We recently paid off our car, and so naturally, trouble began. It was intermittent at first. I’d go to start the car in the morning, all of the systems would come on, but the engine wouldn’t start. Eventually, I’d get the car started, either by jumping it, or trying again and again to get it…
Now and then, when I find myself taking technology for granted, I try to step back for a few minutes and imagine what my grandfather would have thought about the technology advance over the last 17 years since he died. My grandfather always seemed surprised and delighted by advances in technology. He would marvel at…
Cars used to break down a lot more in the past than they do today. I take this as a clear sign of progress in quality improvement. Parts are made better and last longer than they used to. I read recently in Scientific American that cars last 12-15 years these days. I often hear someone…
We’ve had our 2011 Kia Sorento for nearly three months now and I have not a single complaint about the vehicle, but universal praise. And Kia as a company is at least Saturn’s equal in customer service. Yesterday, among the various junk mail that fills the mail box on a Tuesday, was a $20 MasterCard…
Yesterday, I posted about how we like the new car after two weeks of driving it. In that post, I said: One thing I don’t like about the car is that it doesn’t warn you when you leave the headlights on the way both of our old cars did. But I suspect it shuts them…
We’ve been driving our new 2011 Kia Sorento for just over 2 weeks now and I figured it was time to summarize my thoughts on the experience so far. Keep in mind that prior to this, I drove a 1997 Saturn SL1, which I bought new in late 1996 and on which put more than…
We bought a new car this weekend and after 14 years of driving my 1997 Saturn SL1 (which I bought new from Saturn of the Valley on October 22, 1996), I traded in that car as part of the deal. The new car (pictured above) is a 2011 Kia Sorento. The color, I am told…
In a few days, my Saturn SL1 will turn 11 years old. And it’s still going strong. I don’t drive it nearly as much since moving to the D.C. area five years ago, but at 112,000+ miles, the car still impresses me. Yesterday, for instance, I filled it up with gas having driven it further…
Yesterday, my 1997 Saturn passed the 110,000 mile mark. Today, as I pulled into the driveway after work, the odometer read exactly 110,011, which has a nice symmetry to it, and also happens to be the number 51 if you convert it from binary to decimal. It amounts to about 9,400 miles/year. Keep in mind,…
strausmouse will recall “existential bumper stickers” from high school. Yesterday, I ran into a new breed of bumper sticker, the hypocritical bumper sticker. The car in front of me had a large bumper sticker that read something like “Keep Earth Green”. There may even have been a reference to Kyoto on it. The car itself…
My Saturn is ten years old today! It has 106,587 miles on it and it has never given me any signifcant trouble. When I first got the car ten years ago, it was my first new car ever. Here is what I had to say about it in my diary from October 22, 1996: Yes,…
Is it me, or are the new Jetta commercials freaky?