Fortunately, knowing that my car wasn't going to last too much longer, I had already pretty much figured out that I wanted a Honda Accord, so Seth and I went to a Honda dealership tonight to at least price one, and we went ahead and bought it. I'd already done a fair bit of research on the car, so I wasn't going into it blind, exactly, but I hadn't really been expecting to buy a car tonight either, so it was a bit sudden. I don't like making purchases that large so suddenly, but on the other hand, it was either tonight or not for another week (given our schedules and Shabbos restrictions). Since I'm currently driving a rental car, it made more sense to just go ahead and buy it.
Since I've got the rental car, I didn't drive my new car off the lot tonight (Seth and I met at the dealership in separate cars, so we didn't have enough drivers anyway), but it's officially mine and I'll pick it up tomorrow afternoon. Whoo hoo!
Anyway, I got a 2004 Honda Accord LX with a manual transmission. It's beige, which I didn't want (I wanted Blue...second choice would have been Silver), but it was the only manual on the lot, and I really wanted a manual. I actually test drove both, thinking that maybe I was being silly about the manual, but I didn't get far in the automatic before deciding that I didn't like it as much. It's just got a different feel to it. Besides, I'm weird about that. Something about driving a standard makes me feel...I dunno... empowered. I like that I can drive standard. It makes me feel more independent (e.g. I can drive any car within limits...not just automatics). It's a strange reason to want a standard, but it's what I wanted, and besides...it's cheaper, and I really did like the feel of it better. Anyway, I'm very excited about it. Go me!