The holiday season brings car commercials showing new cars with red bows sitting in the driveway as surprise gifts. Wouldn't that be nice? What red ribbon covered new car or truck should have been sitting in your driveway this morning?
Lexus and a rotating cast of other automakers make it their mission this time of year to convince us that a brand new car can be a Christmas present. While we are sure it happens to a handful of people every year, most of us wake up the morning of December 25th without a new car covered with a red bow in the driveway. Maybe it's because you don't celebrate Christmas. Maybe you do and you have to suffer in silence with the sub $30,000 gifts your loved ones thoughtfully picked out for you. Either way, although it isn't close to a reality for most people, we've all surely seen a holiday car commercial depicting a new car on Christmas morning and pictured ourselves as the dumbfounded recipient.
Let's indulge ourselves in this little automotive fantasy again. What if this morning had been the morning? What if unexpectedly, behind your back, your family/friends/loved ones/significant other/whoever had figured out where to buy those ridiculous oversized bows and dropped one on the brand new car of your dreams? What if you were led out to your driveway blindfolded for a surprise? If they picked correctly, what new car or truck (2010 or 2011) would be sitting there?
I'm sure many of you would hope for something expensive and foreign, but my pick on this one is reasonable and American. I'd like a 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0 in Kona Blue Metallic. The Mustang sitting under the bow in my driveway would have had a 6 speed, 3.73 rear gears and no other options. Maybe it's my love of old things or my resistance to new things, but I found the technology in the premium GT a little much for my liking. I still believe that the horn should be the only thing on a steering wheel, but in this case, I'll make an exception (1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am, you are also forgiven).
So what about you? What new car or truck should have been sitting under a red ribbon in your driveway this morning?