Monday, January 14, 2008
Goodbye, Prince of Darkness Car
That's what one of my friends in New York called my car. It was a 2003 Nissan Altima 3.5 SE, in "Super Black, with tinted black windows and nice rims and I just loved it. It had the 245 HP engine and could do 0-60 in 5.9 seconds, so it was what I love -- a sneaky-fast car. It's basically a souped up family sedan that could hang with most sports cars. So much fun. My car has been mine for five years as of January 11 and 113,200 happy miles. And she decided on the way down to Texas that, apparently, she's had enough of my abuse.
On the way down here to Tejas, the Altima's "Service engine soon" light came on for perhaps the 6th or 7th time in the past 14 months (all beginning in Oct '06 on my way to Xtrosity's wedding -- thanks a lot, X). A couple times they've claimed it was a code that said the gas cap wasn't tightened but more often than not it's been a warning that my car is quite low on oil... like several quarts low. And each time, the service people at Nissan come out and give me their best, condescending, are-you-a-chick-or-something voice and say, "Son, when was the last time you changed the oil?" Like, you know, I was going to go, "Ga-ga-ga-zoinks! Oil? Change? Wha?"
This particular instance, it was less than two weeks earlier when I put $1100 into it to make it road-worthy for the journey down here and, hopefully, to last me my first year or so here. Oh, and in addition to the light being on, my left headlight would go out intermittenly... A good whack on the side of the headlight always brought it back, but I figured they could change the bulb for me since it was clearly failing. This, of course, began literally the night before we were to leave NJ for Texas.
So let's start there. I ask them to check the headlight and replace the bulb. No, it's not just the bulb. It's the whole assembly because of a "bad ground." Okay, so more money, but not tons, right? Well, sure, except to change the Altima's headlight assembly, one has to remove the frickin' BUMPER first. And in the end, you're talking $300-$400 in labor to change out the headlight. So they advised me to bang on it to get it to work until it doesn't work anymore. Solid. Solid solution.
Then the oil issue... well, since there was no oil leakage anywhere visible -- not on my driveway, not all over the engine, etc... they didn't know what that meant. Other than that there was no doubt something faulty within my engine. And I said, well, what do we do? And she tells me that to diagnose it, they'd have to begin taking the engine apart and the labor involved could well reach into the thousands by the time they figure things out. So just check the oil every week and add some. OUTstanding. Just the answer I wanted.
So then I asked if they ncould do my Texas inspection...because here in Texas, you can't even get a license until your cars are inspected and registered and tagged. Weird. But whatever. So she says yes, it's $39 at Nissan. Perfect.
Wait, not perfect. She comes back out with MORE bad news. My engine computer is still wigging out and the car won't pass Texas emissions. So she suggests I drive it for 60+ miles to "reset the computer" and then come back. Okay. I drive it about 200 miles and come back in later in the week. They hook it up again; it fails again. She comes out and shrugs and says they don't know what else to do. Seriously. Don't know what else to do. Because they don't recommend the thousands of dollars option on a car with 113,000+ miles. Outstanding. So how do I register my five year old car here in Texas? Especially considering all the jalopies I see driving around without engine computers fouling up things. She thinks for a while and then says she'll "call some people" and then call my cell. She hasn't called yet and I don't expect her to.
So I begin deliberating. I have a car that won't pass Texas emissions and clearly has some kind of significant internal problems. And a $400 headlight issue. But for now the service engine soon light is off. And it's still running as good as the day I got it. I'd just keep driving it, except that I know it's eventually going to be a huge headache and, you know, I can't register it here. And that's sort of an issue since my NJ registration, of course, expires at the end of January and the inspection expired last month.
So I go to Carmax to see what they will do. They do a full inspection/appraisal and offer me $5500 on the spot for it, which is less than Kelly Blue Book says it's worth... but then again, I imagine KBB assumes a car without serious problems about to occur. So I left and continued deliberating, since my offer from them was good for one week. After thinking some more and discussing with the wife, I then just bit the bullet and went back on Saturday and took their offer and applied the cash to a new used car.
I'm now the owner of a 2003 Acura 3.2 TL Type S. Sure, it's the same year as the Altima I traded in, but this car has only 49K miles on it and it's basically a Honda, as far as reliability. Or so I hope. It is silver with black leather... and it's the Type S. For those wondering, it's the last year of the previous body style. Basically, it looks just like this (color and all).
I really wanted the Type S since that was a more exclusive version of that car... and it's 260 HP instead of the standard '03 TL's 225 HP. And we all know how I like speed and power. And plus it's a step up from the 245 my Altima had... obviously we can't downgrade.
Parting with the Altima after all those many happy miles was definitely not easy. I was a little sad as we cleaned her out and walked away for the last time. I never stopped loving that car and enjoyed driving it every single day. It was fast, sleek, and never looked out-of-style at all, something I think Nissan does very well -- none of their old cars look truly old and clunky. You see a ten year old Maxima and it still looks nice.
But alas, it was time to part ways. 113K was a good amount of time together, especially for someone like me who gets a craving for a new car every few weeks. I took delivery of the Altima on January 11, 2003 and I sold her on January 12, 2008. 1,827 days. And on the way down here, we passed her likely birthplace in Mississippi. Kind of neat.
So off we go with the new vehicle. We'll see how this partnership goes.
On the way down here to Tejas, the Altima's "Service engine soon" light came on for perhaps the 6th or 7th time in the past 14 months (all beginning in Oct '06 on my way to Xtrosity's wedding -- thanks a lot, X). A couple times they've claimed it was a code that said the gas cap wasn't tightened but more often than not it's been a warning that my car is quite low on oil... like several quarts low. And each time, the service people at Nissan come out and give me their best, condescending, are-you-a-chick-or-something voice and say, "Son, when was the last time you changed the oil?" Like, you know, I was going to go, "Ga-ga-ga-zoinks! Oil? Change? Wha?"
This particular instance, it was less than two weeks earlier when I put $1100 into it to make it road-worthy for the journey down here and, hopefully, to last me my first year or so here. Oh, and in addition to the light being on, my left headlight would go out intermittenly... A good whack on the side of the headlight always brought it back, but I figured they could change the bulb for me since it was clearly failing. This, of course, began literally the night before we were to leave NJ for Texas.
So let's start there. I ask them to check the headlight and replace the bulb. No, it's not just the bulb. It's the whole assembly because of a "bad ground." Okay, so more money, but not tons, right? Well, sure, except to change the Altima's headlight assembly, one has to remove the frickin' BUMPER first. And in the end, you're talking $300-$400 in labor to change out the headlight. So they advised me to bang on it to get it to work until it doesn't work anymore. Solid. Solid solution.
Then the oil issue... well, since there was no oil leakage anywhere visible -- not on my driveway, not all over the engine, etc... they didn't know what that meant. Other than that there was no doubt something faulty within my engine. And I said, well, what do we do? And she tells me that to diagnose it, they'd have to begin taking the engine apart and the labor involved could well reach into the thousands by the time they figure things out. So just check the oil every week and add some. OUTstanding. Just the answer I wanted.
So then I asked if they ncould do my Texas inspection...because here in Texas, you can't even get a license until your cars are inspected and registered and tagged. Weird. But whatever. So she says yes, it's $39 at Nissan. Perfect.
Wait, not perfect. She comes back out with MORE bad news. My engine computer is still wigging out and the car won't pass Texas emissions. So she suggests I drive it for 60+ miles to "reset the computer" and then come back. Okay. I drive it about 200 miles and come back in later in the week. They hook it up again; it fails again. She comes out and shrugs and says they don't know what else to do. Seriously. Don't know what else to do. Because they don't recommend the thousands of dollars option on a car with 113,000+ miles. Outstanding. So how do I register my five year old car here in Texas? Especially considering all the jalopies I see driving around without engine computers fouling up things. She thinks for a while and then says she'll "call some people" and then call my cell. She hasn't called yet and I don't expect her to.
So I begin deliberating. I have a car that won't pass Texas emissions and clearly has some kind of significant internal problems. And a $400 headlight issue. But for now the service engine soon light is off. And it's still running as good as the day I got it. I'd just keep driving it, except that I know it's eventually going to be a huge headache and, you know, I can't register it here. And that's sort of an issue since my NJ registration, of course, expires at the end of January and the inspection expired last month.
So I go to Carmax to see what they will do. They do a full inspection/appraisal and offer me $5500 on the spot for it, which is less than Kelly Blue Book says it's worth... but then again, I imagine KBB assumes a car without serious problems about to occur. So I left and continued deliberating, since my offer from them was good for one week. After thinking some more and discussing with the wife, I then just bit the bullet and went back on Saturday and took their offer and applied the cash to a new used car.
I'm now the owner of a 2003 Acura 3.2 TL Type S. Sure, it's the same year as the Altima I traded in, but this car has only 49K miles on it and it's basically a Honda, as far as reliability. Or so I hope. It is silver with black leather... and it's the Type S. For those wondering, it's the last year of the previous body style. Basically, it looks just like this (color and all).
I really wanted the Type S since that was a more exclusive version of that car... and it's 260 HP instead of the standard '03 TL's 225 HP. And we all know how I like speed and power. And plus it's a step up from the 245 my Altima had... obviously we can't downgrade.
Parting with the Altima after all those many happy miles was definitely not easy. I was a little sad as we cleaned her out and walked away for the last time. I never stopped loving that car and enjoyed driving it every single day. It was fast, sleek, and never looked out-of-style at all, something I think Nissan does very well -- none of their old cars look truly old and clunky. You see a ten year old Maxima and it still looks nice.
But alas, it was time to part ways. 113K was a good amount of time together, especially for someone like me who gets a craving for a new car every few weeks. I took delivery of the Altima on January 11, 2003 and I sold her on January 12, 2008. 1,827 days. And on the way down here, we passed her likely birthplace in Mississippi. Kind of neat.
So off we go with the new vehicle. We'll see how this partnership goes.
Labels: a new car -- said in Roddy Piper's voice
