When I was 16, I got my drivers license and bought my first car. It was a 2016 Chevy Trax with only 17,000 miles on it. This was in 2018 so this was a two year old car that was barely driven and here it was for sale for $17,000.
On paper, that’s a good deal, but if were to do it over again I would’ve bought a used car directly from a seller rather than a dealership and would’ve done a little more research first.
I mean, it’s not a bad car. It got me from place to place just fine for 7 years. I even survived an accident in it without a scratch. But just look at it:
This car is boring. And the interior is just as inspiring as the exterior.
The Trax was made right when touch screen infotainment systems were taking off, and Chevrolet went all-in on this model. Everything except the climate controls are on this awful double-DIN touchscreen that is straight out of 2016. It’s laggy, it’s ugly, even the volume buttons are touch buttons. Everything is so non-responsive that I try to use the infotainment system as little as possible. I got a phone mount that places my phone in front of the screen, it pairs with bluetooth automatically, and I can change the source and adjust the volume from the steering wheel. Most times I drive the car I don’t have to touch the screen a single time, which is fine by me.
The gauge cluster is a screen as well. Except for the tachometer. For some reason they kept that and only that as an analog gauge. Everything else is displayed on the screen. Your speed is displayed as a number and the fuel gauge is represented by 12 stacked blocks on the side of the screen. It’s very uninspiring. Digital gauge clusters are not necessarily a bad thing (see: Nissan 300zx Turbo) but this was purely a cost-cutting measure. I guess enough people got fed up with all the touch screen bullshit because for the 2018 model they brought back physical buttons for the audio playback controls and a few analog gauges. Now you can see your speed as both an analog gauge and a number on a screen at the same time! I know this because my mother liked my Trax so much that she bought one for herself when she needed a new car soon after I bought mine.
The Trax is the posterchild of practicality. It works, I don’t have many issues with it, it’s got bluetooth, and the AC works. The engine kinda sucks but it’s also good enough for pretty much anything a normal person would do. I could probably drive it for 7 more years and as long as I keep with with normal maintence I could see it lasting that much longer. But the thought of driving this boring old thing for 7 more years scares me and it should scare you, too.
My justifications for driving the car as long as I did were:
Which is fine if you’re on a budget or if you don’t value your own happiness. But I’m not on a budget; I can afford to switch to a different car if I want to, and I’d like to believe I value my own happiness. But still, it’s easier to keep driving the reliable car than to switch to something janky.
I had a major life event happen in early 2025 and it was then that I decided I didn’t want to wait idly by while my life passes by me because I’m too afraid to take chances or do things that aren’t 100% practical. So I stored the Trax away and a got a shitbox: a 2003 Volkwagen Golf 5-speed manual with 200k miles on it. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Just look at this beauty:
It such a fun little car. I’m smaller than most other cars on the road, which is scary in the event of a crash, but is also nice in the way I can maneuver around certain obstacles and fit into tight parking spaces.
Prople claim that driving stick is annoying in a city or in traffic, but I find it fun. I can’t see myself going back to an automatic after driving this.
Not a touch screen in sight. Dash full of physical buttons. No bluetooth, no Sirius XM, no OnStar - all you get is FM/AM radio, a CD player, and a tape player. I love how this (by modern standards) constrained environment forces me to be more present in the moment. During a daily drive I get my stimulation by listening to the radio, listening to CD’s I’ve either purchased or burned, or by observing the environment around me. Each option makes me feel more connected to my local environment than the equivalent options in my old car (Spotify, YouTube, etc). Now I know my local radio stations, and my limited selection of CD’s has caused me to listen to a few albums multiple times and become more intimately familiar with them.
Sure, I could’ve just listened to the radio in my old car. But why would I when I have Spotify? There are moments in the Golf I would’ve loved to just put on Spotify. But I can’t, and that forces me to get creative. Sometimes it’s annoying, but in the long run I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I think most people would look at the Golf and wonder why someone would ever buy it. On paper, the Golf is worse than the Trax in every metric:
But it is immensely more fun to drive, and that’s what matters to me. If you think about how much time during the week you spend driving in your car, it’s easy to see how whether or not you enjoy driving your car can impact your daily mood.
I think if there’s something you want to do, but the practicality argument is keeping you from doing it, take a moment to consider the happiness angle. This purchase has opened the door in my life to take other risks. Who cares if it doesn’t make sense?