Sunday, October 04, 2009

Car Update

My Civic needs a new transmission so we've decided to shop for a new car. We've decided on a Honda CR-V. We test drove one today that Weena's cousin bought a month ago. Both of us like the feel of the car, it's roomy and most important to us, it's not one of those oversized monsters.



We definitely have a need a roomier car now with Benjamin turning four. The Civic was a clutch, reliable car right up until the end. Overall I got eight and a half solid years of use from it. I was very pleased with it which is one reason we're going to purchase another Honda.

My Civic is still at the repair shop parking lot, the manager there said I could keep it there as long as needed. It was sad cleaning out the car yesterday. I had to disassemble the XM Radio, gather all the CD's and clean out the glove compartment. In doing so, I saw ticket stubs from various events I went to in my car. Springsteen concerts, Maryland football and basketball, a ticket stub from the 2004 MLS Eastern Conference Final between D.C. United and New England Revolution, which is perhaps the greatest game in MLS 16 year history. Ok, I'm biased there but the memories from that night at RFK were incredible. It was like that in every ticket I looked at yesterday as I saw something that brought a smile or a curse word (Caps vs Penguins playoff game five that the Penguins won in OT).

Baseball returns to DC, a Caps game 7 loss to the Flyers in April 2008 and a game seven playoff win over the Rangers this past Spring. NCAA soccer games at University of Maryland during their 2005 and 2008 title run.....I'd jump in my car and head to the event with anticipation and would ride home happy with the win, sad with the loss or happy as hell after seeing a great guitar solo by Nils Lofgren. There were also golf score cards from the beach where we all enjoyed a round of mini golf. You get the idea.

I took Weena to the hospital on her delivery day and I brought Benjamin home from the hospital six days later in that car. It was the slowest ride home ever as I was very nervous. Vacations, trips, family outings. I had a nice look back and the feeling was that I was losing an old pal.

So it's going to be bittersweet when I negotiate a trade in but I know I'm doing the right thing for the three of us in getting a newer and bigger car. I just hope after the dealership fixes up the Civic that whoever purchases it can experience the same reliability and happiness I had with it.

2 comments:

aaron said...

With child number 2 on the way, we're thinking of trading our Civic in for a smaller SUV, and the CR-V is certainly in the running. The others we're looking at are the Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute, Subaru Forester, and the Chevy Equinox (which just got a major overhaul to make it the most fuel efficient of my finalists). Did you decide to stick with Honda because they had a good car at a good price, or did you do a lot of research on the various options?

Bill-DC said...

Aaron, congrats to you. Kathy and Emelia. That's awesome!

We researched on Consumer Reports online (I'll send you my password if you'd like to check it out) and narrowed it down to the CR-V due to both of us being loyal Honda buyers and word of mouth from a relative and a couple friends who have bought the CR-V.

I did take a drive in a co-worker's RAV4 today at lunch and like how it handled. She's owned it a year and has been happy with its performance. She has two kids and it's held up well.

A friend of ours is a mechanic and he's recommended the RAV4 as they have a maintenance free timing chain and no timing belt to replace.

Good luck and congrats again!