Desperately Seeking Wasabi

It looks like things are starting to show the possibility of a spring thaw sometime soon around here.

This means that the roads will be clear.

Which means that it might be nice to have some wheels.

Which means...

TIME TO GO CAR SHOPPING!

My conditions for a new car:

1. Four doors
2. Four-wheel drive
3. A "light" car (yellow license plate) - insurance, car inspections, highway tolls are ALL cheaper than regular (white license plate) cars
4. Something bigger than Wasabi-kun, so that I can take my friends/parents around in my car when they come to visit
5. After all the little things total up, it should be under five thousand dollars (I don't want to take out a big loan.)
6. Made within the last seven or eight years

So I went out today with Hiroshi and his family and checked out some cars.

Today's Lesson Learned: Ain't no car out there that fits these conditions.

Light cars are popular. Light cars with four-wheel drive are even more so. Ain't no way in Hay-yell that there's one in the general Muroran area that costs less than seven thousand.

I checked out some cars and did some serious thinking. So, the above list has been edited a bit to come up with this new set of conditions:

1. Four doors (No change here.)
2. Two or four-wheel drive (I've decided to not be picky on this point.)
3. A regular (white license plate) car (They cost less.)
4. Something bigger than Wasabi-kun, so that I can take my friends/parents around in my car when they come to visit (I'm sticking to my guns on this one.)
5. After all the little things total up, it should be under five thousand dollars (I don't want to take out a big loan.) (Ditto.)
6. Made within the last seven or eight years (Ditto.)

The search will continue...

And no matter what make, model, color, etc. of car I buy, I'm calling it Wasabi-kun No. 2.