A part of project “Brave New Jon”…
I’ve decided I probably will buy myself a car. I got to a bit of a personal low point a few weeks back and went on a re-invention quest in order to help deal with that. And as part of the dealing with stuff, I decided to get an MA driver’s license, finally. As I mentioned before, this turns out to be trivial (read: laughable) and took me a total of 4 days, including phone calls.
Driving turns out to be fairly addictive. Like many other things, it’s something I had never had much time for – I mean, why didn’t I try surfing before either? I’m fixing this with a bunch of lessons, starting next week. But anyway. Back to the driving. It’s addictive, it’s fun, and I drove over 800 miles last week. Working out the cost of rentals vs. just buying a car means that if I’m going to be renting regularly, I might as well look to buy a car. I can’t use zipcar, or stuff like that, because I’ve not had a license for more than a year (though I do qualify on the age grounds…being old and all). And anyway, I’m paying for a parking space in the apartment lot that’s looking a bit empty again tonight.
So. MA want to charge me $3200+ per year for insurance. If I’m going to be screwed over, I might as well be screwed over fashionably, in style, in a car I enjoy driving. I’m looking at the Mazda MX-5 rather longingly at the moment…this can’t be good for me. I know where this goes. It’s not the most practical car – but that makes it even more “me”. I mean, if I’m ever going to do the convertible thing, now is the time to do it. All of this is on hold until I get back from the Summit and traveling, but I will seriously evaluate the options – the green part of me tells me to buy that Prius, but another side of me says “ah, but you could just ride your bike in town” and still another thanks some higher power I’m not into H2s.
I’ll include my experience driving the Mustang in my evaluation. Yes, the East Coast has snow in winter and it’s cold…and stuff. But a hard top nicely handles that – you only get to use it maybe 50% of the year, but I don’t really care. Especially if I can pick one up in time to drive down to the Cape a bit over the summer. Seriously. Got to think about this.
Jon.
The prius isn’t that environmentally friendly, it is just perceived to be because it is a hybrid and therefore cool. There are many cars that can do 50-60 mpg, but most of them are only available in Europe. The smart car is coming to the US soon, so maybe try that for economy and low cost on the insurance.
You can’t go wrong with an MX-5. Personally I hate convertibles because I’m tall and my ears get sick easily, but I heard a lot of good thing about the new Miata.
Green side of Prius is highly overrated. I still haven’t seen its complete energy quotient, and evil tongues say that it’s more energy intensive than, say, a Scion xB. Prius is still an excellent car on its own merits, but I don’t think of it as particularly green. Great fuel economy though.
Mustang, bah. Great for a rental, but look at it this way. If it’s the normal V-6, it’s nothing against MX-5. Seriously, MX-5 will beat it flat on any track, from auto-x to a speedway. But if we’re talking Cobra, you might as well get a Corvette. If money come out of your ears, look at M3.
If you lean at SCC side of the house, look at MR-2 at least. I suppose Evo may be too ricey for you… But no matter what you do, don’t get a Stang without considering the alternatives.
MX-5s are wonderful, very reliable and surprisingly practical I have been driving them just over a year now. Incredibly reliable and immensely fun to drive. I personally prefer the older Mk1s which have the pop up lights
They are possibly the most practical “impractical” car you can get
All the parts are cheap and it does not use a silly amount of petrol. Plus if you have any questions about them there are lots of friendly communities out on the web to give you a hand 
A hard top might be handy for when there is heavy snow (MX5s are not the best car in snow as they are quite light and have comparably wide tyres) but as soon as that is gone I would take it off as you will find that if it is not raining you will put the top down as it takes seconds
Actually even if starts raining if you keep it above about 30mph the rain doesn’t land in the car anyway 
(you do get some odd looks though 
)
I am over in the UK and don’t bother with a hard top at all as I find that even on a clear night in the middle of winter I end up taking the roof down, it is fantastic fun to be blasting down the motorway with the stars above you
If the comparable lack of power of a standard MX5 puts you off you can always get a super or turbocharger fitted
Of course there is always there is always these
http://www.monstermiata.com/ 
One thing I will caution on though is the fact that an MX5 is rear wheel drive and that means that it handles differently in the wet, ie if you try to use too much power in the wet when cornering you can spin so take it easy or if possible go on a training day down at the nearest track where they show you how to spin and get out of spins, it will be ace fun and you will feel more comfortable about your car