I hate to admit it but I think about getting a new car. I think about it all the time.

Im almost 40 years old and I want to move up to a luxury car. I know that you think about it too, so I dont mind sharing.

When you think about "luxury", what do you want?

I want comfort. I want a quiet ride, a comfortable seat of leather, high quality plastics or wood on the interior, and a sweet stereo. A car is a private environment and I want mine to be relaxing and comfortable (as an antidote to the stress of driving in Seattle).

So I want a comfortable vehicle but what else should the car do? This is where we need to be honest with ourselves about how do we actually use our present car.

Me, I spend 90% of my time alone in the car, driving on city streets and stop&go traffic on the freeway. Sometimes my wife and I drive together but she has her own car. The largest thing I ever carry with me is a few bags of groceries so the majority of my car is a steel-box of empty air and one person inside. The backseat and the trunk are there but empty. When Im stopped on the freeway, I see that you have the same situation - one person per car.

Unfortunately when I look at luxury cars, what is see is not comfort so much as size. Luxury cars are larger and have bigger engines (with lower gas mileage). Take the Audi's for instance: the A6 is bigger than the A4 and the A8 is bigger than both.

Is there some causal relationship between disposable income and waisteline? Does "luxury" mean you can afford to waste the gasoline it takes to drive around a heavy, empty vehicle and you can afford to move when the environment self-destructs? Frankly, its a bit offensive to be that wasteful.

I want a luxury vehicle but the disconnect between my needs and what luxury vehicles offer is a big turn-off. What I want is a luxurious car designed for one person that gets great gas milage with no pollution.

Why doesn't anyone make such a vehicle?

Ironically, small, cheap cars are the ones that are light-weight and get good gas mileage. Sadly, they are never luxury vehicles. They dont have the sound proofing or the nice leather and materials.

Sometimes I drive my motorcyle. It is definately a personal vehicle with high gas mileage but it is not comfortable. It is fun to drive but with all the safety gear, it is a real hassle too.

I looked at sports cars because they are two-seaters. Sports cars have luxury prices but they are designed for uncompromising performance not stop&go traffic or comfort. Plus my bad knee makes getting into and out of the low cars painful.

I recently read an article about Hypercars. Hypercars are super lightweight. They are made from carbon fiber and aircraft aluminum and they get crazy high gas mileage with no pollution. The article states that the auto industry is about to revolutionized by Hypercars and I am ready for it!

Except the article was from 1999! Six years after the article, I had not heard of a Hypercar and I certainly havent seen any evidence of a revolution. We keep pumping out the same old shitty Excusion's, Escalade's, Durango's and Hummers. When I look around the freeway, every one of these vehicles has a single dumbass inside and 6,000 lbs of steel.

I just hope that by the time I have the money for a luxury car, someone actually makes one that fits my needs and not theirs.