I have a 12-year old Lexus Coupe, and I love it!  Really really.

I was thinking about this today, because I was listening to rock music (coding, of course), and every other song I wanted to run out to my car and crank it.  Somehow my computer speakers just don't do Def Leppard justice.  (GUNTER GLIEBEN GLAUTEN GLOBEN means "reach for the volume knob" :)  The Nakamichi sound system in old Lexus coupes is probably the best sounding stereo ever shipped as "stock".  It has a great cassette deck, which is important because that's how my iPod connects.  The speakers are awesome, and you can turn the volume all the way up - pegged - with no clipping, no distortion, nothing.  When I first got my car people used to ask "how powerful is it?", and I answered "280 watts!" 

{Note: newer Lexus coupes have a Mark Levinson system which is noteven as good.  For those of you with a new Lexus, sorry.}

That led to me reflect on recent new cars I've found interesting.  With a 12-year old car, 177,000 miles, you think about these things.  The Jaguar coupe is beautiful.  The new Mazda RX-8 is excellent (love rotary engines).  That Audio TT with the funky continuous transmission is way cool.  And of course there's the BMW Alpina (A Z4 with a V8!)  I'm sure they're all wonderful cars, but do I really want a new car?

No.

I love my car.  It is nice looking, it has a very comfortable interior, it kicks serious butt off the line (0-60 in 7s), it goes faster than I do, it rides great, it handles wonderfully, and basically nothing has ever gone wrong with it...  and oh did I mention the stereo?