Misheru

Okay, I have to admit that I am writing this because I am procrastinating at work.  YES, I AM WRITING THIS AT WORK, BUT IT’S MY LUNCH HOUR.  That being said, I’m probably going to eat some of the yummy hummus and pita + salad I bought while hunched over my desk trying to fix this DARN BUG!!! OOOh, I hate computers sometimes!  Particularly when my code is buggy.  But I fixed three bugs this morning, so I’m feeling a little entitled right now.

Anyway!  Back to the car.

Anyone who knows me knows the saga of me and my Ford Focus. Here’s the short long story: in college, my parents bought me a Ford Festiva (thank you mom and dad!) which I dearly loved.  It was small.  It was red.  Its name was Ho-Ho.  It got 42 mpg and almost never broke down, and it cost $100 to replace all 4 tires.  In short, it was car nirvana.

However, after we had Ben, it became car hell. We took back a carseat because it literally could not fit into the tiny backseat.  The next carseat, the smallest we could find for a newborn, only just fit, and then only if Marti drove with his knees around his ears.  Also, Ho-Ho didn’t have a/c, which was only miserable for a few months in Washington, DC — but we were moving to Tucson.  So one day I declared that I would NOT move to Tucson with an infant unless I had a car with air conditioning, which in hindsight was REALLY FREAKING SMART of me.  I can’t tell you the number of times I had to pull over in 110-degree weather to nurse Ben when he was little (Ben, if you’re reading this, YOU NEVER PUT MY NIPPLE IN YOUR MOUTH.  REALLY.) and I would leave that a/c going full blast, bringing the temperature of the car down to a comfortable 95+.  (Marti: mmmm, nipples). But I digress…

So, since I had loved my little Ford so very much, and it had been such a great car (I’d had a very, very crappy Subaru in highschool, whose tailpipe had broken in the middle of a church scavenger hunt leaving sparks and terrifying old ladies all over Ontario, Oregon.  Did I stop?  OF COURSE NOT) that I decided to buy another Ford. At first I wanted a Ford Fiesta, one jump up from the Festiva, only to find Ford had stopped making them in lieu of their new model, the Focus.  Some friends of ours had just bought a Focus (they had a new baby too) and just raved about it, so despite the fact that we had really been considering a Honda Civic, we went ahead and bought the Ford.  Oh, yes, we bough the farm Ford.

Our 2002 Focus worked well for about 6 months, whereupon it started making strange clicking noises that could be heard whenever we had the windows down. It was under warranty, so I happily took it to the dealership, where they kept it for 3 weeks (we only had bicycles to ride the entire time) and then declared nothing was wrong, it was perfectly fine, and I was clearly paranoid/insane.  Hmmmmmm.

We got the car back, only to hear the clicking noises some more, so I diligently took it back to the dealership.  They kept it another 2 weeks, but this time we hit paydirt — the transmission was bad.  What?  We had about 17K miles on the car (we had driven it to Tucson from DC) but I was very surprised to have lost the transmission already, and I blamed Marti’s driving.  It took another week to get a transmission in it, but after that there wasn’t any clicking, so we were happy.

Fast forward to 20,000 miles: stock tires are bald and have to be replaced. $400.

28,000 miles: during the very first brake change we found that the stock rotors were tiny and would have to be replaced.  Cost: $800.

37,000 miles: just out of warrranty, the car starts clicking again.

47,000 miles: Marti runs the car into an arroyo during a flash flood and the car has to be rebuilt from the bottom up.  We heave a sigh of relief as we get a 3rd transmission as part of the deal. We are without a car for 6 weeks.

55,000 miles: Back tires are bald again. Replacement cost: $300.

75,000 miles: Despite rotating tires, back tires are bald again. Replacement: $300 (yes, we should have used our warranty, but we hadn’t rotated every 5K miles and thus it was worthless — a good lesson).

85,000 miles: Car starts clicking again.

90,000 miles: Back tires are bald again.  My dad takes a look and says its the alignment.  We take it to a shop, who says it will cost $300 to align the tires because Fords have to have a special kit.  We also find out that the tires have never been aligned, and we probably bought the car that way because of how the dealers ship them on trucks, which is why our 75K tires only last 20K.  Cost: $600 with new tires (warranties don’t count if there is an alignment issue).

100,000 miles: Fuel pump dies. Replacement: $750.

105,000 miles: Car starts popping out of 5th gear and hydraulic fluid is running down the clutch pedal.  I suspect the transmission and clutch master cylinder, and take it to a shop.  They agree.  Cost: $3000.  Since the car is only worth $3200 in perfect condition, we consider it totaled.

Here’s the funny thing: I am totally and completely relieved. We’ve been fighting with that car for 8 years, so much so that I actually took a 1984 Toyota pickup on a 5,000 mile road-trip rather than drive our 3-year-old car.  We never knew when it was going to break down, blow a (new) tire, or just do something strange.  After about 15K miles, EVERYTHING rattled on it, to the point of driving us totally insane.  In fact, Marti would often speed in rental cars, because in our car the rattles got to be unbearable at about 70 mph, so it was easy to hear if you were speeding or not.  Since my parents were here, we took my dad and started looking around.  I thought I wanted to buy a Honda Accord or something similar (the Prius is still out of our price range) but I really wanted leather seats, so we looked at a lot of Volvos and Saabs and BMWs.  I had fun test-driving an older BMW 3-series, but it seemed small and the seats didn’t fold down in the back, which is problematic for us with our single car.  Finally, at a wholesale dealership I had gone to to check out a Saab, I saw it: a beautiful, 11-year-old Acura with leather seats, sunroof, power everything and Bose sound system for just $6K.  We took it for a test drive and I found it hard to give it back; we drove it for 45 minutes, checking out such novel features as the motorized, telescoping steering wheel (I had to sit on a pillow during long trips in our Ford), heated seats, lumbar support and cruise control.  I think the dealer thought we’d done a runner on him, but we did come back and offered him $5200.  We finally decided on $5400 plus taxes, which was a great deal and came to just over $6K out-the-door (taxes are high in Tucson).  The car doesn’t rattle.  It doesn’t grind.  It’s comfortable to drive and doesn’t hurt my back.  The kids love the back seat, which is big enough for them to actually stretch their legs, and I love the sunroof and the little niche where I can put my sunglasses.

I know that cars aren’t perfect — the Acura does occasionally make a buzzing noise when you first turn the a/c or heater on — but minor defects are different from new transmissions every 25K miles. More than the money, it’s the time in the shop that I dislike; we’ve had a second car from time to time (the Toyota pickup and a Volvo station wagon) but we are primarily a 1-car family, and I don’t think it’s reasonable to have a car in reserve just because the main car breaks down all the time.  I’m sure we’ll have to fix things on the Acura — after all, it’s an 11-year-old car! — but there’s a huge difference in quality here.  I’m not sure I would ever buy a new car again, and I don’t plan to ever buy another Ford (turns out Kia made my beloved Festiva, and sold it to Ford who slapped their tag on it).

As for the Ford, it’s scrap metal now.  We’ll probably donate it the end of the year, although I will try my hand at fixing the master cylinder if I can find some cheap parts, primarily just for the learning experience.  Some friends of ours just bought a new Ford Focus, despite our history with ours, and all I have to say is — good luck.  I’ll wave while driving by in my Acura.