7 July 2012: Buying a Car

Andrea:
So... my car basically died. Well, not entirely. See, I used to have a 2003 Dodge Neon...

Like this guy right here...

And it was starting to run into some issues. I had a bushing to replace, a tire that needed reseating, transmission fluid that needed to be flushed, and some other, smaller things that needed to be done. I had set up an appointment to have it all taken care of. It was going to happen tomorrow, in fact.
Last Wednesday, however, the car decided enough was enough, and stalled as we were heading home. After that, it wouldn't make it past second gear. A read from the computer told us that the issues with the transmission got drastically worse way way faster than the mechanic had told us it would, and the car was basically useless. I didn't have the money to fix the transmission, and quite frankly, I was fixing something or other every other month, so I, too, decided enough was enough. I went car shopping, and Richard came with me.
Since neither of us had the time for this until Saturday, I had a couple of days to shop online to figure out exactly what I wanted. When we left Saturday afternoon, I had a list of cars in my head I wanted to test drive and ask about, starting from the Prius as my dream car and a Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic towards the bottom of the list. Since I no longer needed a car large enough to transport the things necessary to survive in a college dorm, I had some leeway into what size I could look into.
At Honda, the salesman was super irritable and wasn't willing to work with us. So that took the Insight off my list. It was a super nice car with excellent fuel economy, but I just cannot afford the proposed $400/month payments that the salesman would not budge from. Oh well...
Next we went to Toyota, where we found only higher end Prius's available, in the price range of $22,000 and up. Moving towards my second choices, I stumbled upon this:

A Black, three door Hatchback 2012 Yaris

And after a test drive, I fell in love. It is sleek, a good size, has way more intuitive internal environment controls I've seen in a car (that is, heating and air conditioning), fantastic gas mileage (we've gone through Richard's whole work week and only ate up 1/4 of an 11.1 gallon tank, whereas with the Neon we would be at less than 1/4), and a wonderful USB port for my iPod. The port transfers all the information and controls  to the radio, so I can leave the iPod in the glove box and still listen to the things I want to. Riding it on I-279 feels like I'm flying down the road. It's gorgeous, and I love it.
After being handed keys, we returned my friend Niki's car, as she had let us borrow it until I got a new one (and now I owe her a steak for her generosity).
Afterwards, we celebrated with an ice cream on the way home and a good old fashioned American barbecue, with hot dogs, hamburgers, and corn on the cob.
Still, the Neon sits in our parking lot. I have yet to remove all my things from it. It's a little sad to see it go. Having talked with the dealer extensively about the car, I have learned that, with its issues, I would get more money for it selling it to a scrap yard than to the dealer to go up for auction. I had that car for four years, and in a lot of ways it was like a second home for me. I was devastated when it was broken into the first winter I had it. That car and I had some dangerous adventures, dealing with Syracuse weather. It got me to Old Forge and back, driving through Adirondack downpours you can't see through. I've slept in that car during long trips, when I only had two hours of sleep the night prior...
And then I remember all the issues it's had recently, and I think of how awesome my new Yaris is, and then I kick the back bumper a little as I walk past it on the way to the bus in the mornings.

Comments: It's hard to make any suggestions here. Again, this was a really unconventional date, as this was a necessity sort of thing, but since this was how we spent our Saturday together, it counts. My best suggestion: Don't buy a car unless yours dies in the middle of the road.


Dear Neon,
We had some crazy good times together, and then you dumped all the transmission fluid in the Le Moyne College Commuter's parking lot, ran out of gas on McKnight Road unexpectedly, and stalled on Rochester Road. Yes, we had some good times, but now, you can suck it.
Love, Andrea

Thank you for reading this article of the Endorphin Walrus! As always, feel free to leave comments, questions, or suggestions in the comment section below this post.