YEM 2.0
I got a call from Kristin the other day. She had taken the car, which was burning two quarts of oil a month, to the dealership. After quite some time the guy called her back to their little offices and says, "Well, the good news is that we found the problem. The bad news is you're burning oil in your head gasket and it's leaking oil into the coolant system. We can repair the gasket, bearings, and all the associate (buzz buzz buzz Kristin stops understanding) but it would be cheaper to just replace the engine. That runs about $3,000."
Insert laughter from Kristin. Her spidey sense is telling her this is NOT the good news. This is the VERY, VERY, VERY bad news.
"Your car is almost ten years, it's got almost 150k miles, it's had a good run. I think it's time for a new car."
More laughter from Kristin.
So Kristin gives me a call. "Well, honey, the good news is we know the problem..." then continues to tell me everything the guy at the dealership told her. I was a bit skeptical (is the guy at the dealership trying to take me for a run?) so I decided to talk to Fang, the Product Managers for Cars on wp.com. Our conversation went something like this:
Fang is parked in front of a TV watching the World Cup.
Oliver: Hey Fang, got a car question.
Fang: Sure, what's up?
Oliver: Looks like our car is having problems. Burning oil in the head gasket.
Fang: Oooh. Bad news. It's cheaper to replace the engine.
Oliver: That's what the guy at the dealership said! I didn't believe him.
Fang: Yeah. But, if the repair costs will be more than 40% the blue book value of your car, just get another car.
Oliver: *silence*
Fang: This is the nine year-old Accord with 140k miles, right?
Oliver: Yes.
Fang: It's had a good life. Get a new car.
I call Kristin and all we can do is laugh. So, YEM, the name of the black Honda Accord (it's license plate was YEM-XXXX) had to leave us. We decided we wanted a small SUV, something we could keep for a couple of years and fit one or two kids in the back of. We headed off to a couple of dealerships on Saturday and sat in the Toyota RAV-4, the Honda CRV, and the Ford Escape. Much to my chagrin, all three were too small. Don't they make cars for normal sized people? The nerve.
So we tried the Toyota Highlander and the Honda Pilot. Once again, the Highlander was too small (CAN'T ANYONE MAKE A CAR FOR PEOPLE TALLER THAN 5'2"?), so the Honda Pilot it was.
We ended up trading in YEM, and buying a 2006 Honda Pilot LX, silver with grey interior. Three rows of seating seat eight in total. Loads of
interior space and leg room. We have since found out from friends that you can fit three car seats in the middle row. Will be the perfect car with which our family can grow.
