My car makes me laugh. It's been about a year since I last posted about my car. Quite a bit has changed since then.
My last decent car was a 1988 Honda Accord LXi. I had the money and a cheap mechanic to fix every little thing that went wrong. The car literally took me to both coasts, logging over 220,000 miles before I turned it over to my brother-in-law (who totaled it a few months later). The thing was immaculate. However, at the time I turned it over to him I had left a job that paid crazy money for a job cleaning carpets (it's a long story...).
Ever since then I've been driving beaters, dumping stupid amounts of money (with increased debt) into cars that end up in junkyards. Bad choices. A 1990 Honda Accord lasted several years, 200,000 miles and several thousand dollars only to net me $90 for scrap. A 1994 Dodge Spirit did the same but with just a bit more money to scrap. My "new" car is a 1991 Toyota Tercel with over 218,000 miles on it.
Here is a list of its woes:
- no muffler (haven't had one since November of last year)
- exhaust system (what's left of it) dragging
- thermostat broken
- wiper fluid pump broken (hasn't worked since I got it)
- brakes shot (need pads, rotors and, eventually, calipers and the rest)
- both CV boots ripped, CV joints most likely going or gone
- radio stuck on one channel
- radio will not turn off without turning on the rear defrost
- can only turn on the radio by turning off the rear defrost
- two cylinders operating at about 60%
- put about a quart of oil in monthly
- nearly bald front passenger tire (with 13" rims tires are expensive, and difficult, to replace)
But it's still going. And it's paid off. Considering I paid $900 for it and put maybe $150 into over the last two years, I'd say I've gotten my money's worth. But I don't have the money to put into repairing it nor do I have the money for a newer car, I'm stuck.
Is it too far gone? It's a gamble every time I drive it.
No comments:
Post a Comment