It is with sad regret that I inform you all of the demise of my beloved Mazda MPV. He was a good minivan, carrying upto 8 friends. He will be rememberred for some time to come.

It all started while returning from a conference in Maryland about 2 weeks ago. Having stopped to get some food, i was merging back onto the right lane of traffic. As I gained speed to about 45 mph, I suddenly spotted the evil being that lurked in the left shoulder of the highway. It was one of the gang of lead-armored deer. Now most terrorist deer were trained to suicide-collide with unsuspecting and innocent vehicles. These deer, however, wore lead armor to increase their chance of surviving the crashes they'd cause and thus coming back to attack another vehicle.

from the left lane, I saw him eye my vehicle. i suspected this might turn out ugly, and knowing that there was a car immediately behind me, I began breaking before the deer even moved. as I watched the deer with my full attention, my worst feers came true. it started moving. and yes, it avoided all the traffic in the three lanes next to me and stopped directly in front of me and stared at my face. it had hatred written all over it.

having no choice but to slam on my brakes, I tried to bring the car to a stop without losing control of the vehicle. but there was no stopping the MPV and it slammed into the deer, pushing the deer onto the right shoulder. I stopped a few feet behind the deer, in utter shock. since I was right next to an entrance ramp, I turned the car and parked onto the shoulder of the entrance ramp.

I came around and saw the damage. it was messy. very messy. the grill was gone, the hood and left fender damaged. the bumper seemed ok, but it could have had internal injuries. and the kicker? the radiator was broken, so the vehicle was utterly undriveable. It had to be towed to the closest tow lot.

the Deer? well, it was lead armored. after about 10 minutes, it got up and looked straight at us. having ascertained that it had caused enough damage, it subsequently got up and walked off.

damn deer.

At this time, I have learned that the insurance company has labelled the vehicle as a loss. we will get cash equivalent for the vehicle.

and so now, I am in the market to replace my vehicle. i know it's a bit early, but i know MPV would have wanted me to remarry. err... i mean repurchase.

I'm currently looking at replacements. not sure what my budget is, as my dad is paying for the vehicle (he'll be using the car half the time). If i purchase new, i was thinking of getting a Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT sedan. those things are hella fast! If purchasing used, I was thinking of a 1994ish mercedes E420. considering I park in NYC, i think the used vehicle would make more sense.

I want to buy a vehicle i'd like driving (over 220 HP or so) while at the same time getting something that would be nearly bulletproof. I'd love to get a diesel mercedes, but the only diesels that have a decent amount of power are the 1998-2002 E320 CDI, but I don't like the styling on them and they are pretty expensive (cheapest around 20k).

so any other choices people thinking of?