“Remoted” – Day 369 (Saturday)

My CR-V was at the Honda dealer today for recall service on the passenger air bag. This had already been done once, so several letters had been ignored. They kept coming, and it turned out this is a second recall for this airbag. 

Car 007 in the service area.

When I called to make the appointment, the service team said it could take two hours. Honda has a 0% financing deal going on and the recent stimulus check hit the bank account this week, so it was decided to do my part to help stimulate the economy and spend it. Maybe there would be something I like at the Honda dealership. Or at least something acceptable.

In preparation for auto shopping, there were visits to the Honda website to become acquainted with the current models. The dying breed of Civic 2-door coupe looked nice, and the HR-V looked kind of cool, especially the picture with the back seats flipped to hold a bicycle. These had promise. The Aegean Blue color on any model looks nice. The lot also has a lot of pre-owned vehicles, so it felt promising.

Car shopping is possibly my least favorite life activity. It is one reason why my CR-V is a 2004, bought way back when it was new. Another reason for my old car is that I don’t like most of the vehicle styles. They all look the same to me, like used erasers with a different logo slapped on to tell them apart.

For several years cars in traffic and parking lots have been scrutinized, hoping to see something I like. The curves of aerodynamic design baffle me. It’s not like we can drive 100 mph, so how much does it really help? When barely moving in traffic, do the curves make a vehicle run more efficiently than models with angles?

During the week, I psyched myself up for car shopping to the point I was actually looking forward to it. I imagined walking onto the lot and experiencing a love at first sight moment, but it’s probably all the Hallmark Channel movies talking. Despite the optimism that shopping the Honda lot would be fun and fruitful, it didn’t quite play out like that. The Honda models are boring. There was one Acura SUV that I dubbed “the ex-husband’s ex-wife” model because it reminded me of my second ex-husband’s second ex-wife. It looked okay, but had high mileage.

Amid the hundreds of new and pre-owned vehicles I didn’t like and couldn’t imagine going into debt for, there was exactly one vehicle that I liked. It was navy blue and was more squared without looking to boxy, so it checked a couple boxes on my list. It was a 2015 Mercedes GLK listed at $25,000.

The first thing that went through my mind was that I don’t really have a Mercedes lifestyle and would be a self-conscious nervous wreck driving it. Something newer could be bought for that kind of money. Then the memory of an ex-boyfriend who briefly had a Mercedes crept in. He left the windshield wipers turned on when shutting off the car, and one cold night, the wiper froze to the windshield. While the car was warming up the next morning, the wiper motor burned out and it cost $600 to fix. Anything he needed done to it cost a fortune. There is no room in the budget for expensive Mercedes service and repairs.

After 45 minutes on the lot, no vehicle had inspired me to buy, or to even take a test drive. The gazillion-year old CR-V will be around a while longer. It has relatively low mileage, runs well, is still reliable, and has been paid off since 2008. We get along pretty well and it has things not found in newer models, like angles.