And it's orange. Technically, it's "Blaze Orange Metallic." Among other options were "Storm Silver Metallic," "Lunar Mist Metallic," and "Milano Red." My personal favorite, however, based on dumb meaningless adjectives alone, was "Nighthawk Black Pearl".

Nighthawk Black Pearl. Nighthawk.

Right.

Anyway, orange wasn't our first choice. If we wanted to wait a month or more, we could have had silver or red. Anything else and we probably wouldn't have gotten it until March or later. And my good ol' Grand Prix just wasn't going to last that long. When we saw the color Friday evening, Kathy didn't like it. But the next day in the sunlight, she one-eightied. And we bought it.

What I'm talking about is our brand-new 2007 Honda Fit. It's a new model here in the states, but it's been around overseas for a while (in Europe they call it the "Jazz"). According to the dealers we talked to, Honda's not producing them to meet demand and dealers usually can't keep one on the lot for more than a few days. (I'm pretty sure that wasn't simply a line to make us buy sooner.)

Here's a picture of our new baby:

(Check out how I totally obscured the plate number. Now when you see an orange Fit you totally won't know if it's ours or if it's someone else's orange Fit.)

Here's some more photos of a model just like ours.

It's a subcompact, and it handles great. It's got pickup when you need it. The fuel economy rocks. It's way roomier than it has any right to be. Reviews have been very positive.

The only downside is that now I drive like a pansy. I've never had a brand new car before. As I type, it has 88 miles on it. All but like .75 miles were put on it by me and Kathy. If it gets a dent or scratch I'm going to pout like a second-grader.

Best of all, the trunk doesn't leak, it doesn't have two coolant leaks, the radio's backlight is not burned out, the rear speakers don't sound staticky, there's no transmission fluid leak, and the driver door always unlocks from the outside. You served me well, Grand Prix, but it was time to let you go. For $500 trade-in.