Murphy’s Law results in a new car

Terry’s 1995 Lumina died the other night as she was driving home from down Princeton way. She was driving along when the warning lights suddenly came on telling her the car was overheating. She managed to exit the Jersey Thruway in New Brunswick area and find a garage where the mechanic on duty could administer first aid. He poured 4 quarts of oil and one gallon of antifreeze/coolant into the old car and then checked for any leaks. Nothing. Terry limped home with the warning lights coming on anytime she got over 40 mph.

Thursday afternoon we dropped it off at Chevrolet of Morristown to have their mechanic run a diagnostic (we also told them to check the belts, hoses, plugs, and brakes). He called later to say the Lumina had blown a head gasket. Adding all the other things to the list, repairs would have cost us over $3000. The Blue Book value was much less than that so we paid him for his trouble and went into the dealership to pick out a new car.

We had been thinking about replacing the Lumina (it did have 105,000 miles on it) but were really hoping to do so after we had moved. Selling one home and building another as put a crimp on our cash flow. But….

What we came away with was a BRIGHT yellow Aveo. It’s a 5-door (hatchback) model that has the LT package and a 5-speed manual transmission. It can seat four people very comfortably and rides like a sports car only smoother. We took a similar model out for a test drive and Terry proved herself capable of handling the manual gear shift, despite it being nearly 10 years since last she drove one.


Ain’t it cute. Looks like it could fit into the bed of my Silverado if I took the cap off.

My only concern is if the front wheel drive will be able to handle the dirt roads of PA.