Not long after getting my license, people kept asking me: “When are you buying a car?” Honestly I’d never even thought about it. For one thing I know nothing about cars, and for another, every car I actually like the look of has a price tag that makes me want to kneel. Then my parents started asking too, and eventually came right out with “Tell me how much you’re short and I’ll cover it, just go buy a car already.” At that point I figured having a license and not buying a car was pretty pathetic, and I really didn’t want to spend my parents’ money on this anyway. So the goal became: “Buy a car I’m comfortable driving, within what I can afford on my own.” Which raises the question — what do I buy?