[trainwreck] My car ate it.

[mdlbear]

I really like my Honda. It's the third one I've had, and the third to go past 105,000 miles. Which is where it needs a new timing belt, shortly after the 100K warranty expires. I knew about that, and rather expected the front brakes would need replacing. I'd forgotten about the radiator hoses and thermostat.

*sigh* I have a pretty, light-blue Kia for a loaner.

It'll be over $2500 by the time I pick it up (hopefully) later today. I decided not to go to Fry's on the way to work yesterday.

On a more positive note, I raised my 401K percentage and catch-up amount, which is something I'd been putting off for six months or so. So I can give myself a virtual pat on the back for that one.

OTGH, said 401K is still worth less than it was a half-decade ago. I would have come out way ahead stuffing the money into a mattress. The image of my coming into the bank with an ataché case full of bedbug-infested C-notes is mildly entertaining.

Comments

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

My 2003 Honda Element is just above 107K miles, and I was warned that the next maintenance was going to be a biggie, and that it was about time for my timing belt to be changed. However, when I called the dealership's service dept. to inquire, it turns out that Casey the Bass Case (my car) has a timing chain instead of belt. ∴ no change needed, and no safety issues.

[mdlbear]

Yay! I've been looking at the Element for a future purchase. How is it for gas mileage and cargo space?

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

Its gas milage is okay for an SUV: 18 to 24 mpg, bottoming out in the winter, with its long periods of windshield-scraping and 4WD-invoking on the snow. (El Niño bestowed upon us the snowstorm path across the continent this winter. I was Not Pleased.)

Cargo space is excellent: my oft-repeated story is that it can hold my husband's upright bass violin and the guitar cases and the suitcases and the mando & banjo cases and the two of us, all before invoking the roof racks. The payload is not as high as I'd like it (~650 lbs), but since most of my instruments are acoustic and lightweight, it's not a problem.

Oh, and it sleeps two.

[chatworthy.livejournal.com]

Well, we haul Chris's big handicap cart, and a set of ramps to load it, and Ren Fair weekend luggage for 2, and with all of that we can in a pinch still take a third passenger, though it'll be a tight fit.

I usually average 20+ mpg unless I buy a lot of drive-through burgers in a week. Highway on long trips is never below 24 mpg. 115k miles. I have replaced the motor mounts. I am on my third or fourth windshield. Drivers seat needs reupholstered, but I'm a bit of a lard-butt. I don't have the keyless entry but am about to get one, as it is cheaper than replacing the drivers door lock cylinder, which has something in there preventing me from inserting the key all the way.

Mine is a 2003 EX model. Only thing I don't like about it is the sunroof.

[robin-june.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, a First Edition Element!

The sunroof is the "Secondary Sex Characteristic" (to borrow a term from biology) to let an outsider know that this Element has All-Wheel-Drive.
My sunroof intermittently leaked, and was apparently the first one to ever do so. The dealership wanted to see it actually leak before they replaced it, so we had to wait until a snowfall thawed. Ever since then, I've been very put off by sunroofs that are situated above the driver: if they leak, that would be a dangerous distraction.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

When my son was a teenager, I once rented a Kia, in a screaming emergency where I had to have a car right away to drive him somewhere he had to be, and I wanted the cheapest possible vehicle the rental company could give me. They rented me a Kia. By the time we reached our destination, we had decided that KIA stood for "Korean Imitation Automobile".

Nevertheless, my son and his wife have owned several Kias in quick succession in the past few years. They were all hand-me-downs from her parents, and the reason they kept having to get another one was because every. single. one failed catastrophically. One of them was totalled in a crash (which didn't harm any of the humans involved). The others all failed because of... the timing belt.

Meanwhile the '99 VW Jetta has over 200,000 miles on it, and it needs... new tires, a tune-up, and a brake job. It's the third Jetta we've owned, and if I ever get enough money for another car, that will probably be a Jetta too, or at least a VW. You can't kill those things with a fire ax.