A short time ago I lifted my jaw off the floor after being informed that my car needs $2300 in repairs. Given my continuing gasping and silence, I suspect parts of my jaw have gone missing from the impact of it dropping.
And damn, I just put new tires on her not 2500 miles ago which begs the question - why didn't they notice I needed new four new struts and springs? (Pulls out tinfoil cranium adornment and impishly wonders if they sabotaged them hoping for the repair job!)
So, I managed 140,000 miles on a very trusty 1997 Toyota Corolla which I purchased used in 2000 when it had only 10K miles. Somewhere around 100K I replaced the original brakes, and except for a new alternator + battery at about 60K miles have not had any problems at all. 80000 miles later, I am still suspicious about whether that alternator was really broken (polishes that tinfoil). On the plus side, it may be the only Corolla with leather seats in the entire tri-state region - the guy at the parking garage swears it to be so.
And dammit, I was really hoping I would get 250,000 miles from that stupid car. Well, I still could if I want to spend (grock) $2300 on the damn thing. However, I am going for a second opinion tomorrow in an effort to avoid the ultimately inevitable car payment. But dammit all over again as I haven't had a car payment in years and that means my insurance would go up too - have you seen the prices of car insurance in Jersey lately?
So in an effort to assuage my grief for ol' Betsy, I'm coyly shifting my beast of burden onto you, dear reader.
What kind of car should I get this time around?
There are some rules you need to be aware of as we start our quest:
*It can be new or used.
*I'm a cheapskate so less than $25K please.
*It should have a good safety rating as dying in a car wreck would really fuck up my day.
I'd love to get a Prius but it's too rich for me and I am fearful of buying a used one as I don't want another huge bill for battery replacement in the near future.
Also, a bike is out of the question as twice a week I am forced into a 6o mile one way trip into NYC. The rest of the week I take the bus but those two days I start too early for transportation alternatives.
If you were a broken car, what would you want to be replaced with?