Welcoming Another Honda to the Family

Old 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid

So Doug has been looking to buy a car for a while now.  His reasoning being that my car has issues and we didn't want to be in the same situation as we were before desperately looking all weekend in the rain for a car.

Back in 2007 when we came out to Virginia, we both had jobs that required commuting and needed two cars ASAP.  Doug found a 2004 Civic Hybrid and bought it privately from some guy in DC.  He figured that it would be a smart buy to save on gasoline.  Not too long afterward, he started feeling a teeny tiny shake whenever he accelerated the car up a really steep hill.  That shake progressively got worse over the four years we had the car.  I have been the one driving it the past two years and I have HATED it.  Every time I would accelerate, even if it wasn't on a hill, the car would go dldldldl.  That's the best I can type the shaking noise.  The car never actually had issues with reliability, but it always made that horrible sound.  We figured it was either going to die on us soon because it was transmission related or need a $4000 battery replacement because it had over 100,000 miles on it.  We probably will never buy a hybrid again.

So, back to car buying... Doug had been to the Honda dealership down near his work a couple of times to test drive a few cars and he basically liked them all, but they didn't have all of the features he was looking for.  Unfortunately with the situation in Japan after all of the earthquakes and tsunamis and such, it makes it difficult to get the car you want.  They offered to put Doug on a waiting list 30+ people long for the 2012 Honda Civic.  The problem was that they were only getting cars in randomly and they didn't have any choice as far as the color, the interior, or other features.

We decided to go to the Honda dealership way out in the boonies where we bought our Accord used almost two years ago.  It turns out that they have like the biggest inventory in the area because they have a smart conservative owner AND well... they're out in the boonies.  :)  They had FOUR 2012 Civics on the lot!  One of them had the leather seats and was the right color, but didn't include the navigation system, but it was really close enough AND there was no waiting list here.

We took it for a test drive and Doug absolutely loved it.  The car had blue tooth and paired right up with his phone and started playing his favorite soundtrack from the movie Inception.  It was perfect!  The dealer had already added this extra "appearance package" that we weren't interested in, but thought we could haggle it out of the end price.

SO, we finally found THE car, we just needed to haggle a little, right?  WRONG.  Our salesman said in the nicest way possible that there was absolutely no wiggle room at all.  They had barely gotten the car on the lot and it had several potential buyers.  We still tried to see if they would pay to add a remote start onto the car and that was a no as well.  We were pretty turned off by their unwillingness to negotiate, so we left for lunch to talk about it.  I figured the salesman would offer us something before we left, but he only offered us lunch at the dealership so we wouldn't leave.

After lunch, we were on the way back to the Honda dealership when we drove by a Toyota dealership.  We went ahead and turned around and decided to test drive a few cars.  We've always been Honda loyal, but the Toyota line has a great reputation as well.

We started with the 2011 Toyota Corolla. which is the equivalent for the Honda Civic as far as size.  This is just my personal opinion, but I thought that the inside of the car looked a little cheaply made. (Hopefully I'm not offending any hardcore Toyota fans.)  The salesman knew right away by our faces that we were not impressed with the Corolla, so he put us in the much bigger and luxurious Camry.  We drove the Camry and it was really nice.  The sticker price was about the same as the Honda Civic and Toyota was offering free oil changes for life!  Doug tried for a while to pair his phone with the bluetooth in both cars, but for some reason they kept rejecting his phone.  Silly as it sounds, it totally put him off from really loving the cars.

We were really close to buying the Camry and decided to go out and sit in the car to talk about it.  I could tell by Doug's face that he wasn't as thrilled with this car as he had been with the Civic, but he kept on saying, "This car makes more fiscal sense. We SHOULD buy it instead."  I told him that we were not buying a car that day unless he was ABSOLUTELY thrilled with the purchase.  You shouldn't spend that much money on something that you aren't absolutely thrilled about.  The Toyota salesman gave us the keys and told us to take it for another drive with just the two of us.  I really thought that Doug was going to buy the Camry.  (I think the salesman did too.)

NEW 2012 Honda Civic

Doug drove straight over to the Honda dealership just to LOOK at the Civic one last time to decide if it was something that he could live without.  I was quite embarrassed because we were PARKING a TOYOTA that we were TEST DRIVING in the customer parking of the HONDA lot.  It even had the big sticker in the window and the license plate on the front dash.

Doug walked right over to the Civic we had test drove earlier, opened up the door, and sat inside the car.  He put the key in the ignition and his phone's blue tooth chirped at the car remembering it once again,  He got this big smile on his face and it was then, before he even said anything, that I knew we were purchasing this car TODAY.  He told our salesman to get it ready and we would be right back... we had to drop off the Toyota we had been test driving and get back our old car. :)

They still didn't budge on the price of the car, but gave us a much higher trade in value than we thought we would ever get with the obvious issues on our hybrid.  In the end Doug got exactly what he was looking for.  A comfortable commuting car that gets good gas mileage and is reliable.

My commuting car is now the Accord and I'm super excited.  When we bought it two years ago, I was really shopping for ME even though Doug was going to be the one driving it.  For the first time in my life I have.. like.. a little pride in my vehicle.  I may actually wash this car. :)

New Toy

Doug's been looking at S2000's since... well forever ago. I think his dad took him to a car show when we was around 17.  He sat in a yellow S2000 and fell in love immediately.  In January of last year, Honda announced that it would be discontinuing the S2000 in 2009. He decided at that point to start an extra savings account to put money in every month for a "fun car" purchase.

He's been looking online through craigslist and autotrader to find the S2000 that was the right price, the right mileage, and hopefully the right color. The right color would be yellow.  Why yellow?  For those of you that know my husband, you may know that he is colorblind.  Basically everything he sees is in gray scale like an old black and white TV, except for the color yellow.

Doug found the listing for a yellow S2000 on craigslist Friday morning this last week.  We went to go check it out yesterday... and it was perfect! We put a deposit down on the car and he's picking it up this Friday.  He's really excited and basically at the point of shock and disbelief.  Here is a picture of the actual car.

For those of you that are wondering what I think about this purchase, I want you to know that I actually encouraged and pushed for it.  Doug has been working like crazy for our family.  He has been putting back significant amounts of his paycheck every month for my dreams the last 5 years that we have been married.  It has been his dream since he was a teenager and as far as I am considered, he has earned it with all his hard work.

I know that it only has two seats and I definitely have plans for a life that involved more people in our family than will fit into 2 seats.  We have 2 other reliable cars with enough seats, so I think we'll be okay for a while.  For right now I have a husband that is literally floating on top of the world.

My first plans for the car... driving to Washington DC this next weekend to go to the 44th Annual Smithsonian Kite Festival.  Then we're off to Hawaii on Monday for the next 9 days.  It almost seems too good to be true!

Rainy Day Car Shopping

With my car suddenly going kaput, we needed another vehicle to get me to work ASAP. Luckily, the art teacher at my school lives like 3 houses down from us so it was easy for me to hitch a ride with her to and from work all week. I usually stay quite a bit later than her and arrive a little earlier than her so it made it an interesting week, but I was EXTREMELY grateful to have a way to get to work.

Doug had been thinking about trading in his 2004 Civic Hybrid because it wasn't as good for his new commute that involves more high speed interstate travel rather than the stop and go traffic of his last commute. My commute IS stop and go traffic so we decided get a new car for him to drive and I would drive his "old" one.

It's never the best condition to have to buy a car when you ABSOLUTELY need it, but this was our situation. Friday after school was out, Doug picked me up and we started right away visiting dealerships all around the DC metro area. We were looking for a sedan/coupe that cost under $12K, had around 50K miles, was newer than a 2004, and was preferably a Honda or Toyota. (Doug also wanted to get a manual transmission...) We knew that it would be quite the challenge to find such a vehicle, but we weren't going to settle unless such a car did not exist.

It's been pouring down a depressing, very cold, yucky rain since Thursday, so we were the only people out looking for cars. We visited some pretty interesting places from hits that we found on autotrader.com and cars.com. Whenever we got there, the cars that we were interested in were either gone already or hadn't been taken care of. We didn't even get the chance to haggle on a car because they all stunk. They even sat us down to talk to The Manager who asked us, "What can we do to get you into a car today?" It was pretty annoying and exhausting at the same time. We left the last used car place at 9:00pm Friday night and headed home pretty discouraged.

We started early this morning hoping to have better luck at a Honda Certified Dealership up in Maryland where my parents had bought their Odyssey a few years back. We were a little skeptical because these places usually run more expensive. When we arrived, they actually had already sold the two cars that we had come to see, but we decided to stick around and test drive some anyways.

We test drove a 2007 Honda Accord SE first, but Doug wanted to try out a 5 speed. We got into another 2007 Accord that was a 5 speed, but it had some burn marks in the back seat and was more expensive. The last car we test drove was a very low mileage 2008 Honda Civic SI Coupe (2 door) that was a 5 speed. Doug LOVED driving it. I liked the first Accord, but Doug really liked the Civic. Both had their sell points...

The salesman that we worked with was much better than the others that we had encountered the previous day. He was up front with us and supported our decisions. He didn't try to push us up on the price tag by showing us cars outside of our preferred range. He was just a nice guy AND he listened. He left us for a while so we could discuss the decision privately.

I felt really bad as the wife to have to ground Doug, aka Mr. Practical, with practicality because I wanted him to be able to get the fun car. Kids or no kids, Doug drags around a bunch of stuff in his car and it would be hard to get to the back seat without 4 doors. In the end, Doug agreed with me and we decided that the 2007 Accord would be the best buy for our family.

Well, here's our new car... well, at least it's new to us.


2007 Honda Accord SE

RIP 1999 Honda Accord

Honda Accord, 10 years of age with 180k miles, died October 13, 2009, of transmission complications.

Honda joined our small family of two in the early spring of 2004 from the Brent Brown Dealership in Provo, Utah. Bought in the early days of our relationship, you were our first big financial decision made together. We toiled several hours after finding you wondering if you would be the right one for our family. After many tears, prayers, and a co-signing from my dad, you were finally ours.

The night before we took you home, we sat at the dealership in your leather seats and contemplated the big decision we were making. We were worried about the monthly car/insurance payments we would need to make on top of our rent and tuition payments as poor college students. But, we were also tickled at the thought of taking you home and gaining independence from The Bus. No more grocery trips in the roommate's car, no more bus rides to the movie theater for a date, and maybe.. just maybe, a trip to Squaw Peak to "see the stars of Provo".

We've been through good times and bad times... speeding tickets, cross country road trips (5 to be exact), and many many hours of commuting. I've spent many hours at your wheel thinking about life in general. Many important life changing decisions have been made as I have pondered at your wheel while driving the 45 minutes to and from work every day. You have been a good car.

Honda is survived by owners Doug and Jenny and a younger, more spry Honda Civic Hybrid sibling that hopefully has a lot more life in it.

Honda, you will be missed... but remembered fondly around tax season as we submit your donation to a charitable foundation as a tax deduction.

Columbus Day Weekend

Doug and I basically did nothing this long Columbus Day weekend, but it was nice to just have an extended amount of time together. Saturday, we met my parents at Five Guys to celebrate Doug's graduating from school. We saw a lot of friends that we haven't seen in a while that are in my parents' stake and it was nice to catch up. It was also nice to have a big double patty bacon cheeseburger (on my dad's tab) as a graduation present for Doug. Yes, Doug graduated from his training for work... finally! He was second in his class and I'm really proud of him for all of his hard work! Unfortunately for me, this doesn't quite mean that he's finished with his apartment. He now has some on the job training until December... but the end is in sight.

As you've read in previous blog posts, I've been having some car troubles. Last night Doug was loading up HIS car so he would be ready the next morning to leave for work. When he was unlocking the car, he happened to notice that the locks were kind of slow coming up. He got in his car to start it and his battery was DEAD. We jumped it with my car and took a late trip to Walmart in his car to buy a battery and installed it right there in the parking lot. (Walmart parking lots at night are scary places.) I had called my parents earlier to let them know that we might need a car if it was a more serious issue, but it turned out that it was only the battery. As I was hanging up the phone with them, I let them know that they might want to be on alert if something went wrong in the morning and we needed a last minute extra vehicle.

Fast forward to this morning... Doug car started up without an issue and he was on his way at around 5:45am. I was ready and out the door by about 6:15am. My car started up just fine and I headed out of the development. Just as I was pulling out of the development, my car decided to rev the engine, but not actually move forward. (I'm pretty sure this has something to do with the transmission.) The guy behind me, decided to start honking his horn at me and made me feel really bad. I was able to pull out of the neighborhood and turn around in the Squircle to head back. (I wrote about the Squircle here.) I pulled my car into the garage and called my family to have Chris take me to work. I was not going to take chances and be on the side of the road again.

My little brother, once again, needed to take me to work. I got there only 5 minutes after my students were in the door and had a nice day for the most part. The art teacher at my school lives a couple houses down from me and was willing to bring me home today. We left right at 3:00pm, yes that is about 5 hours earlier than I usually leave! All of my teammates were standing in the hallway in absolute shock as I walked out the building! :) I got a name and number of a mechanic in my town from my home teacher who happens to be located RIGHT next to my neighborhood. I was able to drop it off around 4:00pm and walk the short distance home. I'm just waiting on the call to see what in the heck is wrong with my car.

I'm hoping it's not too expensive of a fix!

My Car's Prognosis

I got my Check Engine light checked at AutoZone. It's either the O2 Sensor or the catalytic converter. My car is running okay right now and I shouldn't end up broken down on the side of the road again. Off to Annapolis to see Doug for the weekend!

REALLY???

So I'm driving home after work today and Doug calls while I'm in route. He asks me the usual question, "How was your day?" I responded with a slightly unusual answer saying that it was just great BECAUSE no weird lights turned on in my car AND I had no sudden power losses that caused me to be stranded on the side of the road for over an hour. We continued our conversation in which I mentioned that I was excited that my car was working well again so I would be able to drive up to see him this weekend

AND then...
My check engine light turned on.
The mechanic that I went to yesterday told me that if ANYTHING happened that I could come right on over and they would look at it. I remembered from yesterday that he said I could pick up the car as late as 8:30pm. Well my check engine light turned on at 8:22pm and I was about 3 miles away from the shop at the time, so I decided that I would try to see if anyone was still around.

I walk in the store part of the gas station and the clerk informs me that NO ONE is in the garage. I didn't give up though because flashing warning lights are not ignored by me anymore, NO not after yesterday. I basically told the clerk (a high school teenager) that my car wasn't leaving the parking lot until I had a better idea as to what was happening with my car. I WAS NOT GOING TO END UP BROKEN DOWN ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AGAIN. He actually called the manager, Roger, at home. He chats with him for a little bit and then Roger asks for my name. He somehow remembered me from yesterday and had the clerk pass over the phone to me.

He talked me through it and basically told me that the check engine light really didn't have anything to do with the alternator issues that I was having yesterday. The check engine light or "Malfunction Indicator Light" as it calls it in my car's handbook thingy has to do with the emissions system and I SHOULD be able to get home. He was kind, calmed me down, explained things to me, and was extremely understanding. He was not at all annoyed that I was talking to him at his home at almost 9 o'clock at night. This is not my regular mechanic. I met him for the first time yesterday.

I called home after that and was going to have my parents take an extra car to my house tonight so I wouldn't need to drive my car to work tomorrow. Basically, they would've had to drive 2 cars the 45 minutes to my house and then back. They were busy and I didn't want to inconvenience them.

I am driving my car to work tomorrow WITH the "Malfunction Indicator Light" on.

Pray for me.

The Day After...

When I am not talking (which isn't too often) I like to think and reflect on my days. More often then not, this happens during my long commute in the morning and and afternoon. Also being home and having no one to talk to also has increased my personal reflection time.

These are my reflections on my car breaking down...

Things I am Thankful For:
-I left home at 6:30am instead of 6:00am, so the sun was rising and people could see my car (and not crash into me!) even when the flashers stopped working.
-I have family nearby that can rescue me AND loan me an extra car if I ever need it.
-I have a cell phone.
-Two people from my school stopped to help and comfort.
-Two strangers actually turned around and stopped to ask if I needed help.
-The police officer was very kind and understanding, even though he had just worked the last 12 hours and was on his way home.
-I had specialty classes in the morning, so I didn't have to take time for a sub.
-When I got to school, my students were extremely understanding and were good for me on my not so good day.
-My car was fixed and ready for me to pick up at the end of the school day.
-A coworker took me over to pick up my car so I didn't have to ask my family to drive an hour to get me from work at the end of the day.
-It was only the alternator and not something worse.
-My battery was still good so I didn't have to buy a new one.
-The repairman was friendly and even recognized me when I came to pick up my car.

Things I Learned:
-If there is a warning light going off in your car and the repair people tell you that it can wait, it can't.
-It costs $85 to tow a car 1 mile.
-You should have a plan in place if your car breaks down. Have a tow company in mind and their number in your car or programmed into your phone.
-Police Officers are still ON DUTY even when they are driving home.
-A radar gun makes a sound for the officer as you increase or decrease your speed.
-Radar guns can get your speed from far away.
-Police are people too. :)
-People should slow way down when driving by policemen directing traffic. He kept on having to yell at them to "Slow Down!" and some people almost clipped him or his car. I thought people showed more respect to policemen.

Car Troubles

Friday last week, the emergency break light, the battery light, and the door lights all started flashing randomly flashing whenever I accelerated my car. My car didn't sound or run any differently, so I decided to ask about it when I was getting my oil changed on Saturday. The repairmen exchanged glances after my description and told me that it would take a while and that they might not even be able to get to it that day. I decided that I would schedule an appointment during the week and not while Doug was home with me on the weekend.

Fast forward to this morning as I am going to work...

I get in my car to go to work this morning. A couple miles down the road, the red lights all turned off and the yellow ABS light turned on. I checked my brakes to see if there was any change at all which there was none and decided that I would TRY to just make it to work. A few more miles down the road, all of the instrument panel went off. This included my headlights, the speedometer, you name it GONE. The car was still running so I called Doug in a panic and was going to stop at the gas station just down the road to figure out what was happening. The road that I drive to work on every day is bordered by farms and nothing else. It doesn't even have a shoulder to pull off onto...

I was on the phone with Doug (and only one hill away from the gas station) when my car completely lost ALL power and started losing speed. I had to react quickly and pull off the road onto the non-existent shoulder and hope that my car didn't roll into the ditch. My car was still partially on the road and causing quite the traffic snarl, so I called 911 to report that my vehicle was causing a hazard. I decided to get out of my car for fear that someone coming around the blind corner behind me would smash into the car.

Within a few minutes, one of my co-workers happened to be driving the same route and pulled over to see if I was okay. Another co-worker happened to stop a few minutes after that. We stood there and waited for the police/tow truck to come. While I was standing there, two other police cars drove by me and a nice man in a pickup truck also stopped and offered to help me if I had a flat tire. The third police car I saw, actually stopped and asked if I needed help. I let him know that I had called 911 and that they were sending someone. He told me that they didn't send him, but that he could help. He parked his car right behind mine, set up flares, and started conducting traffic around my car.

There were accidents on both main routes leading to where I was stranded so it took over an hour for the tow truck to get there. The police officer offered to drive me to the gas station with the tow truck following. There was no room in the front seat, so yes, I got a ride in the BACK of a police car without handcuffs. There wasn't much leg room because of the big barricade, but the leather interior was nice.

The short distance took a while because traffic was so bad so we talked for a while. It turns out that he was getting off a 7pm-7am shift and was on his way home to WV when he saw me there. It was interesting to talk to a police officer for an extended period of time because well he seemed HUMAN. I know this shouldn't be a surprise! I usually imagine cops sitting in their cars all day chuckling evilly and waiting to nab speeders. While we were waiting in traffic, he was getting frustrated with all of the cars speeding by, so he turned on his radar gun and I got to see one work close up. It was pretty interesting. I didn't realize how far away it can actually get your speed. (Note to self: try not to speed so much.)

We got to the gas station and my little brother arrived right after us. I had called home earlier to have my little brother (who is jobless and trying to save for a mission) come and take me to school. The mechanic at the little gas station was really nice and knew right away that it was the alternator. The tow was $85 for the less than 1 mile that my car was taken, but that guy was nice too. Luckily my class had computer lab and music first thing in the morning so my class was basically covered until I got to school at 8:45 an hour and 15 minutes after school started. In writing today, we practiced our letter writing format and wrote to the Loudoun County Police to thank them for what they do.

My car was ready right after school so a coworker dropped me off on her way home. I'm home safe and $400 lighter, but with a new alternator and a new appreciation for police officers.


My FIRST time calling 911! ...and hopefully my last.

 

Driving It Into the Ground

So this was the blog entry I had cued up to post this afternoon... I had reason to be nervous, as you'll read in my next blog entry.

My car is getting up there in the years. It is '99 Honda Accord with about 180,000 miles on it. A couple years ago Doug and I were trying to decide if we wanted to sell my car and buy a new one or keep it and "run it into the ground." We feel kind of sentimental about my car because it was our first big purchase together when we were dating. It has been a good car for the most part, so there was really no reason to get rid of it.

Last week on Friday on the way to work, some lights went off on the dashboard as I was accelerating. When I accelerate the emergency brake light, the battery light, and the door lights all flash on. It is rather weird. When it happened the first time, I turned off the air and the radio and just listened to my car. It's not driving ANY differently and its not making any weird sounds, but these lights are lighting up whenever I accelerate.

Doug drove my car over the weekend and determined that it started at about 2,000rpms. A couple days later, the lights are now turning on at about 1,500rpms.

I went to my car shop on Saturday to get my oil changed. Whenever I told them what was happening, the two guys there just gave each other this look and then told me that it would probably take a while to figure out and asked me if I wanted to spend my Saturday hanging out in their lobby. Of course, my answer was no because my weekend time with Doug is precious and I went home. I mean, my car isn't driving any differently, right?

So, now I'm starting to get a little nervous. It is just some lights randomly going off or am I going to be stuck on the side of the road driving to or from work.

SO here is what it looks like, I may or may not have been driving while I took this picture...