i’ve recently learned that the transmission in my car is on its way out. failing. wearing out. dying. going kaput. which means either replacing it with a used one for approximately $1500 (a mere $1100 less than i paid for the whole car) or, as Rod from the Spa mentioned, get another used VW Golf for the same amount. well, i don’t have $1500 for a new-used transmission or a new-used car. and, really, in the 24 months i’ve had this car, i’ve spent many thousands of dollars on it. many more thousands of dollars than i either had or wanted to spend.
\nso, now i’m back to where i was in August 2007 after my beloved Geo lost the fight with the Range Rover: facing carlessness and transit commuting.
\ni don’t know how long the tranny will last. it could blow up at any second. for the time being, i just have to make sure i really warm up the car up before i get into any driving situations which require immediate shifting ability as it seems to only misbehave when it’s cold and when i need to back up. my main concern right now is keeping it going until i’ve fully recovered from the upcoming knee surgery.
\noh, and before anyone gets smart and suggests i go buy a new car (look at al those deals! interest rates are so low!), there’s no money for car payments anywhere in my budget. every available penny is going to paying back the bank for my fiscal stupidity. there is no room for anything extra for another two years. August 2011 is my projected debt-free date. until then, consider me cash poor and unable to acquire new wheels.
\nthat, of course, doesn’t mean i haven’t been looking at new cars. i think that, of the new batch of sub-compacts out there, the Honda Fit might be my next auto. my dream car is the Mazda3 Sport, but there’s no way i could afford that (without winning a couple-dozen grand from somewhere). then again, there’s no telling what’ll be on the market for the 2012 vehicle year. they’re still working on flying cars, right?
\nall that being said, my irony for the day is that i’m debating spending ~$85 on either a Tivo or Wii Sports Resort. both have pros (fun! convenience!), cons (drain of bank account) and added expenses (monthly fees, cables, extra motion controller thingies) all of which are manageable to an extent.
\ni just feel like a douche even considering them when the whole car thing is all up in my face.
\ni’m not a douche, am i?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
i’ve recently learned that the transmission in my car is on its way out. failing. wearing out. dying. going kaput. which means either replacing it with a used one for approximately $1500 (a mere $1100 less than i paid for the whole car) or, as Rod from the Spa mentioned, get another used VW Golf …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-indulgence","category-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fubsy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}