DON'T buy a Honda

So, I took my two year old car in today for it's scheduled maintenance, which was already going to be overpriced at $147 for a tire rotation and and oil change when they called and said all the breaks needed to be done. So now I'm staring at a $700 bill. I foolishly said yes and when I called back ten minutes later to say no, I'll take it to somewhere else where I only need to give them an arm (not an arm and a leg like they want at the Honda dealership) they conveniently were too far into the process and couldn't go back. Next time, I'm buying American, like I should have in the first place. At least I'll be supporting the American economy then.

So much for my church history trip.

EDIT: The total came to $740, and that's with a 10% parts and labor discount because I complained enough. Ridiculous!

To All The Cars I've Loved Before.....

(To those who don't know, the title of this post is a spoof off of Julio Iglesias' To All the Girls I've Loved Before)

I just got my 2006 Honda Civic back after it being gone for a week in the shop. I had an odor coming out of my car and knew it was probably a coolant leak. It turned out to be a coolant leak from the engine and they had to replace the whole engine block. Ouch! Luckily, it was covered under warranty! But in the meantime, I had a rental car. It was a cute little Nissan Versa, and other than the fact it was the base model and therefore didn't have the fun features on my car, it was nice. But I REALLY missed my car. And it got me thinking about the four cars I have owned. So, here's a tribute to my 1980 Honda Accord, 1988 Nissan 300ZX, 2003 Nissan Altima, and 2006 Honda Civic.

Unfortunately, I don't believe I own a picture of my first car, a 1980 Honda Civic. This picture I found on the Internet. It looks just like my first car. I remember fondly coming home from BYU after my freshman year. The Reynolds dropped me off at about 1 in the morning, and I remember seeing this strange car on the street. My mom then told me that it was my car. I loved that little car, even though I had fuel pump problems, head gasket problems, and master cylinder problems with it. In fact, it was broken down more than it was running. Still, it was my first car, and it was fun to drive (my first time driving a stick shift). The master cylinder went out while driving down 2230 North, which is right downhill. That's also when I learned that master cylinders control the breaks. Yeah, that was a scary time, and luckily the light turned red before I got down the hill, because it forced me to quickly turn right onto a desereted street rather than go down and smash into some other cars. After the second head gasket blew, I had to leave the car where I used to live. A friend was supposed to go over and pick it up later and fix it, but it didn't quite work out that way, and it was eventually towed away and is probably now in some junk yard with people robbing it for parts (at least, I hope that's its fate, and not that it's a little cube of steel. But here's a picture of what he looked like. I called him Kermit and I had a license plate frame that read 'If you can read this, I'm still in first gear.

My next car was a 1988 Nissan 300ZX. I got it my senior year of college. It was so much fun, but ended up having so many problems that I sold it for only a few hundred dollars. If I had a house, I would have kept it and perhaps have fixed it up. When we bought it, it was salvaged. The driver's side door never closed correctly, which meant I had a lot of fun whenever I went through a car wash. But it was such a fun car. It was powerful too, having no trouble going up Lombard Street. And up a dirt hill at Saltair in Salt Lake City. Eventually the passenger window wouldn't roll down, there was no air conditioning (causing many a humerous trip home to my parents in the middle of summer), a failed attempt to steal the car caused the door handle to work correctly, but I still loved that car. It was fun to drive.

So I bought my first car, an Altima, in 2003. I never liked sedans, and before this had thought about getting an SUV. But then I saw the restyled Altima and fell in love. I just love those rear taillights. I didn't like the color of blue they had, but at the dealership I liked this color, and I liked the leather seats, LOVED the Bose speakers, and liked the sunroof and heated seats. So I bought it. It was my 'luxury' car - it had all the cool things I wanted in a car. It had a ton of room and Allison and everyone loved to hear that stereo. I would still have that car if the engine didn't go. I was driving from temple pageant and it started making sounds. It ended up that the catalytic converter somehow messed up and went into the engine and messed it up. The local Nissan dealership told me that it would be $4000 to fix it. I looked at how to get a new car, and only later did the dealership tell me that it was covered under the emissions warranty. By that time, I was already in the process of getting a new car, but my brother decided to buy the car off of me, so at least it's still in the family.

Here are my Altima and Civic together.

So I bought my 2006 Civic. It's a fun, sporty car. It has the audio controls on the steering wheel and the sunroof, but no leather, and the stereo isn't nearly as cool. But it's a lot of fun. I love the smaller steering wheel and the digital spedometer that makes it look like a cockpit. And I really missed it the past week I wasn't able to drive it. Thank goodness I have it back.

Yep, I loved each car I've had. Two Hondas, two Nissans. They've been good and fun cars. Hopefully I'll get to keep this Civic for awhile so I can buy the next one in cash.

I miss my car

I started smelling a 'sweet' smell coming out of my car last week. It was kind of like a maple syrup smell, but not as good. From my really old 1980 Honda Accord I had in the past, I knew this could be the head gasket, but there wasn't a whole bunch of white smoke, so it most likely was a leak in the coolant system. So I took it in yesterday to the dealer and they called me later to say the leak was coming from the bottom of my engine and the engine bloc would have to be replaced. They had a bulletin on it though, so it's all going to be covered. But since they basically have to take my engine apart, I'm going to be without it for up to a week, so I get a rental.

My rental car is a Nissan Versa. It's the base model for it, and although I like the looks of the hatchback version of it, the sedan is kind of boring. Especially in silver (I usually don't like silver cars, they're boring to me - sorry to anyone with a silver car - your car looks beautiful in silver :). Still, it gets me from Point A to Point B. I wonder if I would like it better if it was an upgraded version. But it makes me miss my Civic. I miss my audio controls on the steering wheel, the input jack for my iPod, and my sunroof (I didn't realize before how much I like the option of looking up to see the sky if I would like to.

I didn't like sedans for the longest time. They all looked boring to me and seemed like they were just family cars, like minivans, but a little cooler (not much). Then I saw the 2003 Nissan Altima which I fell in love with and bought. It was a great car before it's engine acted up. I like the looks of my Civic, although I do believe someday whenever I buy a new car, I'm going to go for the coupe version of a car.

Well, hopefully I'll get my car back before the weekend. It'll make me really appreciate that car!