It seems we're inheriting ANOTHER car.

[Gil]

Of my ever burgeoning collection of cars. I believe that we've actually only bought 4 of the 8.

The Mother in Law bought a car for the boys 5 years ago.
A 1989 Ford Probe. Currently a non-runner. May never be again. Cars stalls whenever it's put into "Drive". But she only spent $1,000 on it back then.

Then gave us her 1997 Lumina for my 2nd son. Currently needs a new battery, now that it's got a new alternator. Will remedy that this weekend.

Recently remarried, she gave us her 1992 Low miles Geo Storm. It's been repaired so that it no longer leaks copius amounts of Tranny fluid, and my LARGEST (6'3" 300+ lbs) child thinks it's great. This little POS has well under 100K miles.
But the big suckage is that it's equipped with the 3-spd auto.👎

Now, the Step-Father in Law has given us a 2000 Honda Civic Sedan. It has 23,000 miles on it, and it used to belong to his daughter.
He's been holding on to it since she passed away.
Yes, it's an automatic. Yes it's well loaded. No, I won't be driving it. My wife wants to drive it. It'll get even better MPG than the Camry.
I'm to move on to her Camry. And one of my sons is to get my truck.👎
We'll likely tow or drive the thing back from Colorado when we go up in March.

I like the idea of getting better MPG, and the Camry will be more comfy than my Ranger. But the Camry is an auto, I can only play one CD at a time, and there's no good place to set my 55oz "Bubba Keg" where it won't tip over.

There may be an alternate arrangement in the works that will allow me to keep my truck:tup: .

 

[High-Test]

Wow! That's a lot of driveway space to use up! Do your sons live at home, or do they park in the drive/curb?

Congrats on the newest "member of the family", Gil. It's too bad that you recieved it because of his daughter passing away.

It's a civic, so there's almost a guarantee of a problem free, ordinary lifespan.

 

[Omnis]

Lmao @ the Bubba Keg.

I'm sorry that your Sister-in-law (right?) passed away. Good luck with the new cars. I couldn't imagine myself driving a Geo Storm... How does your son fit it?

 

[Duke]

What I want to know is how Gil currently drives anywhere without getting a migraine from listening to more than 1 CD at a time!

Congrats, Gil - sounds like a nice little car. Now you need to convince your extended family to start driving manuals.

 

[Gil]

What I want to know is how Gil currently drives anywhere without getting a migraine from listening to more than 1 CD at a time!

Congrats, Gil - sounds like a nice little car. Now you need to convince your extended family to start driving manuals.

Thanks, Annie died about 3 years ago. So, it's time for the car to go. This way it's still in the family.

Duke, It's not that I listen to multiple CDs. But I have a 6-CD changer in the truck, and I have grown to truly appreciate the "random" button.
With one CD, you get the tracks in random order, but you know the same voice will be coming out of the speakers. BORING!!!

With the car going to the wife, I have no say. It's automatics all the way.

My hope is that she'll hate it, and decide to keep the Camry.
Then (try to keep up), I keep my truck.
The Civic then goes to my second son.
The second son's Lumina then goes to my Third son,
and the fourth, fifth and sixth sons will be driving the Storm. (with the fifth doing most of the actual driving).

 

[Gil]

Update:
I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to like the Camry.
It's getting 31 MPG, if I do my part. So, it's saving me about 50 bucks a month on gas over the truck.
It rides like my living room couch, but corners fairly flat.

I got to drive the Honda back from CO. The trailer IDEA was good, but when we got to the U-Haul place, the one car dolly they had had a bunch of exposed wiring, could only be towed 45-55 mph... Plus they pissed me off when the lights were hooked up and didn't work.
The blamed it on my connections.
The covers have never been off of them, the Truck has 7500 miles on it, the trailer at least 75,000 if not many times that, and my truck is the wiring problem? Insult me all you want, but don't start on my trucks!!
After I started fiddling with the wires on the trailer, the lights started working... sorta.
They said they'd get the trailer sorted before they put me on the road with it, but never did acknowledge that my Excursion was not the problem. And they made light of the problems with the trailer's wiring. And it was a hodgr-podge of hanging connectors and heat-shrink, and electrical tape.

That assumption, and the fact that 55mph was not on the agenda for getting home in a "timely" manner, got the whole trailer idea bagged.

So the Honda was interesting to drive. It has a sunroof, and I have a long torso...
At the lowest adjustment for the seat my head was about an inch from the ceiling. My 5'4" wife insisted that I drive the Honda and she drive the EXcursion back. I also had my third son with me. All 6'3" and 325 lbs. of him.

We were cramped, but had a lot of fun. The Speedo in the Honda is not terribly accurate above 60 MPH. Between the Speedo in the Excursion and the Tachymetre on my watch we determined that 85 on the Honda Speedo was equal to 78 on the road.
It got about the same MPG as the Camry. My wife has already noted that it's noisier than the Camry. But she digs the sunroof. Hates that fact that turning on the A/C shunts about half her power.
I don't think I'm giving the Camry back...
I haven't started calling it my car yet. But I think I'm keeping it.

 

[skip0110]

Civics are so light that having even one moderately sized passenger can muck with the acceleration and handling.

When I was driving my hatch, if I gave my buddy a ride (he's only like 240ish lbs) I would bottom out (scrape the mudflaps) on little rises I never noticed when driving alone.