Another Car Question

[Tom]

The last two vehicles I've owned have been Honda. A 2000 Civic bought brand new which was the cat's meow (buyers remorse...should have never traded it in...) and currently an Odyssey.

The later vehicle is a lemon. Absolutely hate the thing. Popped its tranny just after warranty expired (just over 90,000 klicks) and well it just feels cheap. With a growing family, I thought we needed the space, when honestly, we probably could have made due. As it stands we will drive this one into the ground before we break down and pony up the cash for another vehicle.

At the risk of temporarily sidetracking the thread, my Ex-Fiance and I used to have a 1992 Camaro. (She bought it new and we broke up in 2000). We LOVED that car. Fire red Camaro RS with T-Tops. Beautiful woman in a beautiful sports car, I was in heaven. We put about 300,000 miles on it by the time we split and though I was VERY particulr with the upkeep of the car, the only major things it ever needed besides tires, brake shoes and ONE battery, was a set of shocks and struts and one alternator. The alternator went out at the tire shop as the mechanic fired it up to take it off the lift. Since I had bought tires, shocks and struts at the same time, the manager, really nice guy, had his guy go across the street to Napa and get an alternator, sold it to me at his cost and only charged $40 more for the kid to put it in. That car was perfect. I had a 1992 Chevy S-10 pickup (5 speed, the Camaro was an automatic) and we lived 32 miles from her work (in San Jose, we lived in San Leandro Ca.) and I worked 10 miles away, in the opposite commute on I-880, in Oakland for Amtrak. She always drove the truck, and I always drove the car. The only hiccup with the Camaro was the fact that it didn't take too kindly to mountain air, though we did take it camping alot, to Portola to the museum, etc. Just one wicked cool ride. When we split in 2000, she left me due to the railroad. She forced me to chose, and I chose the railroad, though reluctantly. She took the car (just to kick me in the b---s) and I got the truck. She went back to her ex-fiance that she had split with when her and I got together and quickly became his 5th or 6th (I can't remember now) wife and had two kids. She moved back to Virginia to be with the POS. As I later figured out, she had gotten pregnant when her and I were on the outs (him, NOT me!) and the first thing he did was demanded she sell the Camaro. He bought her a Honda Odyssey. Now, I am very fond of Honda cars (all except the Element, YUK!) but this thing is a PILE of crap. She HATES it. A few years ago, she and my current Fiance, Alicia, patched up their lifelong friendship (had been best friends since they were little kids and parted ways when her and I split up, I then ended up with Alicia), and as irony would have it, wound up moving to the same town her only living family (her Aunt) lives in, my hometown, Stockton. She lives about a 5 minute city drive away. You could almost walk there as fast as you can drive, and I occasionally see her as her and Alicia are best friends again. Doesn't bother me one bit either... every time I see her hating that Odyssey and mentioning the Camaro and how she misses it, I laugh a little inside. No, on second though, I laugh my butt off inside.

I say it all the time in racing and I'll say it again in this case... there is a reason the word "Karma" starts with the word "Car".

Sorry about hijacking the thread, its just when Tetters mentioned the Odyssey, I had to giggle thinking about Colleen hating hers. Made my night, thank you.