New Yorkers and Cars

On my commute (by car) this morning, I listened to the New Yorker Out Loud podcast, in which Patricia Marx is interviewed about the experience of shopping for a car.

Of course, the idea is that New Yorkers needs to have someone explain to them what buying a car is like. Which they do. Not how to do it, nor how to do it properly, but What is the experience like? It starts with this exchange (approximately) between the interviewer and the author: “Patricia, have you ever bought a car before?” “No.” “Me neither. What’s it like?”

Later, Patricia lets fly a pretty good funnyism. When asked, if she were to actually ever buy a car, which would it be, she says, “I’m kind of won over by the electric cars. I like the idea of not going to a gasoline station and I like the idea of pretending that you’re saving the environment, because the pollution that you’re causing isn’t near you. It’s not coming out of the car. It’s somewhere far away where you can’t see it.”