So I found a place that would test and diagnose my car for free. Yay. First relief.

Turns our my car's condenser is broken.

Haha, when he showed me where it was, it all kinda made sense to me....

Remember back in like Sept of 2011 I think it was I rear ended Evan in his Nissan up in SLC? I messed up my hood and headlights, busted the bumper in half, but still in tact. Well we were so worried about the radiator getting damaged... we didn't realize the condensor was ...right there up front. Didnt really know it was a condensor really. Now I know. And now I know that it is damaged.

I knew my A/C had a leak, but I didn't know how big it was. The guy that checked it of course went on and on about how big the leak is. Yeah yeah yeah. "The whole drivers side of the condensor is broken" Calm down boy. Then he quoted me on a new condensor which comes out to about $700.

So back to the drawing board of options:

a) spend the $700 to fix the condensor and maybe plan on little fixes throughout the vehicle after it hits 200,000 miles which I am almost to that point (which is expected on cars with mileage like that)

b) last ditch effort on trying to keep A/C in the vehicle for at least three months and try the sealant and coolant and see if the sealant will plug this apparent large leak, put only $41 into the car and then give up

OR

c) forget spending anymore money on this car and go get a brand spanking new one!

I chose the last ditch effort. They all tell you the sealant wont work on that big of a hole, but thas juss cuz they want you to use their more expensive services. I spent the $41 on the sealant and yet another can of refridgerant (my third one this year) and so far its lasted like two days. Me, being pessimesstic, thinks it won't last two weeks, let alone the three months I'm asking.

If I can get it to last three months, if I can survive the summer somehow, then I can definitely last the fall and winter and that'll give me more time to save money for a new car AND put more time between my mortgage loan and a car loan. That would be good on both ends.

It really frustrates me cuz this car is so...good. The car runs, takes me where I want to go, it stops and goes, it passes inspections every year, and I dont want to give up on it simply cuz of the A/C, that can be fixed. This car could go well beyond 200,000 miles... I just know it.

And it really frustrates me sometimes that the only reason this car needed ANY repairs AT ALL is because I broke it. If I hadn't busted it in that rear ending I can only imagine how far this car's lifespan could go, ya know? This car has no problems except for the ones I caused. Sigh. Frustration.

But I suppose if I have to choose between A/C, $700 and getting a loan and a brand new car with A/C for the summer... I'd prolly have to go with the new car, even if it means another loan, and the pleasant A/C.

But with buying a new car comes with of course more decisions.

First of all, what to do with my current car, trade?

If they dont offer at least what the car is worth (which is like $1,500-$2,000) then I will keep it and give it charity or the church to find a member who needs a car and maybe the church will help someone pay for a condensor. But even I could prolly sell for what its worth by myself if a dealership only offers like $500 for trade in. But I'm more partial to the charity idea.

Second of all, once I chose the Chevy Cruze (haha) then I have to pick what 'packages' or add ons I want added to the car/price. Ridiculous. Car mats are like $110 extra... weird.

Evan, seeing my new issue with cars, is more adamant on me getting a new car, preferably one that HE likes/wants. So somehow we ended up at a Dodge/Chrysler dealership..... Chrysler has NEVER crossed my mind, ever, in my 25 years. He wanted the Dodge Avenger, a smaller verison of the Dodge Charger he loves so much. I felt super big and bulky, driving a boat, like a Ford Taurus. I didn't like it. Then we wondered over to the Hyndai dealership. I've been curious about the sonata and elentra. But the inside of it was all...weird. Boring really. Nothing like the Americans put in there to spice it up! Evan also wanted to check out a VW Golf, but thas a hatchback and we don't like hatchback, so instead he went for a Jetta S. Oy. The inside of that car, you could tell, was kinda similarly boring to the last foreign model I looked at. But it was more the outside look I didn't fall in love with. It was sleek and nice, like James Bond, but it wasn't...cute.. like the Cruze. I'm kinda getting tired of him pressuring HIS cars on me when I'm looking for MY car. Esp those foreign ones...

But then the next day we went to Nissan and I tried the Sentra. I liked that one. It seems a lil bulky and boxy but it wasn't as big as the Dodge, its more like the size of the Cruze. It had some pritti good get up and go. I liked the inside, not all foreign and boring, I liked the drive, the outside its soo bad, just a titch weird.

Yesterday Evan wanted to go look at Mazdas. I don't want one of those, everyone has one of those. And then he took me to the same Mazda dealership we had been before a month or two ago and we both decided we hated that place/people. But yet, we ended up back there again. And we got the same treatment that pissed us off last time. I told him I didnt want to go there again, he realized it was the same place. We looked at the Mazda and all the guy did was compare Mazda to the Cruze and put down every other model out there. He started with the recent re-call news and I swear he went through all the recalls in the history of recalls on every competitor dealership trying to showboat the Mazda. Kill me now. I was done with the know it all, pompous jackass guy, I didn't care about if I liked the car anymore.

It was....foreign.. so again, it had the same type of boring inside to me, okay it was a little better than the Jetta and Hyndai. I was curious enough to want to drive it, but not with that jackass sales guy. I'd go somewhere else. So I'm vaguely curious about the Mazda, at least how it drives, the body it okay, the inside okay, the space and safety not as comparable to the Cruze tho... Meh. The sales guys really kinda ruined that experience for us. Never going there again!

So we went out to a Jeep/Hinckley/Dodge/Chrysler dealer and wasn't impressed. Evan, again of course, wanted me to drive a Dodge Dart (he's still pressuring the Dodge) and while we were there we wanted to try the Chrysler 200. I checked it out before and it had some very similar features as the Cruze so I kinda liked it, worth a drive at least.

I did NOT like the Dart. It drove weird. Its support to be sporty and drive all sporty like right? Well I put the pedal down all the way to the floor and it still takes ...forever to get through all the gears to get up to speed. You slow down to turn a corner, pedal literally to the floor to gain up speed to join traffic and it feels like you are sitting there waiting for it to respond and hit the same speed as everyone else. That lapse in time was okay on the on-ramps, but not turning corners onto busy roads and trying not to cut ppl off. There are situations where you need to brake fast and situations were you need to book it! Pedal to the metal. And that car did not give comfort in that area. Besides the fact I was too short to press the pedal all the way to the floor, but too tall to get my foot back up to the brake in a timely manner. Usually you can toogle back and forth with a heel pivot. Not in that car. Lame.

The Chrysler 200 was much better. More comfortable, get up and go, easy to manuver, so smooth on corners and bumps, so quiet blocks out the freeway noise, etc. Lovely. When you feel so in control of the car its hard to justify slowing for corners when you know you are going to make it and be fine and it'll be smooth, but the passengers dont think so. I know I'd be freakin out if Evan was driving too.

Three days of car shopping at places and cars I never really wanted or thought about. I think I'm tired of car shopping. I like the Sentra and the Cruze. Still have yet to try out a Mazda though. Can't rule it all out. It is tiring to go around and try almost EVERY make out there comparable to the Cruze, esp those that Evan wants and not me, but it is kinda cool to check out every possibility out there considering I've never actually been able to choose from such a wide variety. Kinda cool to explore new terrority after being converted to Chevy. hahaha But not from my parents...those Toyota traitors. My mom bought a brand new van, another brand new car in her lifetime, so I can do it too!

But it would be really really nice and convenient if my car could last for at least one more year so I'd have time to save more money and NOT get another loan and NOT spend ALL my savings in one year. It took me like 5-6 years to save all this money and I feel like I'm going to spend it all within 6 months, between the house, my Lasik and a new car....