Monday is the day the trucks come to our house and remove the detritus that we put out next to the street. Most weeks it is yard waste, recycling and garbage. This week we had an extra ton of garbage. The old car was out there too. And was actually the first bit of trash to leave the curbside.
The tow truck driver was to come on Monday. And he did. We didn’t expect him before 7 AM. And he said if he had not been held up in traffic he would have been there 2 hours earlier. Since Carl had not put the keys in the glove box yet, it is good he was delayed. As the car was being pulled onto the truck, Carl realized the soccer ball hanging from the mirror was still there. When I cleaned out the car I was not looking up.
I called this our old car. To be truthful it was not that old. 10 years, just over 100,000 miles. I would consider it to be at midlife. Taken too early.
The last time I had to give up a car before I was ready to do so was in 1978. The car was my family’s (not mine) 1970 Ford Fairlane 500 Station Wagon (the Pucci Rustoli). Note I said give it up. As in leave it in Michigan when I moved to Colorado. Probably a wise decision by my parents, who knew better about taking care of cars.
But I was not ready to get a different car. Wasn’t even a blip in our financial horizon for another several years. But there you have it. Sometimes thing just happen. So I we have spent the last few weeks looking for a new car.
We had it down to Civic, Mazda 3 and Corolla. We usually are looking at the base model. Inexpensive, work horse, econo-box. [Yes, the Prius was our aberration.] Sunday was spent test driving the three, looking at costs, etc, etc, etc.
And today, as the broken car left, a new car replaced it.
We ended up with a Toyota Corolla. Recalls and all. Despite the calls for Honda out of Michigan (note that I think I may have had the first Honda in the bunch in 1980). The reason? It was the Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise (thanks to the Grinch), and lack thereof in the Corolla. Especially on the highway. It also had more bells and electric whistles than the Civic, for basically the same price. The Mazda 3 was disappointingly lurchy when starting. When we started this journey, Carl really thought we would just get another Mazda. I had told people I did not want a Corolla. And there you go – don’t trust what I say.
I have never had as difficult a time actually buying the car. I was close to tears several times, and couldn’t hold them off when Carl got in to drive it away and the dealer asked how the experience had been. When writing out the checks I believe I actually said, “I don’t want any thing to do with this.” That about sums it up. But sometimes you have no choice.
As I said above, I have only had a car pulled away from me one other time. Other changes:
- 1976 Mustang (bought in 1978) – burned oil like crazy. Last Ford I have owned.
- 1980 Honda Civic (new car – replaced Mustang) – lasted 20 years and 280,000 miles. It was old and had lived a long full like. Ready to rest, and not because of rust.
- 1988 Honda Civic (new car – 2nd car) – lasted 5 years. We needed a bigger car, and it had better resale potential than the 1980. Plus it was never as good a car as the 1980.
- 1992 Dodge Caravan (used car – replaced 1988 Civic) – lasted 11 years. Was our big car when we had 5 kids to haul around. It was unusual in that is was a manual shift on a mini-van. It was nice for vacations with lots of people too. But again, not the best car, and we were ready for a new car when the number of kids dropped.
- 2000 Mazda Protegé (new car – replaced 1980 Civic) – lasted 10 years and 102,065 miles. Bargain basement $10,000 car on the lot. Not an electronic piece of equipment to be found on this car. Not even a radio. A great deal, and a good little basic car. Too young.
- 1998 Toyota Corolla – used car for Rey. Still going.
- 2004 Toyota Prius (new car – replaced 1992 Caravan) – Still going, over 95,000 miles.
- 2010 Toyota Corolla (new car – replaced 2000 Mazda) – We’ll see.
In conclusion. This has been difficult. But in the end, we really have no problems. Everybody is OK, and basically healthy. It is only a car.
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