June 30: A car for the average family

For the entire two miles to Vic's parents' house in the Passat this afternoon, Katie and Jack screamed non-stop at each other over completely ridiculous matters. Vic and I were reminded of our upcoming road trip to Northern California and why we probably won't want to drive the Passat, where their bickering goes directly from the back seat right into our ears. We probably won't want to drive the MPV either because even if we banish them to the back row we'd still be able to hear them. In fact, it seems that our ideal car is the one Homer Simpson designed in a Simpsons episode from 1991. It features:

• rack-and-peanut steering
  
• a place to put drinks; not little cups, but those super-slurpers at the Kwik-E-Mart
  
• tail fins
  
• shag carpeting
  
• a horn "here, here, and here. You can never find a horn when you're mad. And they should all play La Cucaracha."
  
• a separate soundproof bubble-dome for the kids with optional restraints and muzzles
  
• a little ball on the antenna so you can find it in a parking lot (standard on all vehicles)
  
• ... and it cost $82,000 in 1991, so that'd make it about a million today, hm?

Yeah, if you have a better idea, we'd love to hear it.

--Jen