I’ve alluded to this in the past...but this post is very relevent to it. Back in 2006, my wife and I were shopping for a new family car. I had a 2000 Kia Sephia that quite honestly, was one of the most dependable cars you could imagine. However, it was getting long in the tooth, high mileage, the AC didn’t work, the engine had no compression in one cylinder and only about a 1/4 of what it should in a second cylinder. With it being a 4 cylinder car to begin with, this wasn’t good. So it wasn’t worth fixing. It was time to buy a new car. I went to a local dealership, with my goal of getting an extended cab F-150 with a V6 (cause I was a single-income family of three and couldn’t afford a 4x4 V8 SuperCrew), a Ford Five Hundred, Ford Escape, or Ford Explorer. While at the dealership, my wife waited until the sales rep walked off and then said she “had to have” a particular vehicle. It was a 2006 PT Cruiser sitting in the Dodge/Chrysler lot next to the Ford Dealership. I absolutely did NOT want that car. I explained why. It looks like a station wagon, but it’s not. Its not built for someone who is 6' tall. Its a Chrysler. However, her Uncle is a big Dodge man. She’d “Never gotten to pick out a new vehicle before”. It was supposed to be a “family vehicle” so she should have a say in picking it. She swore she’d get her driver’s license. I bought the car, on the condition that she got her license. She never did. I had to drive that piece of shit car for six years. I hated it. Every time I got in the car, I fought the urge to punch her right in the mouth. I gave her hell over it. I finally lost my patience with the car over a $7 engine coolant sensor that broke off in the block. I set a $2-3 grand budget to buy a used car instead of fixing that piece of shit PT Loser. I went and bought a ‘98 Buick Regal GS (with a supercharged V6) instead. It’s all good now, but I was miserable in that car.

From the fall-out, my wife is no longer willing to voice her opinion on what we should get. At least not outright. But if I ask her what she likes, I get a good idea of what we should look for. She still hasn’t got her license (just celebrated 10 years of marriage), but at least she has a learner’s permit.