We’re getting the new year off to a roaring start here at Chez Atkins: we both got new cars!

Here’s Beth with her brand-spanking-new 2006 Lexus IS 250:

And my new car… Well, my new car isn’t really new — it’s Beth’s old Volvo S70. It’s a hand-me-down, but it’s new to me! And it runs! Reliably, even!

That’s something I can’t say about the Land Cruiser anymore. (You can see it there, peeking in from the side of Beth’s picture, sniffing her New Car Smell.) It’s gotten to the point with the Cruiser that anytime I go anywhere that involves a “long” drive — the 40 miles down to San Pedro to board the boat to go scuba diving, for example — in the back of my mind there’s always the worry that “Gee, I hope I make it.” I won’t have that worry in the Volvo. I won’t look as cool in it as I do in the Cruiser but I’m not all that cool anyway, so it’s kind of a wash. So, sadly, I’ll be retiring the Cruisier, selling it off in the next couple of weeks.

I’ll miss it. But I won’t miss failing the friggin’ smog test every year when I try to register it.