I love my car. I really do. How can you not love a car that averages 50 miles per gallon of gas? However, it has a few quirks and I think they're starting to intensify with age.
Over the weekend I learned that my car is not really suitable for a long drive on mountainous highways in the middle of the summer. Unfortunately, I was already driving said highways before I reached that conclusion, so I had no choice but to soldier on and hope I could get where I was going and back.
The problem is the summer heat. I don't know if every hybrid is like this, but mine doesn't do well in the extreme heat. The battery doesn't want to charge up, it has almost no acceleration power (especially with the air conditioner on) and I spend a lot of time gearing down and down to get the car to reach or maintain the necessary speed.
Add a passenger and a full load of cargo and you have a recipe for getting passed by everyone on the highway. Except we were mostly on two-lane rural highways. Sorry, everyone behind me!
Before I left town I had the oil changed and was informed that it's time I had my brakes repaired. As in brake pads and rotors, all the way around. Since I'm still gathering up the $450+ that will cost, I obviously didn't get them repaired on the spot. Thus, I had the extra thrill of zipping around corners and down steep hills knowing that every tap on the brakes was shortening the lifespan of the parts just a little bit more quickly.
I hope my car manages to last for many years to come. It's already 10 years old and it looks remarkably good for its age. It still gets really good gas mileage (although it used to be somewhat better), and I like its futuristic shape and details. There's also a lot to be said for having a car that's paid off, so I'm really quite willing to pony up for maintenance and plan to take another vehicle the next time I visit the mountains.
How's your car holding up?
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