Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Breaking up is hard to do

I consider it wise to give great thought to breaking up.  Though events like this in life often occur in the heat or spur of the moment, it's foolish to call it quits without deep consideration for the ramifications.  In my case, I don't believe I have much choice and with one battle after another with my abusers, I feel that there is no time like the present to make a positive change.

It's time to get rid of my Hospice Mobile.  

I hope Honda will take me back after I dumped them rather unceremoniously nearly three years ago.  At the time, I felt deep for guilt for buying a foreign car during the financial crisis and blindly leapt into the arms of Ford.  In return, I was given a small SUV loaded with some amenities, but mostly with transmission problems.  Problems that are well documented when I surf the web, but denied by the service manager of my dealership.  I hate being made to think I'm imagining my problems, or worse, lying and making them up.  Especially when the problems are dangerous--like a suddenly non responsive transmission coming to a stop at 70 mile per hour speeds.  Yeah, maybe my service rep didn't build the car, but either he's a complete idiot to be unaware of throttle body problems, or he didn't want to fix the car because it wasn't at my cost--it was at Ford's expense.  I'm going with the latter excuse.

Oh, my Escape is finally running like it should have three years ago and the throttle body replacement was under warranty, but this work didn't happen without what seemed to be a test of wills between me and the dealership.  In two more years, this vehicle will be free and clear, but what will I own?  I fear it'll be a heap of junk on wheels, and what's the point of that?  Before I make another payment, it's time to trade in this lemon.

I want a vehicle like my last one (an Accord) that only ever received routine maintenance and never had any problems. Unlike my Hospice Mobile, it was built to last.  

Imagine that.


Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go have a look-see at what my old love has to offer.





12 comments:

Rose said...

I've had my CRV since October and I'm loving it. It's my first Honda and if it keeps up like this, it won't be my last!

SkippyMom said...

We have a 1996 Honda Odyessy. I feel absolutely no guilt for not buying American when my Chevys and the one Ford we had purchased didn't make it 8 years let alone 16. The van runs strong and it only needs maintenance, unless of course a deer runs into you, but we love it.

Good luck! Better safe than sorry, for sure.

Silliyak said...

Actually SkippyMom, Odysseys have had so so transmissions. The one in our last one died at 60,000 miles. We were NOT happy campers. There is a documented problem with them for a number of years. They eventually offered to fix it for $1K, vs $4K, but I didn't want the car after that. They gave us full high blue book for ours to buy a new one. It was a toss up between that and a Toyota Sienna. The Odyssey we have now doesn't get the miles put on it like the last one and we haven't had any problems.

The Bug said...

I don't blame you for jumping ship - why should you have to go through all that rigamarole?

Brenda said...

Good for you Rudee. Reliability is very important. I have heard that there are so many parts of a car made in other countries....I am not sure what car is REALLY made here.

Irene said...

I heard the Honda Accord is very reliable and I used to have a CRX myself. I now have a nicycle and it is very reliable too except for the odd flat tire.

Quiltluver said...

I'm with ya. I was so mad at Ford after they refused to replace a faulty sensor on my 2 year old Escort that had been replaced twice before. Their reason? It was 1000 miles over the 60,000 mile warranty. No matter that the part itself had less than 30,000 miles. Fed up with all the recalls so I bought a 2003 Honda Civic. It has 240,000 miles and still runs great. It's only had routine maintenance, and 2 repairs in 8 years. I have a new 2012 Civic and I love it. Don't wait for Ford to decide not to repair their chronic problem the "next time".

SkippyMom said...

Funny Silliak when I researched the Odyssey the transmission never came up in any of the reviews or the mechanics I talked to. Since it has three times as many miles as any of our Chevys ever had I guess we got one of good ones?

Sorry your experience was so poor with your first Odyssey but really surprised you would go and buy another one. Chevy and Ford would have to do better than "high blue book" for our car before I went and paid retail for a new one of their cars.

Thanks for the info tho'. I guess I can lay awake nights now waiting for the transmission to blow on our van. heehee Well, we got our monies worth at least. Can't say that about the others.

SkippyMom said...

Whew Sillyak. I got worried after writing the response and looked it up. Now I know why I never heard of a problem with out van. The transmission problems were for the model years 1999 - 2001.

Thanks tho'. Now I can rest easy. :)

[Sorry Rudy, didn't mean to high jack your comments thread. Amazing what you can learn just reading comments! Good luck on your purchase, but don't buy a Honda Odyssey from 1999 - 2001]

NCmountainwoman said...

I have driven the same make of car for more than 20 years. Alas, the company is now owned by China even though the cars are still made in Sweden. I hope this one lasts and lasts because I simply cannot buy a car whose manufacturer is now owned by China. Dang, and I have loved them so.

Finding Pam said...

You have to do what is best for you. I've been driving a Toyota for four years and not a bit of trouble.

laurie said...

you never know.... a cunning little Subaru might catch your eye...