumer information on cars, but I hate actually buying one. My experience has been that most car salesmen are the kind of people that would give a high pressure Super Soaker water gun a bad name.

The 2001 Yukon we purchased 6 years ago when we still lived in 1.5 Mile High City is nearing 200K (I expect it will get there around October of this year) & many of the small yet essential bits are starting to wear out and need replacing. For example in the past year & a half, we have already replaced the seal for the "rear output shaft"...twice!

For the past year, well since I received the 2019 Consumer's Reports auto issue last year, I've been researching cars and trying to decide which one we would be the best one for us to purchase to replace the previously mentioned aging Beast.

Given that my daily commute totals ~30 miles per day, we need something more economical than what I currently drive, but we don't want a sedan nor a coupe b/c we already own a small, economical Toyota hatchback. We can't afford the monthly payment necessary to own a new Yukon or Toyota Sequoia (my dream SUV) along with the petrol, insurance, and road taxes (aka annual tax & registration charge). What we're probably in the market for is one of those stupid crossover SUV's that get respectable MPG, but also have enough power and torque to tow my parent's pop-up tent trailer (which they rarely use).

That fact is that most of the cars, such as the Toyota Highlander, the Honda Pilot, and so on are, in a word, dreadful & dreary (okay, that's 2 words...). I have already investigated the possibility & feasibility of purchasing a motorcycle, to which both Wife & my mother strongly voted "nay nay" to, and if I'm honest, after taking the basic rider course back in November, I said echoed that same vote after thoughtful introspection. Back in January, we looked at a used 2018 Toyota 4Runner, an SUV I have always loved, but the salesman was a bit overzealous in his approach, calling me 2x and emailing me 2x all in a 24 hour period.

So, lately I've been thinking it might fun to get something horribly impractical. I've been looking at possibly getting a muscle car, like the Dodge Challenger, Chevy Camaro, or the Ford Mustang. This is why I have come to believe the Mid-Life Crisis is in fact, real. However, with a 3-week request for time off recently approved for September, I think our purchase of a new vehicle is going to have wait another year.

All for today...