Pride of the Neighborhood
Are You Still Out There
Vacation
Birthday Weekend
It's a Whole New Me
Introducing BoBo Kitty
I'm Ready for a Vacation
Think Small
Why Do I Stress?
Let There Be Fence
Title Images: Image Cafe
Image Hosting: Flickr
Design: Design in Reflection
Geeky Friend: Tommy's Daddy
|
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
|
|
Car For Sale
My lovely vacation came to a screaching halt yesterday as I was about to go to the store. I started my car and it started making a funny noise I did not recognize. I turned it off and started it again. Same thing. I left it on and went to get M. He came out to the garage, by which time a bad odor started to fill the garage. My alternator went out. Again. About this time last year, I replaced the altinator. My car is 4 years old. It's a Toyota. Supposedly a fine long lasting reliabile vehicle. Right??? Apparently, I got the only lemon on the lot. This is what happens when your husband decides to do something nice for you and replace the vehicle that is too big for you. We had a Nissan Xterra, manual transmission. I'm not tall. I had to sit with the steering wheel practically resting in my stomach in order to reach the petals. Any type of impact and I would have been impaled by the air bag and killed instantly. Plus I commuted a lot back then and couldn't afford (or rather refused to pay) for the gas. So we get this beautiful toyota. It's comfy, it's a little peppy, sunroof. I love it. For two years, it was great. Then, the transmission goes out. I feel it start to go. I take it to the dealer. Drive it around, I say, you'll feel it slipping. Sometimes it won't even go into gear. They hook it up to their All Knowing Oz kind of a machine. "Mam, we can't find anything wrong." Yea, two days later I had to have it towed back to their stupid service department and tell those apes over there that it was dead. Thankfully, it was still under warranty. Once it was replaced, I just don't think the car was the same. It didn't drive like it used to. I've had to have the fuel system flushed and replace the alternator twice now. The other thing I don't like is that if you buy regular brakes for it (not toyota brand) the brakes will wear half way and you'll have to replace them because the steering wheel will shake and shimmy. I had a Ford Festiva for almost 10 years. The only thing I had to replace EVER on that piece of crap was the muffler. That's it. KIA engine goooooood.
After a little running around looking for the receipt for the last alternator purchase, and some of the "Fuck, I hate you" bullshit that usually follows an incident like this in our home, we decided to go do a little car window shopping. We went to Nissan first and tried an Xterra again. This time an automatic. This vehicle is the one M wishes we had kept. I would have been a fine passenger in it. And as I don't commute anymore, I could handle the gas. Maybe. They are a little over priced for the bare bones kind of truck it is. Of course it was 4th of July and EVERYTHING was on sale..but they don't want to crunch numbers without a credit check blah blah blah. Really, I don't want another Xterra. I think that I'll make M happy if I get another one. We had this whole conversation before we left. He said, don't get something because you think I like it. It's for you, your driving it. Don't worry about me. Ok, I WON'T. haha I have a hard time with this, cuz somewhere it is programmed into me that if he's happy, I'm happy. But he's never happy. So I'm gonna try hard to make myself happy. Guilt free happy. You know what I'm talking about. Yea, I can be selfish, but not usually without feeling guilty if my family isn't happy about it.
Moving on, this is getting wordy. We went to KIA. Don't laugh. KIA engines rock. They have a 10 year/100,000 Mile warranty. You know why? Cuz they ROCK. We sat in a Sportage, which I thought was a little crampt. Then the Sorrento. They had this white one with gold on the bottom. It was a SWEET little old granny car. I LOVED IT. I thought it drove smooth. It was comfy. It's made in Korea, with short people in mind. This is good for Dot. Not so much for M. But again, OH WELL. The price is right. Great rebates. I think we have a winner folks. Stayed tuned for pics of Dot's new granny car.
|
|
