You all know that the hubby and I owned a Jeep Wrangler for the past few years right? The hubby LOVES the ride of the Wranglers, the feel of the transmission (yes, I drive a stick too) and all the bounces and bumps that go along with the sunburn gleaned from the top being down. I am less than enamored of Jeeps. He had one when we were pregnant with our first girl so I’ve been preggo in a Jeep before. Newsflash, the ride of the Jeep does not improve with pregnancy. He never understood that when you took the top down it did not get cooler, it was just as freaking hot but then you get the pleasure of a sun burn too. Awesome right? So the hubster works 80 miles away. The gas mileage on a Jeep (conservatively) is 15-18 mpg. He couldn’t very well use it as his daily driver so I did, I only work 10 miles from the homestead. I hate Jeep Wranglers (when I say “Jeep”, Wranglers are what I’m talking about). The ride sucks balls, you feel every bump, groove, pebble, and lord forbid it’s even windy. It’s like parasailing down the road. Incliment weather? Freaking nightmare. If someone has watered their lawn and the asphalt is wet you’re very likely to spin out or at least do a 180 turning the corner. You don’t know how much torque those stupid things have or how light they are until you’ve done a full 360 on a clear summer day after someone over watered their lawn. I’ve driven trucks all my life, even in the snow. I know about light rear ends. The Jeep though? Whole nother exercise in squirrelly. Hated it. The interior is nothing to brag about either. The back seat ddn’t even have head rests so the kid’s booster HAD to be a high back. Couldn’t fit groceries in it. Don’t even talk to me about a Costco run. The most impractical mom car short of a 2 door sports car. The doors, seats, and windshield were all removable. The only practical thing it did was have plugs in the floor boards for when it got too much water in the interior or alternatively, you wanted to hose the interior down.
I owned/was primary driver of the white elephant for 2 years. When we first bought it (used) the a/c was busted and we had to take it in 5 times, FIVE TIMES, to get it working again. It busted one more time just before the warranty ran out a year later. Jeep, gotta love their quality. The check engine light never turned off. Never affected the drivability though so I figured it was a busted sensor and left it be. Other than that it ran fine. Sucked up gas like you would not believe, had insane interior noise (to be expected), drove like a prom queen on crack (agile but squirrelly unpredictable), and was completely impractical for driving any further than 10 miles or so. You don’t even want to know how much it cost to fill the tank. Disturbing really for what you got out of it. My friends pimpin minivan that I got to borrow cost the same to fill up. You know, the minivan that seated 7 and had all the bells and whistles? Like a/c, back up camera, satellite tv, dvd player, Sirius radio (emphasis on a/c)? Yeah that was one nice ride. And it cost the same to operate as the Jeep. Crying freaking shame…
So one day end of summer 2010 the a/c in the Jeep from Hell stopped working. I t was the end of summer so I just put off dealing with it until 2011. Assuming that it had already been a year of trying so the chances of being pregnant summer 2011 was a pipe dream. Yeah go figure right? So summer of 2011 comes right on the heels of spring. A 2 long week spring. Triple digit heat starting in APRIL. With no signs of relenting until winter 2012. Maybe. This was at what, month 5 or 6 of this pregnancy? Oh yeah, I was way excited for high summer to show up. WAY EXCITED. The hubby thought I was being overly dramatic. His solution was for me to suck it up and take the windows off. You know women in Africa survive pregnancies without a/c all the time. Right? I DON’T LIVE IN AFRICA. I’m not in a third world country, I have a fucking college degree and make a damn good paycheck. I don’t understand why I can’t have a/c in my car. I told him what he could suck and went on The Car Buying Adventure of 2011. I won’t bore you the details of what was needed for this adventure. Needless to say it was more convoluted than most people’s car buying fun. Emphasis on fun. I so had my shit together that I’d just find a dealership that could work with me (3 in San Antonio) and fax them EVERYTHING they could possibly need. Including paperwork from our lawyer (I won’t bore you with the ‘why’ details, just realize it took a bit more for us to do this than your average Joe). After 1.5 months I finally FINALLY found a sales guy that helped get what I needed. And once he found a car that fit within the parameters we needed we spent 1 day organizing the deal and got rid of that damned Jeep from Hell.
That was April 30th. Yesterday I got a Texas Tollroad bill. For the Jeep. For mid May. In Austin. Yeah, that wasn’t me and I’m so glad it wasn’t me. Mid May was just as hot as mid April and I’m sure the dealership boys that were joy riding in our old Jeep were sweating bullets while cruising through those toll roads. I seriously doubt they got the a/c fixed and the tires replaced in the 2 weeks they had it so that’s why I’m sure it was dealership guys playing in it. Really, the Jeep is a toy and the only reason to own one is if you have the luxury of having a spare ‘play’ car. Pfftt, no thanks I’ll get a 2 door sports car or a motorcycle! I called the dealership after calling the toll road people. They’re taking care of the necessary paperwork to get the registered to history figured out. I’m sure they’ve seen this all before right? They just have a limited number of joy ride cars so they don’t normally have to switch the registration out until it’s been sold. Or heck, maybe it did sell and the paperwork hasn’t gone through yet. Plausible but not likely with the a/c busted and nothing but triple digit heat out here. Christ Texas is hot…I love my Accord better than anyone else has ever loved a car. Ever. It has awesome a/c, a real top to keep the a/c in, an automatic tranny (carpel tunnel hurts way worse when driving a 6 speed, swollen), a trunk, a back seat with 3 seat belts and head rests. Gas mileage? Yes, it has that too, ah the list goes on….
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