How we became a 1 Mazda family (so far)

And now time for another tale of woe.

November 28th was the birthday of my girlfriend of three years.  November 26th was the day an old lady got the gas and brake confused on her car.  She jumped 2 parking blocks, and a handicapped sign to smash my girl's eclipse.  She hit it so hard in fact, that it moved from the parking spot it was parked in to a Jeep Comanche (owned by a fellow named Phillip Morris, I shit you not).  In one fell swoop it was totalled.

This led to shopping at a pretty awful time.  Two days until her birthday, and one day after Thanksgiving  While a good time economically, it was a horrible time in terms of scheduling.

We looked at many many cars, Scions, Saturns, Minis and Mitsubishis.  In the end we found a great car at a great price.  A 2005 Mazda 3.  So far I'm dead impressed with this car, the standard transmission is smooth and nicely notchy (yes, she drives stick, and yes, I know I'm lucky), peppy enough to move, and spacious enough to move (stuff).

In the relatively little time we've had this car, I'm dead impressed, and it soon won't be our only Mazda.