In accordance with my aforementioned schedule, Week 3 was to be Laptop-buying week. However, due to some turmoil over what hardware can and can’t be trusted, I’ll be delaying that until it becomes essential.

Instead, I’ve bumped Week 4 up and bought a shiny red sports car (2000 Toyota Celica GT Liftback 2D). I got what seems like a decent deal at $8,000 ($10,500 after dealer inflation). The Kelly Bluebook Value lists between $8,000 and $10,000, so at what seems a “Fair” condition, I figure the deal was pretty good.

It meets all my base criteria: Small, maneuverable, quick, low center of gravity, 5-speed manual, decent gas mileage. I haven’t calculated the mileage yet as I’m on my first full tank now, but 35 miles used under 1/16 of the 14-gal tank, according to the instrumentation.