Yes, my dear little Honda (named Aretha, the same name my mom gave her first car) is acting up. I'm very lucky though, this time she waited til I was almost home. As I was pulling on to our street, I began to smell the distinctive scent of something sweet burning and saw smoke coming from under my hood.
Now, I understand my car is 11 year old and "stuff" happens. However, I just replaced my radiator and entire cooling system last fall.
Every time my car acts up, my dear husband decides that now is the time to buy me a new one. I appreciate his concern for my safety, obviously. And hell ya, I'd love to have a brand spankin' new car. But it's really not practical. I come from a family that runs cars into the ground. We would rather bite the bullet and pay $400 (um, or more) every year or so to keep the car going, rather than pay $400 every month as a car payment. My father, 63 years old, has had 4 cars in his lifetime ('68 Pontiac, '77 Pontiac, '85 Pontiac, '92 Mercedes). I have had mine for 10, and will keep it as long as the Car Gods keep her running. And it only has 145,000 miles on it! That's next to new for a Honda, right?
That does not mean I do not have my "dream car" picked out. If our family's mechanic comes back and tells me it will take a substantial fortune to keep Aretha going, I would pick a Honda CR-V. EX-L, Glacier Blue Metallic. Gray leather interior. Tinted windows. (it is not a gas guzzler and does not take up the same space as a tank on the road, so it is exempt from my general SUV hatred).
But like I said, hopefully the day I "upgrade" is far away. I love my car! No, the passenger window and the defroster don't work. Yes, she is dinged beyond measure from 4 years of parking in UF campus lots. No, the trunk hasn't closed or sealed properly since I was rear-ended in 2002. But seriously, no one in my life (aside from family and very close friends) has been a part of my life for 10 years! Aretha and I, we've got history.
So let's hope my mechanic calls with some good (cheap) news, haha...
Happy Friday!
No comments:
Post a Comment