Tuesday, April 22, 2014

I Guess It's Time To Go

Did you see the article online about the family's car that burst into flames while driving through the lion's enclosure at a zoo? You Can See it Here. Talk about a bad day.

Well that ain't nuth'in!!!
I was at a car dealership recently looking at cars and when I was leaving the transmission on my car went out leaving me stranded, surrounded by hungry salesman. Well maybe that ain't as bad but it was quite harrowing. I barely got away with just a limp.

Those of you that have followed me know I like to fix things and that includes my car. I was on track to reach 250,000 miles on it. When I reached 249,5000 I was pretty sure I would get there till I picked up some takeout one nite and she failed to pull away from a stoplight on my way home. A simple running the shifter through the range got her moving again.The next morning on my way to work the same thing happened and as before a shifter shift and I was off. At lunch I went car shopping. Now this wasn't on a whim. We had been looking for a while. Three years ago we replaced the wife's van saying if I could get one more year out of my car we would replace it. Well three years later here I am test driving cars and stuck in the lot.

I truly hated to do it, I recently replaced the brakes and completely disassembled the steering column to replace the turn signal unit, but Goldy just wasn't going to hang with me much longer. Sitting in traffic in Summer I had to run the AC to activate the external fans while running the internal blower on high with the heat on high to keep her from overheating and the windows down to keep me from overheating. She recently developed a crack in her radiator so I had to keep adding antifreeze. She had around 80,000 miles on her tires. The aforementioned tranny issues and the lights in the radio were failing. To top it off the CD player was hit and miss at best mess'in up my audio book time. She was a great car tho.

I did get her going again and visited the Toyota lot next door where I found a deal. OK, it wern't a deal or a bargain. And, I didn't like the color. I didn't even buy the car there but it gave me a bargaining chip.

I called another dealership and after 5 hrs of haggling we settled on a price and here I am. With Payments.

I hate I couldn't make my quarter million mile goal. I did get close. Yea, I gave up a 3/4 full tank of gas but I got a full tank to leave with.
 
Here she is driving away
 
Here she is still driving away. "Sniff, Sniff!!"
Good Bye Goldy

Here is what took her spot in the driveway. Starting at 11 miles on the odometer, On my way to another 250,000 miles.


10 comments:

MsNscr said...

Wow. Bummer to hear she didn't make it to another mile marker. I totally get that disappointment. Hopefully my Marti makes it to. Not too much farther!

Your replacement is a beauty. Any names being thrown around for her yet?

Juli said...

Nice.

Tony was on his way to get an oil change when his engine block cracked pulling into the garage at over 200K. And my Subaru also made it over 200 when I sold her.

If it makes you feel better, I have been dropped off to buy a car by a cab... that truck was the best car I ever owned... and 0% financing to boot. :)

Simply Suthern said...

Juli
I was torn between the Subaru Forrester and the Rav4. I so wanted the AWD. Price and dealership location made my choice. We had two Dodge Caravans that reached 217000 and 219000 miles. Once I buy a car I usually drive the wheels off it unless someone knocks the wheels off first.

Travel & Dive Girl said...

Congrats on getting her that far (assuming it's a her). My car is at 218,000 miles and its only a 2007. I hope she makes it a few more years before I'm in for payment again. BTW - the new car is nice. I like to color.

Beatriz said...

I like your new wheels :) I need to start looking soon, mind you I don't have as many miles on mine as you did. I also don't know how to fix my own car, he might last longer if I could fix him on my own. Not looking forward to the payments.

Have fun wit your new car :)

Anonymous said...

Aw man, just 500 miles and you would have made it. I had to laugh at your description of turning on the heat and driving with the windows down. I had an old mini-van like that. I drove it for at least another year with the heat running full blast and the windows down. That's probably the only year of my life when I looked forward to the winter:-)

Christian at Point Counter-Point Point Point said...

My previous two cars were totaled by people running into me. I'm not too keen on my current car so lately I've been finding myself wishing someone would crash into me again. Probably not the best state of mind when commuting to work.

Donna Tagliaferri said...

You did great!! I love getting a new car, but since it only happens 3 or 4 times in a lifetime.....
You have a wonderful car, time for a road trip, but no eating in the car.

Simply Suthern said...

@ Christian
I have lost a few cars by the actions of others. Actually killed a couple cars on my own too. One thing I liked about driving the $500 car is that I had a fender to offer folks that cut down on me in traffic. Now I tend to yield to the idiots.

Bobby Allan said...

Awww...it sounds like losing an old friend. I'm driving my dad's 14 year old Toyota and it only has 60,000 miles on it! Love not having a car payment but the crank windows are starting to wear on me.

Love your new ride!