When it runs ... I like it. It does well on the snow, and it has pretty decent gas mileage for the behemoth it is. It has ferried 7 ballerinas down to summer intensive classes for three years. It has its good points - none of which would stop me from taking a bazooka to its engine block today ... if I had a bazooka.
This 2003 Chrysler Town and Country is the bane of my existence. It is certainly the bane of my checkbook. Every year it seems to require a big ticket visit to the mechanic. Usually every six months. I may as well be honest about it. We've done the fuel pump,tires, an AC flush and recharge, new battery, brakes, and ... oh, it's too depressing. This time around it is the air compressor, which has a bad bearing. The compressor has had issues before, but so long as I didn't use the AC we were able to limp along just fine. Hot, but fine. The darned thing has taken the fatal leap now though. The compressor has to be replaced to the tune of $800. It can't be driven until it is.
Not a good situation for someone who has to commute to work each day in an area with next to zero mass transit in the city. Forget about the school out in the boonies where I teach. Not a good situation in a family that has only two cars. Car #2 is a 1992 Ford Explorer ... or the Battle Wagon as we refer to it. It is a major threat to the environment (and to my checkbook), given its love affair with gasoline. NOT the vehicle anyone in their right mind would use to commute in. (Not the vehicle anyone in their right mind would purchase either, but that's another story.)
So, payday is still days away. Don't know where the $800 is going to come from. Joy, joy, joy. The suggestion was made that I get a new car. Tempting, but who has the money for another car payment? Not me. Besides, at the rate I'm going, I'm replacing this car part by part.
I wonder how much a bazooka costs?
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