# My Car is Dead (Long Live my Car!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 23, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471 "2010-03-23T14:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/1 "2010-03-23T14:32:31Z")
Yup, my ol’ faithful automobile, bought new in April of 1996, has finally kicked the bucket. Transmission went out over the weekend, and it’ll be more to fix it than I want to spend on a fourteen-year-old car. My wife was doing her Secret Dance of Joy, because she has long been of the opinion we needed to buy a new car. But my feeling has always been that if the repair costs are low, and you take care of your car, there’s no reason to replace it. And now we’re at that point where repair costs are not low, so I have no heartburn about the move. (Well… not much, anyway). So, new vehicle time for the Bricker household. I’m going to get another one, and drive it for fifteen years this time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/2 "2010-03-23T14:46:35Z")
I’m in the same position - the old Echo is burning a little oil, it has a lot of miles on it, and I’ve never liked it anyway. I took it on as a commuter car when we got a minivan for my wife. It’ll probably be a low-mileage used car. I’m considering the Mini Cooper Clubman. ---
**Author:** ![CrimeThink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@CrimeThink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrimeThink)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/3 "2010-03-23T14:47:58Z")
Happy car shopping. I’m picking up my new car today. You certainly made it a lot longer than my 2004 Alero that crapped out on me last week. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/4 "2010-03-23T14:55:47Z")
What kind of car was it? And what kind of car will you buy to replace it? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/5 "2010-03-23T15:29:54Z")
Did some sort of gubment automotive death panel swoop in and do the deed or was this a personal decision based upon freedom of choice and free market incentives ? 🙂 As a life long member of the drive it into the ground club, I’'ll raise my grease covered hands holding a beer up high in your car’s memory as I work on my old 83 later today. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/6 "2010-03-23T16:15:57Z")
I’m terribly sorry for your loss. Say, time for New Car Smell! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/7 "2010-03-23T16:18:48Z")
> [@SanibelMan](#): > > What kind of car was it? And what kind of car will you buy to replace it? It was a Toyota Avalon. Replacing it is a 2010 Chevy Traverse. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/8 "2010-03-23T16:20:33Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > As a life long member of the drive it into the ground club, I’'ll raise my grease covered hands holding a beer up high in your car’s memory as I work on my old 83 later today. Hear, hear! I am constantly amazed at the “Let’s get a new car every three years” crowd. My neighbors would make subtle and not-so-subtle comments about the same car sitting front of my house year after year, as they went happily about replacing their new cars with newer cars. To each his own… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/9 "2010-03-23T16:28:13Z")
I ran my old car from 1990 to about 2005 or 6. It had 197,000 miles on it. Then I got a new one - well, new to me, but it was a 2001 Corolla. I still have that one now. Corollas are especially long-lived. My old car still ran fine, just the upkeep became too high. But I admit, I’d buy new cars more often if I could afford it. When this car goes, though, I am looking to buy my first new car ever - a Toyota Yaris Hatchback. Do want! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/10 "2010-03-23T16:43:28Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Hear, hear! > > I am constantly amazed at the “Let’s get a new car every three years” crowd. My neighbors would make subtle and not-so-subtle comments about the same car sitting front of my house year after year, as they went happily about replacing their new cars with newer cars. > > To each his own… I inherited my membership in the Drive It 'Til the Doors Fall Off Club from my father. In 1982, he finally got a new car to replace his '72 Karmann-Ghia. Did he get rid of it? No! He allowed my brother and me to drive it in high-school. Let me tell you, nothing impresses the girls like a rusted chassis. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/11 "2010-03-23T17:08:26Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Hear, hear! > > I am constantly amazed at the “Let’s get a new car every three years” crowd. My neighbors would make subtle and not-so-subtle comments about the same car sitting front of my house year after year, as they went happily about replacing their new cars with newer cars. > > To each his own… It takes me two years to reliably remember which side the gas cap is on in my new car. How do those people who buy a new car every three years not always drive up to the wrong side of the gas pumps? Once, when my mom got a new car, she got one the same make, model, and color as her old one. She was happy because it meant she didn’t have to learn where everything was in a new car. One of our neighbors was incredulous- why would you get a new car if nobody who saw it would _know_ that you got a new car? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/12 "2010-03-23T17:34:11Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > It takes me two years to reliably remember which side the gas cap is on in my new car. How do those people who buy a new car every three years not always drive up to the wrong side of the gas pumps?\ My Corolla has an arrow indicating which side the gas cap is on. {preens} We’re also members of the “drive it until you have a good reason to get rid of it” club. Jim’s looking at replacing his 1999 Tercel next year with a Ford Mustang or something similar. We’ll probably still keep the Tercel for a winter beater. I plan to drive my 2005 Corolla until things start falling off of it. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/13 "2010-03-23T21:23:08Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > It takes me two years to reliably remember which side the gas cap is on in my new car. How do those people who buy a new car every three years not always drive up to the wrong side of the gas pumps? That’s my thought exactly! My car is 7 years old, I’ve had it since it was a year old. So 6 years of driving, and just last winter did I feel I finally _knew_ where all the knobs and buttons and tricks are, without thinking twice. My dad leases (for 24 months) all of his cars since forever, and I swear he never instinctively reaches for any button, he always has to think it through and fumble a bit. Gah! ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/14 "2010-03-24T03:07:49Z")
Hmm… I never had a car that the gas cap wasn’t on the driver’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/15 "2010-03-24T12:45:45Z")
> [@luv2draw](#): > > Hmm… I never had a car that the gas cap wasn’t on the driver’s side. My last car, a 98 Pontiac Sunfire, had it on the passenger side. My current car has it on the driver’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/16 "2010-03-24T19:39:13Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > It takes me two years to reliably remember which side the gas cap is on in my new car. How do those people who buy a new car every three years not always drive up to the wrong side of the gas pumps? I had to confront that issue today. I saw a subtle arrow on the gas gauge pointing to the left, and sure enough, there’s the gas cap cover. And a moment of fiddling later, I got it to open. ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/17 "2010-03-24T20:15:55Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > It takes me two years to reliably remember which side the gas cap is on in my new car. How do those people who buy a new car every three years not always drive up to the wrong side of the gas pumps? The only worthwhile tidbit of info I ever got from renting cars all the time for work–the vast majority of cars will have either a little arrow or a little gas handle on the side of the fuel gauge that tells you which side the gas cap is on. And **Bricker** –congrats on the new car! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/18 "2010-03-24T20:29:31Z")
> [@Hakuna\_Matata](#): > > The only worthwhile tidbit of info I ever got from renting cars all the time for work–the vast majority of cars will have either a little arrow or a little gas handle on the side of the fuel gauge that tells you which side the gas cap is on. The last car I rented didn’t, IIRC. I will be traveling and renting a car this weekend, I’ll have to see if it does. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-car-is-dead-long-live-my-car/533471/19 "2010-03-25T09:38:40Z")
The title of this thread made me laugh for about five minutes straight.