Old cars are the best cars.

My Prius with Odin’s late afternoon shadow on the door

I like my car. It’s pretty old, but I like it. It’s a 2011 Toyota Prius that I bought used from a friend in 2018. At the time, my then-car was a 1999 Volkswagen Beetle - 19 years old! I loved that car - it was super cute, it was a stick shift which felt a little rebellious, and it was the first car I had ever purchased for myself. I had wanted a Beetle from the time I started playing punch-bug with my mom on the way to school in the 80’s.

I had to say goodbye to my Beetle because too many things inside of it were falling apart. Also, I had a torn tendon in my foot that was in need of surgery - which made using the clutch basically impossible. It was sad, but it was time.

The Prius is fine. It’s never been a cute car, but what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in skipped trips to the gas station. I swear the thing drives forever. I’ve learned to enjoy the centered “on-display-for-everyone” readout in the middle of the dashboard, and I kind of love watching the efficiency meter and trying to make it show everyone I’m getting 100+ miles per gallon of gas.

In our 8 years together, we’ve had lots of memories in the Prius. Both of my kids put in the vast majority of their license-earning hours in that car, then proceeded to use it to drive their friends around until they left for college. The Prius has taken me to countless photography events, and it brought us through Olympic National Park one year over spring break. One time Odin tried to jump out the Prius window when we stopped at a light near Mud Bay. These days he hangs out in the back seat in hopes of getting a few treats when I pick up groceries at Fred Meyer.

I like my car. At this point it’s about 15 years old, and I’m starting to wonder what will come next. The problem is, I don’t want anything to come next.

I need this car to last forever because I’m old school. I feel like I need to have a grown-up tantrum: I don’t want my car to check in with the manufacturer! I don’t want my car to drive itself! I don’t want to download an app to check my car’s conditions or simply unlock it or turn it on. I certainly don’t want my car to use AI - or talk to me. I like my analog buttons that I can feel and push to change the radio station. I like that my phone doesn’t connect up well to the car’s system. An aux port should be my only real option. I even like having to check my blind spot before changing lanes.

Old school is where it’s at for me. It seems like technology turned a corner at some point and started preying on its users instead of helping them. Maybe I’m just an old fogey, but take me back to the 10’s any day…