Over the weekend, I had decided on the 2008 Nissan Versa. It's got about 22000 miles on it, has a 7 yr/100,000 warranty on power train, and they were asking $10,888 for it. This morning, once I got up and ready, I met mom and we headed to Chambersburg, her following me, to trade in Miss Cleo.
Miss Cleo was a good car. She was 9 years old, I had had her for 7 years, and this was the first 'real' problem I ever had with here. Yeah, there was the battery issue in the fall of 2008, and the time the driver's seat broke and laid flat onto the back seat and I had to try to drive it home from work holding myself up by gripping the steerin wheel (NOT an easy prospect, I assure you). But other than that, no real issues with her.
And she made probably a half dozen, maybe more, trips to Toronto, countless trips to DC, a few trips to Baltimore, one or two to the Harrisburg area, once to Columbus Ohio and she was driven all OVER the four state area around here.
But, it was her time. I was worried about getting her out of the still snow covered alleyway, but like a trooper, she made it without problem. However, on the way to Chambersburg, as we went up hills, I noticed she was straining and not accelerating as much as she should. It's only about a 25 mile trip from my house to the dealership. I kept talking to her all the way there, telling what a good girl she's been, how I couldn't have ever asked for a better car, could she please keep running just until I pulled into the parking lot up there?
But we were on the outskirts of Chambersburg, the town clearly in view, when we stopped at an intersection with lights and...she shut down. She refused to start. I guess that was all she had. Five more miles and we'd have been at the dealership. She gave it her best shot, but just couldn't make it all the way, God rest her soul.
Luckily, it was on a hill going down, so I just drifted down it in neutral and turned the corner into the lesser used street and pulled over. Because of the snow, I couldn't actually get off the road, but at this intersection, the road had a turning lane as well as a regular lane going the other way, so that left plenty of room. Mom pulled in behind me and I called AAA. The lady took all my info and said because of a large demand, she couldn't give me an ETA. Mom had brought today's paper with her, so we settled in for long wait.
I didn't even get the front page read, less than 10 minutes passed, and the rollback pulled up! And before you knew it, we were in the parking lot of the dealership. The whole ride, including the breakdown, took less than an hour. Normally, it woulda taken us probably 35-40 minutes anyway, so that wasn't bad.
I laughed with the salesman, saying "I bet you never had anybody bring their trade-in in on a rollback, eh?" He told me in 7 years there's very little he hadn't seen. Ends up the gave me $100 on the tradein. And I didn't haggle with them cause, well it came in on a freakin' rollback! But even if I had driven it in, as soon as they started it up, they would have heard the noise I found the problem. I doubt I woulda gotten anymore than $200 for it that way anyway.
At any rate, after a lot of paperwork, I got the keys and drove off the lot at about noon-ish. So from leaving home in Miss Cleo, to leaving the lot with the new car took a total of 2.5 hours! Love it.
And this is the new car below:
It's official color is gold, although it was also tagged up there as beige, and my aunt, when she saw it, said it looked greensih-silver in certain light, which it kinda does. But since the official color is gold, that's what I'm going with.
I haven't named the new car yet. I've thought of a few names, but I'm not sure which one to choose. Miss Cleo was clearly feminine and regal, hence her name. But I feel like this car is more...masculine. Well, more masculine than Miss Cleo was, so I'm picking a guy name (sorta) for it.
I have a preference in mind, but what I thought I'd do is put up a poll here and see what the most popular choice is of the names I have in mind. Let me know what you prefer, maybe that'll be the name. Althought I reserve the right to totally ignore what you guys choose if I become really attached to one of them.
POLT Listening to "The Shock Of The Lightning" by Oasis
Am I the only one who feels lately - latelly being defined as since September 2001 - the nation seems overrun by yahoos? - Leonard Pitts, July 29, 2005
11 comments:
You know you want to name it Craig.
I don't and have never named my car, though the wife has and does. On first look, I agree with the somewhat masculine tone and initially thought "Sam" which could be short for "Samuel" or "Samantha" as you see fit.
Nice gar and good luck with him/her!
Word verification "bicali": what we hope every surfer on Laguna Beach self identifies themselves as...
Awww. It's adorable. Too bad about Miss Clio conking out with 5 miles to go. She knew she was going to the scrap yard in the sky and was trying to save herself.
Enjoy your new wheels and I'll look forward to the poll since I've never named a car I'm clueless.
Chauncey?
Cars should always have female names. It's their temperamental nature that leads to that.
And it's a Nissan, so something exotic and Japanese might work.
Not to mention the fact, Nissans are known to last just about forever.
I'd call it "Vice".
I love love love Ryan's idea! :-)
I second (or third, I guess) Ryan's idea.
RIP Miss Cleo.
Craig: The possibilities are endless:
"I've been riding Craig all day. Man, am I tired."
"I let my friend borrow Craig for the afternoon. I hope he doesn't break anything."
"Craig got dirty this afternoon, so I took him out back and hosed him down while the neighbors watched."
Ryan, after I read Craiggers comment above I sent him the following email:
"Ya know, when I read Ryan's comment, I thought "Yeah, that's AWESOME!" But then I thought, "Hmm, what will people think if I put up a post that reads 'So I go inside Craig and took him for a ride'?" So I thought better of it.
BUT, then I thought, "Well, that's probably the closest I'm ever gonna get to actually DOING that, so maybe I SHOULD name it that!"
BUT, then again I thought, 'Nah, it'd just be too confusing." And right now, that's what I'm going with."
And that's kinda still how I feel about naming him Craig. Although I DO honestly like the idea of being able to say those statements you made. :)
HUGS...
Polt: I completely understand, although you could name it Craig X Shockey and call it by its middle name like people who are named after their father.
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