Remember all the fun we had when I asked you to pick a car from a random medical center parking lot? Of course you do—it was a magical moment, and it made me feel closer to you than ever. Well, I crave that closeness, so let’s do it again! This time, I’m going to set up a hypothetical automotive scenario, and give you two parking images to pick from—one boring, one less boring. Ready? Of course you are.
Let’s start with the scenario. You have to pick one car from the parking lot, of course, and here’s what you need to do with that car: It’ll be your daily driver for six months to start with. All of your usual daily driving needs.
Then, after six months, you need to use that car to go on a multi-day road trip with four stops: first stop you pick up a passenger, a woman wearing a swim cap, oversize sunglasses, giraffe-print leggings, and one of those fisherman’s vests with all the pockets. She smokes, and insists on smoking in the car.
Second stop you have to pick up three medium-sized suitcases full of something that feels sort of like gumbo.
Third stop requires you to drive into an abandoned mall and evade another car that will attempt to catch you. The interior of the mall is somewhat labyrinthine, full of old ear-piercing kiosks and Dippin’ Dots stands.
The final leg of the journey is a combination of high-speed highways and rugged dirt and gravel roads; not exactly off-roading, but not smooth pavement, either.
Oh, and all the money for gas comes out of your pocket. You will not be reimbursed.
Got it? That’s a lot to take in, so if you need a moment, I get it.
Okay, here’s the parking lots. The first one is a fairly modern American parking lot, not terribly exciting, but pretty representative of what you might find almost anywhere:
That’s actually the Oakland Airport parking lot. Okay, pick one car that you think meets the scenario’s needs best.
When you’re done with that, here’s a bonus lot—which car would you pick to meet the needs of the situation from this parking lot from the 1980s in the UK?
It’s more colorful, that’s for damn sure. And there’s some fun cars here—will anyone have the ‘nads to pick a three-wheeled Reliant Robin? Does the almost certain mechanical trouble you’d have with that Land Rover scare you off, or are the off-road chops worth it? That Mini would be good for the mall stage. But what about that Scirocco?
Okay, so, in the comments, tell me your Modern Pick and your Vintage Pic. And explain! I—and everyone else— wants to know why you came to the conclusions you did!
I can’t wait to see what gets picked!