Car

I'm standing in the NIO showroom at Oriental Plaza, about a kilometer away from Tiananmen Square, starting at an ES8 when I flash back to 1980. The ES8 is a beautiful EV SUV. It's huge. Great range. Luxurious. Third row. Lie flat seats. Massage seats. Sabrina loves it. I think if I get it, then she may watch her TV dramas in the car. But I'm resistant. Being somewhat unreasonable like I can be. It's too big. If we get it, then she needs to make sure it can fit in our condo's parking spot. I'm irritated at the thought of getting it but have a hard time saying no. I'm not sure why I'm getting emotional about it. The car I was thinking was the EC6 and it's not that much smaller.  

Then the flash back. 1980. I see a Porsche 911 and that's the car I want. Fun. sporty. But I can't afford one. And by the time I could afford one (at least a Boxer) and still consciously wanted one, it would have been selfish since it only seats two. So, I let go of that dream.

Four years ago or so, I saw a video for the upcoming Tesla Y and thought that was the car I wanted. There's a huge Tesla plant in China and when they started producing the Y, I signed up for one. Except there was a hitch. Beijing passed a law where if you had two cars in your name, you couldn't replace one with a new car. And the 15 year old car I wanted to trade was still in Yang's name. But you could transfer ownership to a family member. We assumed that family member had to be 18 with a driver's license. It took a while and Aidan did get his license but left for college before we could transfer. Then we learned it could be any family member so we transferred the car to Lydia. That process itself took about 18 months. I'll leave out the bureaucratic drudgery.  I could finally buy a car. In Lydia's name. Except Lydia went off to college too. So, we timed the purchase when she would be on summer break.

Sabrina and I went car shopping. Saw a bunch of China EVs and Tesla at a mall. NIO came out on top for us.  The ES8 as a "queen's seat" where with a push of a button the front lies flat and a leg rest pops up. Sabrina was sold.

I look at the other cars in the NIO showroom. The ET7 stood out. Their flagship sedan. First principals. It's not a SUV, it's not a Porsche either. But closer. Sabrina tries the back seat, where she will sit with Amanda. She's in. We decide on the spot to get it.

We've had it for a week now. It's a big sedan. It's luxurious. It rides like a dream. Its fast. It has more features than I know what to do with. It comes with a talking AI assistant that will tell jokes to your kid if you want.

Still not a 911. But closer than the SUV.