Got my first real night of sleep in a week and a half. Beware of apartment leases (full stop) that require the tenant to pay for extermination services. Just because the cost isn't an issue for you doesn't mean that applies to everyone. And if it spreads... ick. Several of my books didn't respond well to heat treatment. Paperbacks all seem fine. My Library of America volumes, though? Less glued together than before (yay for sewn bindings) and some tearing in a few of the hinges. 'Bout to buy a car. Probably a Yaris or Prius. We were holding on to the '99 Solaris for as long as it could. And now that we are slipping in the highest gear, the time is come. Want a hatchback. Need good millage, since we mainly drive highway miles to work. Edit: $800 later and we still have bugs. Oof.
Yarises? You are absolutely right on the Fit. So, the issue with the Fit is that this is the first time we've been in a financial position that we can be choosy with the car we end up with. The Solaris was sold to us at a heavy discount by a family friend when we were barely making ends meet. Now, I reckon that we can afford a Prius. But it still feels like a lot to spend. So we are inclined to cheap out. The Fit occupies an awkward price point where if we are gonna spend more, we might as well saddle up and get what we'd really like. We've broken into lower middle class purchasing decisions but we haven't really internalized it yet.
I was right there when we bought the Fit (in 2009). For us, the issue is that Priuses were at a hell of a premium (there was only the one) and even the used market sucked. Meanwhile the Fit had been on the US market for six months in 2007 and had been available for sale new for about two months. As such, the discount for a 2008 Fit with 30,000 miles on it was about $1500. We drove literally every available hatchback under 50,000 miles and the Fit was the only car that didn't feel like masochism. Looks to me like a Fit and a Prius C are about $5k apart. I haven't driven this year's Prius C but they've always felt like very small Priuses. Honda Fits feel like sedans that happen to be small. It's worth checking out.