What happened this morning: I got in the car to go pick up my children from Granny's house, and it refused to start. Doh!! I'm writing this while waiting for a friend to arrive to try to help jump the beast.
The Story I was going to tell: We started looking for another car once when we learned that our son was on the way. The main family car at the time was a not-too-reliable Chevy Caprice 9C1. The car had its moments, but was not all that fun to take into the shop. While the Caprice had plenty of room inside, it was apparent that having two six-footers in front was going to make it hard to carry a toddler and baby in the back. It was plenty wide, but could use a little bit more in the length department. Our daughter's carrier snuggled nicely between the seat backs of the front seats when installed in the middle of the back seat, and we weren't going to have that option with two occupants back there.
Our search began, and over the course of a few months of combing through Autotrader's web site, and examining interior specifications of everything I could think of, I noticed a car that was slowly dropping in price as it continued to go unsold. It didn't have a lot of miles for its age. The interior was quite cavernous, with legroom everywhere, and it had a (queue the ray of light!) sunroof. The first problem we noticed was that the display didn't work on the stereo. Okay, we thought, we would probably be replacing that with an newer unit, so that gives us haggle room. The next thing was the climate control system. Somehow it was stuck on max heat. We went home later and thought it over, inadvertently leaving my Sting CD in the unlit CD player. We called later to say we would like to buy it, and found out that it was actually owned by a broker who was a good bit closer to where we lived, and that it had been taken back there to replace the stereo (Bye-bye, Sting!). We made the trip out there, and started talking about what it needed, and what we would pay. From the continual price drops, no doubt due to some of the flaws previously noted, and the dealer's inability to get the display to work on another stereo, we got a pretty nice deal on a quite luxurious car.
After that it was our primary family car, and while there were some problems with the transmission leaking, a freak coolant issue, and letting it go too long without changing the timing belt, the car has been fairly dependable with regular use. It has never stranded us on the freeway, which the Caprice did a number of times, and is usually up to whatever task put before it.
The standout feature for me this week, was looking back at how very capable it is in slick conditions. I don't think I've been in a more capable car with a single axle propelling it.
A few winters back, my father and brother were visiting with Dad's RV, being followed close behind by my step-mother in the Suzuki Sidekick tow-vehicle. While step-mom was on her way, a big storm hit, and made what is usually an uneventful trip into something a little more scary. Somewhere between the directions my dad gave her and the weather, my step-mom took a wrong turn and while she had made it to within 10 miles of my home, we didn't want to risk any further problems. My dad and I headed out in the LHS to find her. The tires were VERY bald, and the traction control was kicking in every time we started after a stop, but it took the conditions well and never lost its composure. In the aftermath of this same storm, we agreed to shuttle my brother back home so that my dad could go further north to avoid the storm in the big rig. That was a real nail biter, as the car was driving on ice during the whole trip.
Earlier this week, I took the kids down to the Oregon Coast to celebrate New Year's. I had planned on leaving in the wee hours of the morning, which turned out to be a good thing, because we drove on ice ALL the way from Olympia down to Tillamook. The car seems ideally balanced for traveling like this.
If only it weren't so scared of high winds!!!
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