Oh Joy …Oh Bliss …Oh Crap a New Car Bill

Our long suffering car “the starship Ramona” (aka the 1999 Neon) is on her deathbed. I’m not sure why I only take pictures of her in snowstorms or ice storms, but there you go.

Her engine is in great shape because we maintain that with oil changes and tuneups. Body wise is a different story. She needs:
– new struts
– alignment
– brake job
– electrical work (radio does weird things)
– new motor in passenger side window (stuck open 1″ so it won’t go either up or down – too hot in summer, too cold in winter)
– transmission is suspect
– body work from various and sundry war wounds



All in all, she requires more repairs than some small countries’ annual revenue.

She’s been through a lot, including 3 trips to Nova Scotia, several blizzards, daily commutes for the Boy of over 100km, and has served us well. That being said, no way am I pumping $4000 into her. That’s a lot of yarn money!

Not when we have a NEW CAR! We took possession of our new Ramona (R3) today (all our cars are called Ramona – it’s less confusing that way…kinda like George Foreman and his 5 boys all being named George). She’s a sage green Nissan Altima, purchased from Scarborough Nissan.  The Boy picked the model, I picked the colour. Silly I know, but Ramona 2 was black and I could never find her in a parking lot. No way was I going black or grey…I wanted something different that I could see!

 
 


What we did was wait as long as possible and bought a 2006 model. It’s never been off the lot, has an upgrade package and was thousands off of the list price. Taxes, extras and a bumper to bumper for 7 years came close to the original list price.

I’m so happy I could dance. At least until April 15th. That’s when the first payment is due. It’s Kraft Dinner for us for the next 5 years.