jblog

Mind the Civic mind.  Why?  Because efficiency is what its about these days.  35 mpg.  Is there anything else to say right now?  Yes, reliability.  You mean I can pay less for a car, pay less for gas at the same time pay less for repairs…Brilliant!

Well I’m finally at the car I currently have (writing 2 years later?!?).  I got rid of the Lexus which was becoming less and less a luxury, oil leaking here and there, everywhere an oil leak.  I needed something reliable and more bang for the buck at the pump.  Gas price rate curves were crawling up the ceiling over $3 a pop (eventually 4).  I said, Justin, do the smart thing.  Enter Honda.

Autotrader to the rescue – a place 100 miles from home there was a used 2002 Civic w/ 35000 miles in a chevy dealership which had a great price than all buys in the metro.  I called, went, came back w/ a black, run on water, Civic, free coffee mug and chevy dealership calendar (yes!).  This well built Honda has a manual 5 speed w/ a 2.0 liter 4 cyl.  Its acually a fun zippy car to drive.

But the best thing about it is that the gas meter needle seems to be in slow motion.  I can go from Dallas and back and still have gas left-over.   That feels really good at a time when saving cash is crucial.

Did I mention its reliable?  Haven’t had one single issue w/ it yet.  That leads to a funny quick story.  I had the vehicle for probably almost a year.  At first I thought the door lock was broke.  I couldn’t use the auto-lock button to lock the car.  I still had a warranty on it so I took it in to the dealer and left them to fix it.  The mechanic called and said, “What’s wrong w/ the lock?”  Me: It won’t lock  Him: Yeah it does.   I go down to the dealer and he simply opens the handle at the same time hits the button – a Honda feature.  Me: Oh…
Well, I’ve had the Civic for about 3 to 4 years, and entering into the era of fatherhood, needing extra space for baby and needing to let my wife drive my car if need (its a manual).  Although the Civic hasn’t lost luster its that the driver has changing needs.  It was the perfect auto for the certain stage of life.

What will be next?

After mourning the loss of the Wrangler, I stepped into my second car named after numbers – an ES250 made by Lexus. The ES250 series of Lexus had a short life of two years for that line of car – 1990 and 1991. The 1991 edition had leather seats, luxury carpet, fog lights (booyeah), sunroof, premium stereo, inlaid wood trim (now we’re pimpin’), V6, airbags for passenger and driver (bigtime for 1991), full size spare (oh yeah!), integrated car alarm (another bigtime item for ‘91), one cool feature was the fact that the car would not let you lock your car if the keys were in the ignition (which saved me many $20 dollar bills to the guy who has a thinger ‘ma’ bobber).

This car was about 11 years old when I got it for under 5Gs with just under 100K miles. But it was taken care of and I got it from a nice old couple. No, I didn’t haggle them, I just found a good buy. But lesson #342 of cars…. if you don’t take care of a car very well…like the big fix items of routine every 60K miles on a car maintenance…it won’t last as long. Which is OK, because I was not a rich man before being hitched and it lasted me a good 4 years or so, + i was out of a car payment (gosh that sounds good).

Again, like the Porsche, you have to wade through the “You have a Lexus?” comments that come at you. Yes I have a Lexus and I didn’t have to take up membership at the country and yacht club! All you have to do is look on cars.com etc. , and look for the deals. It made sense to me then and it still does to pay for used luxury than the same amount of money for 2 or 3 years later non-luxury cars, even though you pay a little extra for some parts (in fact that Lexus had much the same mechanical parts as the ‘91 Camry (both really made by Toyota), which helped out maintenance costs. Just don’t take it to a Lexus dealer.

With any used car you take a risk though, but this turned out great. It was a 4 door, I was pleased to be able to tote more than two people in a more comfortable ride on longer distances.

Probably out of any other car, I learned that a car can be fixed by it’s owner if you just have time to spare. I changed out my brakes and took out a starter, replacing it and battery. Also regular maintenance became a cinch. All because I made the choice to tinker and figure things out. Which makes a man howl and feel really good.

Seriously, it was crazy that people think your ritzy cause you have a Lexus when they spent triple the amount for their brand new or late model Honda Civic (hmm – like me).

Well it was a fly ride and it opened my eyes to a couple of things. I have a hunch that luxury cars are better made (manufacturing side of things) than regular cars, there may be some research against that but I still believe it. So from that alone it would be worth buying an older lux car. But, also, from that car I’ve learned that extra accessories really only make up 2-4% of a car. So I can see how ridiculous the price is for a luxury car brand new. Really, I figured that a luxury car has all the accessories than a 7 years later standard car, save the leather seats. A/C is awesome and so is the heater, I have found that this is the luxury item above all – and most people have it in their non-lux cars today.

The name just sounds senior citizen, doesn’t it?  So the Porsche A/C died and it was a pain to maintain.  So I attempted to sell the thing.  So in the meantime, my dad wanted to get rid of the car that my grandparents did not use in a couple years sitting in a garage.  A mid 90’s cream colored Chrysler Fifth Avenue.  Main thing was…it had A/C in a hot summer.  I took to it very quickly and my dad saw that and he allowed me to keep it. 

 Also, it made me an automatic pimp.  The car had the plushest seats i’ve ever sat in and I’m sure most of my college friends could back me up.  The fluffed pillow cushion seats put to shame most mattresses I’ve laid on, you literally would just sink in them.  It had a nice stereo, blast worthy A/C, elaborate wood trim, power everything that is moveable and it had a decent get-up engine. 

 It was soon coined the nickname of Blanche ( of “Golden Girls”).  Must I explain why?  No.  Well ok, it was a senior citizen car and I think the color Blanche is a cream color…?

 Well Blanche got a big boost from the back by a car pile-up and I was the furthest car that was hit.  The trunk was smashed in by a stopped truck that was hit from behind as well.  Well that was the end of Blanche, she was taken to a vo-tech to get a cheap fixin.  My dad decided to sell it. 

So now there were two vehicles in the driveway…one waiting to sell and one that was broken.  So I probably will be one of the few college students to have 3 cars at one time.  And that third vehicle is…

After looking at an old Jeep at a car lot that didn’t want to start (probably the first clue not to shop at a car lot) I stumbled across a red pickem up truck.  A 1992 Dodge Dakota with a manual transmission impressed me after a short test drive.  After a few bouts w/ other sticks (manuals) I was really surprised how easy this truck was to drive.  I bought this with the help of my dad of course, trading in the El Camino and a small loan. 

I remember the top of the hood which was why the cost was lower.  It seemed that someone attempted to paint the hood but just didn’t go through the process.  It appeared to be sanded but not to the point where the paint had come entirely off.  Strange.  But I lived w/ it.  This little truck was really powerful for it’s class.  It had a V6 Magnum engine which was tough as nails.  I once put the stick in first, let out the clutch and it would idle up a pretty steep graded slope.  I still have not come across any vehicle that can attempt to come near that type of torque. 

One humorous story I had with the truck was when a friend and I took the back roads to somewhere and on the way back the truck all of a sudden didn’t respond to the accelerator.  So it eventually just died on the road.  So we attempted to restart but to no avail.  We call his mother to come pick us up in which she did.  My friend decided that we could tow it back using his truck.  We used a chain in a metal tube method so that the truck would not backend his truck while towing (the Dakota wouldn’t respond to the power brakes).  So we get goin, we’re about 6 – 8 miles from town, and he sees his friend so he slows down and I put on the brakes, the chain comes loose from his truck and the tube goes horizontal and the Dakota runs over it but the chain is still affixed to it, so the tube goes up into my fender well, and manages to lodge itself between the tire and tire well, prying up the body of the front panel.  Man was I going to get it.  It was on the right side so it managed to stay away from my Dad’s eyes for a week since our driveway was on the right side of the house.  It was a fuel pump problem that led to that fiasco.

I added a few things to the truck but not much, a bedliner, tinted glass and eventually a CD player.  That truck lasted me through high school and about 2 years into college. 

Then came a very humiliating wreck.  It was my fault.  It ended up to be a 3 car wreck, because I sideswiped a girl and she hit another car as a result.  There were no injuries which was surprising.  One of my friends was behind me and saw the whole deal.   He let me drive his car home…I really didn’t want to drive at that point…till I got my next set of wheels…

The Car Series is a series of sketches and remembrances of the cars I’ve had since the great age of 16. The automobile is something that identifies you as who you are, not in the since of material things, but friends can associate your car with who you are and perhaps, in most cases, is an expression of you. This is very particularly true in America. Our society depends on the car more than any other society. It truly goes with our culture like mustard goes with a corndog.

I believe I’ve had 8 cars…so…put your seat belt on (yes, that pun is intended), travel back with me in time (pun intended) as I reminisce in the coming days.