In the last couple of months we have put in about $3,000 into the Bug for engine and turbo pressure work and $2,000 before that at the end of last year for a catalytic converter and other issues. (Thankfully) in the driveway, the check engine light came on last week along with the EPC and anti-lock brake light.
The car is worth $4,000 if in the best of shape, so it has come time to say goodbye to our 2002 yellow VW New Beetle Turbo.
In trying to see this as half-full, no one was hurt as the Bug failed and the time has come to get a new car, but Curie did not quite see it that way and when we went to take our family picture with the car, Curie cried inconsolably, both girls hugged the car and thanked it, and Curie kissed it. We were touched by her sensitivity.
Albert’s mother reminds him that when he was three he and his sister also cried inconsolably when we sold the Ford Fairlane and bought the LTD.
In honor of our beloved car, the one that all the pre-school kids would point to and exclaim that Curie’s mother has arrived, here is a picture of Albert’s father and the Bug when the car was new and came with a first generation iPod. The kids were consulted and we recommended we buy the yellow one. The picture to the left was taken yesterday to say “thank you” and “good-bye.”
We will donate the car rather than sell it as recommended by Albert’s mother.
Albert really does like buying cars and worked ahead of time to purchase our new Honda FIT EX CVT at $1,500 below invoice and inadvertently also got $900 worth of extras for our car. The kids wanted another yellow car, and we wanted something as reliable as our Blackberry (purple) FIT from 2010 (the third picture from when it was new), so the logical choice was a yellow FIT. Erin’s father had just gotten a silver one so could tell us about the car and what was a good price.
The new 2016 FIT is fancier and more advanced than the 2010 one, and is Erin’s car, the purple one is Albert’s. The kids do love the old Bug, but they also love new car, and Curie has transferred her elementary school insignia magnet to it. It is odd, we don’t have a pet, but we are experiencing the lesson of a pet’s passing for our kids. So this is our farewell, and as we told the kids to say, “thank you yellow car, thanks for taking care of us.”