Meet Al

The Mr. and I have been talking about replacing one or both of our cars for about a year now. We kept saying that we needed to start looking around. Finally, we had a scare that the Taurus's transmission may need to be replaced. That was our speculation when we had transmission fluid all over the driveway on Sunday afternoon - and the engine was shifting terribly.

That Sunday evening back in June we started shopping for a new car. We found some we liked and we were going to look at them. We also took the Taurus to the shop to see just how bad it was...

When I got the fated call from the garage working on the Taurus my stomach sunk. And then the man on the other end said "We just need to replace some high pressure hosing. It's about $250."

Sweet! So we didn't need a new car immediately after all! ...but we were still looking.

We waited for Cash for Clunkers - but then didn't qualify. Who thought a 12 year old Maxima and 10 year old Taurus would NOT be considered a "clunker"? Oh well.

Then the Maxima needed new tires. So came the breaking point - pay $300 for new tires on a car that needs to be replaced? Or replace the car that needs to be replaced?

We replaced the car that needed to be replaced. We fondly call him "Al". Short for "Al-tima". :)

You can see the Taurus sneaking into the pictures too. It doesn't want to be left out!

We traded in the old Maxima and got $1200 for it. As we drove out of the lot, we weren't heartbroken to be leaving that car behind. As a matter of fact, I think we were laughing because the joke was truly on them.

Why was the joke on them? Let's look at what was wrong with the Maxima:

1. The power steering pump needed to be replaced.
2. It leaked oil. It always leaked oil and we kept trying to "fix" it, but it just sprung another leak.
3. Sometimes the AC fan would stop working if you braked too hard - so you had to kick it.
4. In order to kick the AC fan, we had to remove the glove box. We put the glove box back in - but not correctly, so it's kind of jacked.
5. The clock never worked
6. You couldn't tell what radio station you were on because the display was messed up.
7. The paint was kind of messed up
8. The "Nissan" emblem fell off the radiator grating. LOL

The Maxima was old and tired. Now we have a younger, more spry little brother of the Maxima (although not so little anymore...they're the same size).

I really enjoy my new car. :)