Shifting Allegiance

I hate to do it, but I have to.
     For the last few months, there have been 2 cars parked in my driveway:  a blue 2003 Ford Taurus and a white 2012 Honda Accord.  I reluctantly decided to replace my Taurus when a piece of it fell off in the road when I was driving it, quite a long piece of the strip beneath the passenger side doors.  The side had been rusted out only since the past winter, but the car ran so well and had been so well maintained that I planned to drive it forever, until it started to fall apart, that is.  I was afraid that the entire bottom of the car might be rusted into a meshy substance  that would deteriorate and leave me flattened on the highway, though an inspection at the nearby auto repair shop said otherwise.  Still, I felt the time had come to get another car.  I had owned the Taurus almost 10 years, and have been very satisfied driving it, but until I replaced it I hadn't realized how comfortable a fit it was for me.  I'm not admitting that I don't like change, but the last 3 cars I've owned have been Ford Tauruses, and I add, coincidentally, all 3 have been blue.  Different shades of blue though!
     I bought a Honda, almost new, with all the latest appointments and accessories: power seats, leather upholstery, moonroof, Sirius radio and Bluetooth potential, dual controls for passenger and driver comfort, automatic driver adjustment positioning, about a thousand computers and half a million other accommodations.  Seems perfect, right? But no, it's not;  it just cannot compete with my ride of the last 10 years. 
     My faithful old Taurus also has leather upholstery, power seats, moonroof, adjustable steering wheel, and many other added features. Of highest importance is that I can easily secure the seatbelt, whereas doing so in the Honda means dislocating my shoulder to reach the strap, and then the seatbelt tends to stick in the doorway instead of neatly retracting.  The Honda steering wheel is about an inch less in diameter so I have to change my driving position slightly, oh, the strain.  And when the wheel is in the proper position, my view of the instruments is blocked; I have to crane my neck to check the speedometer.  Honda has installed rear seat headrests that may be safer but they loom up in the rear view mirror in a disconcerting manner, and I have not yet carried a single back seat passenger.  Whereas the headlight controls and windshield wipers were in their old familiar places on the right and left, with nice firm descriptors, the Honda has dainty little controls which have to be read to regulate them.  And the steering wheel is in the way!  Between the bucket seats on the Taurus, is a large open console that can be opened for convenience of versatile storage or closed and swung back for a smooth surface.  The Honda has a rigid console with tiny little compartments restricted to specific size uses, like one of those purses with too many compartments.  The Honda has stuff on the steering wheel that I don't get or don't understand---Bluetooth, etc.  I've just learned to turn on the radio, don't know how to program stations, play CD's, or switch from one mode to another. I'm not sure the headlights are on when I'm driving in daylight, and probably most annoying of all is that every once in a while the windshield wipers sporadically wave back and forth.  I guess at how to turn them off, and sometimes I'm successful.  On second thought, that is not the most annoying feature.  Even more  annoying, or rather embarrassing, is that I became trapped in the Honda, in a hospital parking lot.  I would not have thought it possible that the driver door would lock, and trap the driver inside.  But it happened.  I did what I hate to do:  read a manual to figure out how to exit the vehicle.  I had attempted trial and error, pressing buttons randomly, but all that did was trigger the car alarm.  It has not happened again, but it could.  I really hate reading those hundreds of pages manuals.  I know the front seat is heated in the Honda; someone turned it on, and I don't know where the control is to turn off the heat.  A heated seat is nice sometimes, but it can also be a distraction. Especially on high heat.  And another thing--the keys hang down from the ignition and touch the top of my leg.  Who needs that!
    I could probably find a few dozen more reasons why the Honda is not as comfortable as the Taurus, including the fact that the visor is not as easy to pull down when driving into the sun.  Instead of easy access as in the Taurus, there is just a tiny slot where you have to precisely insert your fingers to pull it down.  Another instance  of technology tailored to large Americans rather than the petite Japanese. 
    Now that I've vented my gripes, I guess I'm going to have to eat my words because I was just informed that the brake light is on in the Taurus, likely indicating the need for a brake job.  I suppose it's unlikely the result of sabotage, but the thought did cross my mind.  So WW II is over; I'll support the Japanese.