test drive a car

When you walk into the dealership, all the vehicles are arranged in pretty little rows. Presentation is everything. The cars are gleaming, reflecting the white light of the fluorescents above. Now, here’s where you size the cars up, analyze the lines, the places where shiny metallic body meets glass. Ignore the salesman staring at you from across the room. Just gaze into the mesmerizing beauty put together on an ugly assembly line. You look, but don’t touch, afraid to mangle the pristine surface with a fingerprint.

Okay, that’s enough. This is the car you want. You’ve seen it in magazine ads, perfectly lit and positioned to show off its hindquarters, the tail light eyes looking back at you. It’s not quite as beautiful in person, but the reality of it sitting in front of you beats an insubstantial piece of paper.

Wrap your fingers around the door handle. Slowly. The click of the handle echoes in the dealership as you pull, the weight of the door resisting, if only a little. This is the first time you’ve touched this car, you want to savor the moment. The door opens, and a beautiful artificial smell hits your nostrils. A perfect perfume designed to deliver dopamine, this scent is a product of plastics and fabric freshly made and installed in this virgin vehicle.

You shut the door to trap the scent in the car. The moment of truth: you place the palms of both hands to the steering wheel at ten and two. Then, one by one, you move your fingers down upon the steering wheel, until you have it firmly gripped, your knuckles white. You squeeze a little more before relaxing your hands, and running them along the top of the wheel, feeling the ergonomic ridges running underneath your fingers. It feels right, and nothing else matters. Looking straight ahead, past the gauges, past the dash and windshield, even past the dealership wall, you realize, “This is THE car.”

This epiphany is interrupted by a salesman’s enthusiastic voice:

“It’s a beauty, isn’t it? If you sign today I can get’cha in on 0% financing, nothing down.”

Your trance is broken, the moment lost.

You grin while replying, “You bet, but I’m going to need a test drive first.”