Inhuman Swill

What it is about Chicago that makes it more necessary than in New York? Are the outer suburbs more attractive?

New York neighborhoods tend to have everything you need clustered close together, within easy walking distance—grocery stores, especially. Chicago isn't organized like that, which makes shopping on foot much harder here.

In addition, the train system is not nearly as extensive and pervasive. The lines only converge downtown in the Loop, so if you want to take the train, say, across town, you have to ride a spoke in to the hub, then ride another spoke back out. Buses go everywhere, but slowly. And waiting for the bus in minus 20 wind chill really sucks.

It's very different here. I can keep going.

I'm eagerly awaiting the GM Volt cars, due 2010. (I'm not sure if that's calendar year or year-model year.) They run 40 miles on stored electricity alone, then it switches to something bearing passing similarity to a fuel cell.

What a time to jump into car ownership! Gas is hovering at $3/gallon and most insurance companies won't write a one-year policy any more—they make you renew every six months, just in case you turn out to be someone who might actually file a claim!

Good luck!

Ironic, I think, to move to a city that is purportedly cheaper and then have to incur a greater expense to live there. That said, hope you get a good, reliable, and cheap to operate car.

D

That has gotta suck. It's not the car; it's the maintenance!
Wish you guys could come to Utah for WHC this year!

Oh, man, I'm sorry. I hope you get a nice one. (I hear the Smart cars are available soon. They're little. You could park 'em anywhere.)

I was finally able to sell my car after having to deal with two years of parking it in SF. And now...for my Boston commute, I have to drive. Up until this week, my bf and I commuted together, which made the whole thing bearable, but he just lost his job, so I'll be commuting alone. Yech.

Now that bites. Sorry to hear it.

I love the idea of Smart cars. I've wanted once since I first visited Amsterdam in 2000. I somehow would be afraid to take it on the expressways here, though! But there is a small possibility we might end up buying a Mini Cooper from Laura's parents....

Sympathies, Shunn--that does bite.

Yeah, I feel your pain. I've actually owned a car for several years now -- I had to buy one to commute to New Jersey years ago, and just got used to having one. That being said, have you tried Zipcar? There are several in Chicago, and if you've got one nearby, you could avoid the travails of car ownership. (I considered it when I lost my last car, but the nearest outlet is several neighborhoods away, so it just wasn't convenient.)

We've been Zipcar members since we arrived here. It's good as far as it goes, but our closest location isn't wildly convenient, and we end up spending two to three hundred dollars a month on it anyway.

It's also not so convenient for, say, dog groomer appointments, where you drop off the dog and then it could be anywhere from 4 to 6 hours until she's done. So do you keep the car all day and pay all that money, or do you try to anticipate how long the appointment will be and schedule the car twice, for doggy dropoff and pickup? Don't forget to figure in the extra half hour to 40 minutes it takes to pick up and drop off the car itself.

And then there was the day we showed up to collect our Zipcar and it wasn't there. And then there was the time I got rearended in my Zipcar and lost my rental privileges until the Zipcar investigation was done. And then there was the day I showed up to collect my Zipcar and spent the next half hour digging it out of the snow.... Not that I wouldn't have to dig our own car out of the snow, but at least I wouldn't be paying by the hour.

Hmmm - that's interesting. When Jim creamed my last car a year ago January, the only reason I didn't try to go with Zipcars was because the nearest one was in Park Slope; I would have had call a cab just to get there. And there's no way I'd want to dig one of their cars out of the snow. (Since last year, when my brand new car was stuck in the ice for a week, I've decided to take it to a local indoor garage any time they predict more than a few inches.)

Good luck shopping for one. Are you going to go for a used car or a new one?

Don't get me wrong -- we'd've been totally lost without the Zipcar for this long, and you can't beat the fact that they pay for the gas and insurance. But longterm, unless you live right by a Zipcar parking spot, it can sure wear you down.

We're going to go for a used car, and the extreme car experts (Laura's dad and brother) are going to help us find one.

Alyx has poked her nose in here, but didn't mention that she belongs to a co-op, which appears to work very well for her. Lucky to live in a city where that's doable.

D

See above. :-)