Cars: Problem After Problem
Since being married, hubby and I have had problems with 2 things in particular; electronics and cars. I’ve just about had it with our vehicles and car repairs.
We had a 95 Mitsubishi Galant when we first got married, and it was ok. It was a good college car for me but basically bit the dust and needed a ton of repairs right after we had Chandler. Thus we decided to get a new car. We found a great deal on an 02′ Ford Focus. It only had 53,000 miles on it and was listed at $5300. At the time, it was not quite 3 years old and seemed like a steal of a deal. That’s when we found out it had a rebuilt title. We drove it, liked it, and bought it anyway, but talked the dealer down to $4900. Soon after we got it, something was leaking and we had to replace a couple things, the radiator being one of them.
Time goes by, and it starts having more weird problems. Electrical problems to be exact. The speedometer started acting funny and would jump all over the place. The car felt like it was getting power surges and would randomly shut off. This happened to my hubby on the freeway a few years ago, can’t remember what we did to fix it, but I do know we took it in. Coming to last summer. We had a full tune up done on the car and it cost us just over $400. I had started working a job 45 minutes away and needed a dependable car. A few days later, I break down on the Interstate, and the closest place to pull over is in the toll lane. Mind you, it is 4:30 am and I’ve just gotten off work. I’m in a black car and nothing is working, so I’m not that visible. I call 911, and the woman on the line tells me to buckle up and brace myself “just in case.” Uhm – OK!?? That didn’t exactly give me peace of mind. A cop showed up a bit later, and called a tow, for which we had to pay almost $200 for. I guess some cable that ran to the battery completely snapped. My hubby wrote a nastly letter to the company that did our tune up a few days later. Apparently they didn’t check the battery, but wouldn’t take responsibility for what could have been a really bad outcome for me. We got that fixed, and are still having electrical problems. So we take it into an electrical guy who supposedly fixes it. Pay him, it’s still having electrical problems.
Yesterday – I am trading off the boys with hubby so that I can go to work. The steering wheel locks, and we can’t turn the car over. We try everything we can, and finally it turns over and I head to work, getting there 30 minutes late. This morning when I’ve finished my shift, it does the same thing. I messed with it for an hour and finally call a tow. I guess we have to replace the ignition and re key the car. Another $300 down the drain. Did I mention that my brother in law just helped my hubby put new brake pads on last week? I won’t get into our 01′ Chevy Blazer we bought last year, that’s another story.  It’s a cruddy car too.

We are fed up with this ridiculous car and I am scared every time I come home that it is going to break down. I want to know what cars you’ve had good experiences with and what you would suggest. What cars would you not suggest that you’ve had problems with? I’ve been told many times that you can’t go wrong with a Toyota or Honda so we might go that route.  We don’t want to spend a ton on a car because we don’t have the budget for it, but at the same time want something that will last. Help!!

Popularity: 1% [?]