A New Set of Wheels
Seven years ago, when Gary and I got married, he bought us a used car as a wedding gift. (I just gave him a watch... but gift giving has never been my forté.) We were both driving clunkers and definitely needed a more reliable vehicle. It was a surprise, to say the least, when I saw the little beige Nissan Sentra sitting in the St. Mary's parking lot as we exited the church after our wedding rehearsal.Although the Nissan gave us about six years of good, safe, low gas mileage driving, we expected to get lot more for our money. In fact, the car had just barely reached 100,000 miles when things started to fall apart. First it was the timing belt early last spring. We made the mistake of hiring a backyard mechanic to fix it for us to try to save a little bit of money. Boy, was that stupid! Not only did the so-called mechanic not install the timing belt properly, he also managed to crack several important pieces of the engine, leak antifreeze into our oil, and for some reason, our automatic door locks wouldn't work when we got our car back from him.
Needless to say, we learned a very expensive lesson. We ultimately had to take our little car to the mechanic no less than a dozen times, for weeks at a time, over the course of the next several months. Eventually, our own trusty mechanic couldn't figure out what else to do to get the car running, so he sent us to a Nissan dealership. We knew we were facing an expensive bill, but the relief of finally having a working vehicle was worth it, so we drove up to Massillon and left our car in the care of the Waikem Nissan mechanics. They determined that we had a cracked head gasket which needed replaced.
About one week and $1,000 later, we were told our car was ready to be picked up. Less than 24 hours later, my service engine light was back on and the car was having trouble starting - again. Gary and I were at our wits end. I once again drove the car back to the dealership and they inspected the car while I waited. After a couple of hours in the waiting room with an older couple who baby talked to their toy Yorkie the entire time, I was told to bring the car back a few days later and the problem - a leaky PCV valve this time - would be repaired on the spot. Frustrated but hopeful that an end was in sight, I resolved to do just that.
A few days later, I was back in Massillon at the Nissan dealership in the same sitting room - sans the annoying retirees, thank goodness. After about an hour, Stan, the clerk in the Nissan repair center who I was becoming quite familiar with, handed me my keys and said the problem should be fixed, but if it wasn't to give him a call. Well - as you can probably guess - the problem wasn't fixed. The car didn't drive any better than it had before the several thousands of dollars we had put into it. In fact, it quite possibly drove even worse than it had then.
Once again, we left the car in the care of the Nissan dealership to try to get to the bottom of the car's extensive problems. A few days later, I got a call that nobody wants to get. My buddy, Stan, called to tell me that the car's engine would need to be either repaired or replaced and that either way, we were looking at a minimum of $3,000 in repairs. I asked Stan if he thought it was worth fixing and he said, "I'm sorry. No, I don't think it's worth it." (Stan was such a sweet guy - I'm really going to miss paying him thousands of dollars to break my heart every week.)
Gary and I reluctantly decided it was time to suck it up and buy a new car. We had gotten so used to not having a car payment for the past couple of years, that we were definitely not excited at the prospect of adding to our monthly bills, but, again, we had to have at least one reliable car. (Our other two vehicles have their own set of problems I don't have the heart to get into now.)
So, a couple of Saturdays ago, Gary and I drove up to the Nissan dealership and picked up our little Nissan and drove across the road to the Waikem Kia Dealership. Knowing that we had a pretty limited budget, but also feeling anxious about buying another used car, I knew that Kia might have at least a couple of affordable options for us. Upon arriving at the dealership, a representative was instantly in the parking lot to "greet" us. Actually, it turned out to be a very low pressure experience and our representative, Isaac, was a very friendly, patient, genuinely nice guy. And he accepted our junky Nissan as a trade-in, which seriously won him points in my book!
We spent the entire afternoon looking at cars on three different Waikem lots. I was instantly sold on the new Kia Soul, a somewhat boxy but modern-looking car/SUV. Gary was apprehensive about buying a brand new car and wasn't very thrilled by the overall appearance of the Soul. After looking at a number of other vehicles in and out of our price range, Gary finally gave in and we drove away in a brand new 2011 Kia Soul.
We agreed that we wanted to buy a standard, and the dealership only had one left, so our color choice was limited to Alien Green. It's actually not as bad as it sounds. It's more of a metallic pea green, not that that sounds any better. We soon found out that Gary's cousin just bought an identical Alien Green Soul in Baltimore, and I've seen a few other ones in various colors cruising around town. With the combination of comfort, technology and fuel efficiency, it's no wonder this car is so popular.
If you're not familiar with the Kia Soul, maybe you've seen the hamster commercials? The ones where there are human-sized hamsters driving around while rapping along to Black Sheep's It's Your Choice. Here is a link, in case you'd like to check it out. It's a pretty catchy song and the green color of the car they're driving is the same as ours. (My dad suggested that Gary and I dress as hamsters next year for Halloween - and Gary seems to be into the idea, so we'll see how that goes!)
Long story short (I know it's a little too late for that), we're thrilled to have a new car that actually starts when we want it to. I'm still a little jerky with the stick shift (if you see me stalled out at a stop sign, please don't laugh - it only makes me more flustered and then it takes even longer), but I'm starting to get the hang of it. I drove all the way to Millersburg today and didn't stall a single time!
I knew I would have to get better at driving stick after the first day when I was on the phone with my friend, Emily. The car has bluetooth, so I was talking through the stereo and every time I stalled out, it would hang up on her. She told me I better practice because everyone would know if I stalled. Talk about embarrassing!
We could have gone with the used Saturn Vue Hybrid that Gary liked, or we could have gone with that used Toyota Camry that would have saved us some dough, but we ultimately got the Soul. (Cheesy, I know.) Doo-dah-dippity...