Out and Back

Anybody want to buy a car?

This is my 2003 Aerio.  It's for sale.  $6,799 OBO, just over 50,000 miles.  Send me an email or leave a comment if you're interested.  It's a good car -- roomy trunk, good gas mileage, power windows, power steering, CD player, dual front airbags, overdrive, etc.  We liked it -- just don't need it anymore.

Driving around for a good cause

Hubby and I took some time yesterday afternoon to accomplish the typically distasteful task of getting our cars registered in South Carolina and acquiring South Carolina driver's licenses.  We were expecting the worst, because in our former home state of Pennsylvania, vehicle registration is at best, an arduous process, and, at worst, a nightmare.  (Sometime I will write about the time we tried to get my car titled and licensed in Pennsylvania.  We had purchased it -- and paid the sales tax on it -- in Missouri, and even though we could present proof that we had already paid the sales tax, the beeyotch that was assisting us refused to accept said proof and was going to make us pay the sales tax twice.  I raised holy hell.  Well, there.  I guess I just told you about it.)

Anyway, the process in South Carolina was a little complicated -- there are lot of documents that you have to gather, and you have to pay property taxes on your vehicle up front -- but if you plan ahead and follow the directions, it goes very smoothly.  Especially nice is the "gatekeeper" at the DMV who checks all of your paperwork before you're allowed to take a number and wait your turn -- that way, the folks who didn't come prepared don't waste the time of the DMV workers and the customers who have their shit together.

The coolest part about the whole thing was the custom license plate we got (see above.)  Proceeds from the sale of these specialty "no more homeless pets" plates benefit a program that provides low-cost spay and neuter services for low-income pet owners, and I get to be an advocate for a great cause every time I get behind the wheel. 

Somebody owes me $201.91

Last night, someone chucked a brick through the passenger-side window of my car.  This morning, I discovered broken glass everywhere.  The glove box had been rifled, but the only things that were taken were my car's manual (God knows why?) and a little organizer that contained a pad and pen and my car's registration card and proof of insurance.  To someone in a hurry, though, I suppose it could have looked like it might contain money or CDs.  My FM transmitter for my iPod was left untouched, as was the zipper pouch full of change that I keep under the passenger seat for tolls.

Of course, the first thing my husband asked me when he saw what had happened was, "Who have you pissed off recently?" 

Love you too, honey.

The glass is cleaned up and the window is covered with plastic (I'm getting a new window on Monday afternoon) but there isn't much that will alleviate the shards of anger in my soul right now.  I also have a nasty cold and was feeling like shit before discovering that my car had been broken into.  At times like this, I have to believe in karma.  What goes around comes around.

Another reason to love my car...

With the recent dumping of snow that happened between Thursday night and Friday morning (the worst of it fell right smack in the middle of the a.m. commute) I remembered yet another reason why I love and adore my little roller skate of a car: it handles fantastically in the snow.

"Wait a minute," I can hear you asking yourselves, "Doesn't she drive a Suzuki Swift?  Sounds like a heap of junk to me!"  See, that's what they want you to believe, but it isn't really true.

Yes, my car lacks power steering, but that doesn't matter when it snows.  In fact, the absence of power steering is actually helpful on slippery, snowy roads.  (And our roads are particularly slippery these days seeing as the city of Allentown couldn't muster enough resources to plow any roads other than a few of the major arterials.)  When the car skids, it's easier to guide it back into position because there is less play in the steering wheel.  I used to drive a Honda Civic, and I would dread having to steer out of a skid because the power steering would cause the wheel to spin like... well, a roulette wheel.  Talk about a wheel of (mis)fortune.  With my Swift, I just inch the steering wheel a few degrees to the right or left and I'm out of the skid.  I can even do it with one hand.

Also, Swifts are little cars... think "enclosed golf cart."  (I don't even know why they made them with backseats, because 90% of the time I've got my backseat folded down to accomodate a load of some type or another.)  They fly down the freeway, and the four cylinder engine gives them a surprising amount of pickup.  Their small size also makes them easier to stop on snowy, icy roads.  Most of the time, I can just take my foot off the gas and coast to a stop, but if I have to stop in a hurry that's usually pretty easy to do, too, regardless of the road conditions.  Of course, I try not to drive too fast when it's slippery out, which helps, too.  I shudder whenever I see an overconfident SUV driver barrelling down the road at ridiculous speeds in the snow, thinking that he or she doesn't have a darn thing to worry about because of that trusty all-wheel drive.  Just wait until you try to stop that mother on a patch of ice, you moron.  A skid + the high center of gravity most SUVs have = rollover.

The lightness of my car makes it easier to climb up and over small snowdrifts and into parking spots on my street, too.  While a lot of cars might sink and get stuck (my husband's car usually does), mine just sort of bounces over with a minimum amount of spinning tires.  No kitty litter for me!

And the best part about my car is the heater.  While the air conditioner has been a little dodgy over the years, the heater works gloriously.  It takes a little while to warm up, but once it does, I am convinced that I could thaw a 20 pound turkey in the backseat in under an hour.  And sure, my car doesn't have that cool "remote ignition" feature that newer cars have, but my answer to that was to have a second key made.  About 30 minutes before I have to go anywhere, I just go outside, start the car with the spare key, and lock the door.  When I'm ready to leave, the car is toasty and all I have to do is put the spare key back in the house.

You can keep your mini-vans and your Hummers, your New Beetles and your Celicas... the Suzuki Swift is the automobile industry's best-kept secret as far as I'm concerned!

 

The car is back!

I keep forgetting to mention that I finally got my little red roller skate back from the body shop two days ago.  While they were fixing the mangled parts, they also managed to ship it over to the service department so my mechanic could install a new part to make the A/C work.  So when I got the car back it was all clean and shiny with A/C that blows so cold I have to turn it down sometimes.  Yee haw!

And I don't miss the power steering of my rental cars in the least.  I keep telling my husband we should drive little Suzy to Floyd today but he keeps saying, "No... the engine revs so high... it's not comfortable on longer trips....am I wrong?"  Yes dear, you are.