George's Garage

[George]

Fun facts about George’s Garage:

- Elevation 5982 feet (1823 meters) above sea level
- Insulated, painted, and drywalled by yours truly
- Workbench designed, painted, and installed with my Dad
- Houses boring cars chosen for utility, dependability, and longevity

I used to be quite the VW Beetle mechanic in the 1980s, but I’ve realized that was out of necessity rather than “hey, I think I’ll go adjust the valves just for the sheer enjoyment of it”. And I remember being a bachelor with lots more time than money and rotating tires on my pickup truck with the stock scissors jack – just one jack, so I had to lift each corner of the vehicle at least twice. Man, that took forever. But these days I seldom do more than check fluid levels and tire pressure, and I seek out cars accordingly. Accordingly. Get it? Yeah, I know…

I've decided it's time to get a newer car. I bought my current car (’99 Honda Accord 4-cylinder automatic) with 139,000 miles and an unknown maintenance history. Of course I got a CarFax report and had it checked by an independent shop prior to purchase, but I don't know when (or if!) the timing belt was changed before I bought the car. It now has 215,xxx miles and runs perfectly, but I've never had the timing belt and water pump changed and whatever else is done during that service. The car now needs a bunch of other maintenance as well, I'm sure. I don't think the transmission or radiator or brake fluids have ever been changed while I've owned the car, for example. It's easy not to think about that stuff with a Honda that runs so well all the time.

The car is starting to show rust under the rear doors, has a cracked windshield, a dented hood where a pickup truck with a receiver hitch backed into it, and various scrapes and dings that come with long service. About a third of the interior dash lights don't work at night. The interior is in "good shape for its age" as the ads say, but no better than that. The rear defroster has never worked since I've owned it (seven years), and the driver's side exterior mirror is held in place with a carefully trimmed zip-tie thanks to a garage accident that I guess broke the "break-away" setup of the mirror, so the mirror now swings freely if not zip-tied in place. Oh, and it burns and/or leaks about two quarts of oil between changes. I have a piece of plywood on the garage floor to catch the oil. It doesn’t drip much, as it’s usually low on oil , but I don't need that in my life. The stock CD player skips and jumps. I've thought the speakers sucked since the day I sold my Camry and bought the Accord - it was like an instant sound quality downgrade. Plus, my kids say the car smells and that it's too small.

It is nice to have a car that you can park anywhere without worry, or lean a bicycle against in the garage without worry about scratches from cantilever brakes or metal pedals. I hate putting the strap-on bike rack on the trunk, but I enjoy not worrying if I scratch the paint a little when I do. I'll miss that, but it will come around again on my next car sometime in the future.

My wife agrees that buying another used Japanese Appliance-Mobile is the way to go before we get a whopping repair bill and then are faced with paying to fix an old car, or dumping it for peanuts as I did with my 220K-mile Camry V6 for $500 in four hours on craigslist. I rather put major maintenance money toward a newer (sigh...I guess) car. However, I'm always very interested in low-mileage older sedans like those owned by the elderly and I'd love to score a 25-year-old Whatever that looks and drives like new.

I'm also going to do it right this time and get the windows tinted (legally) in whatever I buy. I've always enjoyed riding in cars with tinted windows but haven't had a car with tint since 1998. I'm going to get a receiver hitch so I can haul four bicycles on a hitch-mounted carrier., and I'm going to buy a set of snow tires and cheap wheels so I can change them out myself whenever I want - and train my kids in how to change a tire at the same time - instead of having to pay $20 twice a year to get them swapped out at the tire shop.

If anyone wants to make suggestions - serious or hilarious - about replacement vehicles, please feel free. Right now I think my list looks something like this, barring some unknown old low-mileage beauty from an estate sale.

- Honda Accord - my wife an I have owned three Accords so far

- Honda CR-V - these look pretty useful and if I must have an automatic, I like that these have the lever where it belongs - on the column!

- Honda Element - at the top of my list to test drive and learn more about. They look like the ultimate non-truck utility vehicle, but I don’t know much more about them than they have a vinyl floor, which is an immediate turn-on. (I’ll skip my usual rant about carpet in vehicles)

- Toyota Avalon (yes, I realize I have a CR-V and an Avalon on the same list - go figure)

- Toyota Camry - I owned a V6 and LOVED it. It was much more comfortable than Accords for me.

- Toyota RAV4 - I hear the V6 versions kick ass. My concern with the RAV4 is the same as the CR-V: can a 6’2” man actually fit inside? I’ll have to find out.

- Others: American cars, maybe? I'm a life-long skeptic after watching others replace their American cars two or three times sooner than Japanese car owners have to, but I'd consider one, maybe. Minivan? Sure, but they're expensive and usually look beat to hell by the time they're in my price range. Station wagon? Yes, certainly, but I just don't see many these days, other than the "chopped-off" variety like the Subaru Impreza wagon. Pickups and Jeeps and sporty cars are fun but not what I need right now.

I’m also thinking about going back to a manual transmission. I haven’t had once since 1998. Has anyone else done without for many years and then gone back to shifting gears in your daily driver? What did you think? Was it “Ahhh, it’s fun to drive again” or “Damn, this sucks! What was I thinking?”

I must say the transmission in the Accord is remarkably like a manual. Going downhill in the mountains it has good engine braking, whereas my older Camry just kicked into freewheel like a big American highway cruiser and dropped like a stone while the brakes did all the work. The Accord is really great about slowing down for corners by letting off the gas while going downhill, by comparison. I notice that around town on flatter ground when I have snow tires on, too. I don't know if that's a Honda vs. Toyota thing with automatic transmissions, or if automatics simply got that much better between 1994 (my Camry) and 1999 (the Accord).