My life has just become more colorful. After some shopping and deliberation, I traded in the bright blue Electron Car (a Honda CRV) for an even brighter orange Honda Element. Why? How could I betray the car that gave this Weblog its name? Despite some people who strongly doubt my sanity, I do have some important reasons for the change. The first reason was that I was tired of the Electron's stick shift. Driving through constant heavy traffic as I do, I was sick of shifting first gear, second gear, first gear, for hours while I inched along. I have driven a stick shift now for twenty-two years. It may be hip and macho to drive a stick, but I have just had enough, and I now have an automatic transmission.

The second reason is the amount of cargo space. The Element has a van-like interior which can be configured in many different ways. The seats can go down flat to create a cushioned floor surface, or they can be flipped up to make a great big box-like cargo bay. Or the seats can be returned to a conventional bench for passengers. When the seats (or one side of them) are in cargo mode, the Element can accommodate a thirty by forty-inch mat board or painting in vertical position, something I have never been able to do in any other car. This will avoid bending or other damage. Cargo space is important to me for many reasons, one of which being that I hope to move sometime in the next few years and will want to haul my valuables in a safe way.

I am impressed at how much automotive engineering has progressed just in the last five years since I bought the blue CRV. The Element is packed with safety features, including not only front and side airbags but upper level airbags which deploy to protect driver's and passengers' heads if there is a rollover or other mishap. But the Element is not one of those rickety SUV's. It has a wide wheelbase for its length (a few inches shorter than the CRV) and it is heavier and more powerful than the CRV. There are not only anti-lock brakes but a special brake mode that kicks in if it detects skidding or slippage. The heat and air conditioning are very efficient and come on right away; no more waiting. This model also has "on-demand" four wheel drive, which like the brake mode is automatically activated when the car is on slippery or rough terrain. The mileage, according to Honda, ranges from 20 miles/gallon in the city to 28 miles/gallon on the highway. It uses regular (87) gas, and needs less maintenance than the CRV.

For my comfort and driving pleasure, it has a spectacular sound system with seven (count'em, seven) speakers, a satellite radio receiver, a CD player, an MP3 jack for my digital music player, and lots of nooks and crannies to stash things such as protein bars, little soy milk boxes, maps, clothing, and whatever other stuff I travel with. And all of this came "standard" with the car. The only things I ordered special were some cargo netting and boxes for unwieldy loads, and a fold-out picnic/work table. The Honda CRV, even after five years, was worth plenty and I got a good trade-in deal.

And of course last but not least, is the rare and brilliant daylily-orange color. Anyone who knows me knows that I love orange. After all, as I have explained, orange and Electron Blue are complementary colors, stationed at opposite points on the Color Wheel, and they go together. There are very few cars this orange on the road. The dealers at Honda had to search for this one at Honda dealerships all over the Metro DC area and found one 35 miles away. I think other motorists will see me coming, that's for sure. But there is also, at least for me, a psychological element to my Element. When I see bright orange, I become more cheerful. It actually lifts my spirits. As winter, however delayed, approaches, I will need this.

So have I abandoned Electron Blue? Will I have to change the name of this Weblog? No, not at all. The other end of the Wheel, 180 degrees away in the trigonometry of color, will be well represented. Some other symbolic thing will represent the Blueness while the Orangeness transports me on the road. I live in a world of symbols, not reality. A car is not just a car. A computer is not just a computer. They are talismanic artifacts which participate in a world of symbolic meaning, names, colors, word-play, advertisement, fantasy. The Periodic Table has at least a hundred and ten elements. We have Cadmium, Thulium, Thorium, Yttrium, Beryllium, Radium, Uranium, and my favorite element-name, Praseodymium. And now I have the Honda Element, which is found in the orange range of the spectrum, and is called "Hondium."

Here is a picture of the two jewel-like cars, together as I migrated from the one to the other.

Posted at 2:45 am | link