DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Brandon On South Street

Q: Welcome to Defend Your Ride Philly. Where and how did you get your car?

A: I was driving around a 1995 Ford Mustang that I was dumping a lot of money into, to make it into a show car. Sadly, it was also my daily beater. All the work I was putting into was just getting wrecked. I decided it was time to get a new daily driver. I wanted something that was bigger and had all-wheel drive, so that I can throw my snowboard in the back and head up to the mountains without an issue. SUVs are nice if I was a soccer mom and had little minions to cart around, but that's not the case. This was in my price range and hit pretty much every requirement that I was looking for in a car. I had a nice little nest egg put away for such an occasion, so I went to the dealership, dropped the down payment and the rest was history.

Q: How would you describe your purchasing experience?

A: I bought it from Prestige Mitsubishi in Turnersville, New Jersey. I was working outside of Philly at the time, so I used to pass the dealership every day on my way home to Jersey. It was a good experience. The haggling got a little intense, but they blinked first, so to speak, and I got the car for a steal.

Q: Where do you live?

A: I recently took up residence in Ventor, New Jersey, two blocks off the beach, 08406.

Q: How old are you?

A: I'm 27.

Q: What is your car's main use? How much time do you spend in it?

A: It's mostly for the trek to and from work, and running errands.

Q: Tell me more about your commute to work. Where do you drive?

A: The commute to work is a short one these days. I bartend in Atlantic City, which is all of 15 minutes from my new apartment. I'm also a freelance web designer, which allows me to work from my home office, which I obviously have no need to drive to.

Q: Aside from commutes, what kind of day trips do you take? What's your favorite?

A: Every year my area is put under a state of emergency during the winter because of some horrific snow storm. That's when I go out and play. The roads are empty and the snow is plentiful.

Q: Where's the farthest place you've driven to with this car?

A: I've gone to Boston and back. I don't recall how long it took to get to and from, but I do know I tend to have a heavy foot on the open road.

Q: What was the craziest trip like?

A: On one winter night, I was bored and hungry. I decided that I should drive up to Pat's Steaks for some delicious late night snacking. I picked up my girlfriend and we headed up to Philly. After I filled my belly, I decided that driving back home was not a viable option, so we headed to Delaware. Delaware then turned into Baltimore. That's when things got extremely fun. Apparently the ongoing snowstorm was so bad down there, that the entire city was an empty wasteland, short of plow trucks that were trying to clear the streets. I took full advantage of this 3 a.m. miracle of the Inner Harbor. After I had some fun driving around, we began our journey back north. It was there that I decided that I could make it to New York City by sunrise, but someone had to be at work that morning and refused to call out. With the voice of responsibility as my copilot, we cut the trip short. But that was definitely the craziest trip I took with the Ralliart.

Q: Finally, how many miles do you think are in the life of your car?

A: Hopefully I won't need a new car for at least another 10 to 12 years. Based on the 50,000 miles I've driven in the past three years, I can see myself pushing the Ralliart to the 200,000 mile mark before I'm ready to buy a new car.