Saying "Goodbye" to My Trusty Steed

My Civic died yesterday as I was coming home from work.  This is the only picture I have of it, taken after the huge snow storm we had back in December of 2008.  Sadly, it has gone to the great Honda dealership in the sky.  I was traveling up the last portion of the Cajon Pass when the beginning of the end took place.  About a mile earlier as I started my push up the final portion of the hill, the engine didn't sound right and I moved over to the slower lanes.  Not long after I did that, the Civic lurched forward and the engine started making a knocking sound—not good.  I pulled off the side of the road and popped the hood to see if there was any visual evidence of problems but I'm no mechanic and this was more of an effort in futility than anything else.  I don't know what I expected to see (not that I would have known what to do if I did see anything).  In the end, there was nothing visibly wrong.

Not knowing what else to do, I decided to try to make it home.  To accommodate this, I chose to drive slower.  I merged back onto the freeway and set my cruise control for 60.  I know this probably wasn't the best idea, but I did it anyway.  As I was passing the new Ranchero Road exit, the Civic lurched again and this time the noise from the engine was bad.  Before I could slow down, my oil pressure light popped on and then my engine light came on and then my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree.  Like I said, I'm no mechanic, but my best guess is that I threw a piston rod and it shot through some part of my engine like Teancum dealing with Amalickiah (how's that for a visual?).  With a hole ripped through its "heart," my Civic began spilling oil and with nothing to lubricate the engine parts, everything came to a grinding halt.  By the time I got myself off the road again, there was smoke coming out of hood and I was stuck.  AAA towed me home.  Once home, I had the tow truck guy park the Civic on the rocks near the driveway.  I'm planning to sell it to a pick and pull place and see if I can get some money out of it.

I called one of my supervisors that night and told him I would be spending Wednesday car shopping.  Jennifer had a substitute job, but I found out that Nick Martinez was off that day (he actually saw the Civic getting loaded on to the tow truck and thought, "That looks like Chris' car.").  I asked him if he would be interested in going with me and he said he would.  Jen thought (I did too, but she'd want me to say this was her idea ☺) that it would be good to have someone with me (an unemotionally attached person) to keep me grounded.  Turns out, Nick was the best man for the job (more on that in a moment).

Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, I looked on the Internet, pricing new and used vehicles and trying to decide what would be my best option.  By the time Nick came to pick me up at around 10, I had narrowed my choices down to either a Hyundai (like Jen's) or a KIA.  Of those two, however, I was leaning more toward the KIA.  I remembered our big back East trip in the Optima and how I really liked that car.  I would have loved to go for an Optima, but it was a bit too pricey, so I was leaning heavily toward the Forte.  Nick asked me where I wanted to go and I told him the two options, but I also said that I liked the Forte.  "Okay, we'll go to KIA first," he replied.

When we walked through the door, we were met by Oscar, who became the salesman I worked with.  Here is where having Nick with me started working in my favor.  Turns out Oscar was originally from: New York City.  Once that was established, he and Nick started swapping stories about NYC.  Later on, I was introduced to the floor manager, Louie, who was originally from: New York City.  Once again, he and Nick hit it off immediately.  Oscar showed me the "base" model Forte that was in the showroom.  It was nice, but I wanted some extras like cruise control and other things.  He then took me over to a used Forte that was a "full package" model.  This was another moment when Nick's presence was good because after Oscar showed me all the "goodies" included in the car, I was starting to think, "Yeah, this might be what I want."  Oscar had to leave for a minute and Nick got in the passenger’s seat and said, "Okay, this car does have some great extra features, but you should ask yourself, 'Do I need all this stuff?'"  It was a great comment because it brought me back down to earth.  The car was silver and I really didn't want another silver car and the interior was black and I didn't want that either because of how hot the inside could become.  When Oscar returned, I declined that car.

After nearly losing my head, I became pickier.  Oscar showed me a used Soul (that boxy looking car that the rodents drive in the commercial), but I didn't like the color (alien green) or the "trunk" space (the Soul doesn't really have a trunk).  He showed me another silver Forte and asked if I'd be interested in white (no and no).  There was one car that had what looked like a gray paint job that intrigued me, but what I thought was gray turned out to be this funky blue color (no on that one).  Then he showed me a black model with gray interior—now we're talking.  The first one he showed me was the full package model and I wasn't interested (too expensive), but then he tracked down a mid-range model and let me take it for a test drive.  That sold me.  As I drove it, I was reminded of how much I liked the Optima.  The seats are comfy.  I have a cd player (the Civic only had a tape deck).  It has cruise control and other "hands free" features.  It has a back-up camera and other nice little options.  Isaac says that I've now arrived in the 21st century.☺

When it came time to negotiate payment, Nick and his NYC connections with Oscar and Louie (as well as his New York negotiating style) were perfect.  I basically sat back and let him do the talking for me.  He was completely in his element.  After about 30 minutes of back and forth, Louie came back to show me the different options they could do for me.  Nick asked if we could have a moment to talk it over and they left us alone.  Nick and I went over the options.  When I picked the one I thought was best and Nick agreed with me, I felt good about the entire deal.  I was hoping the Civic would last longer, but when I consider that I put nearly 300,000 miles on the car and had it for 12 of its 15 years, I'd say I got my money's worth out of it.  So now I have a new trusty steed.  I hope our relationship is a least as long lasting as the steed it has replaced.