In my opinion, there isn’t much that Ray can’t fix.  So when I gave up trying to get the check engine light to stop coming on in my wife’s Lumina I brought it to Ray.  He says I need to put in a new oxygen sensor soon, but it’s nothing urgent.  I’m really glad that I’ve been buddies with Ray since we were kids; we barter a lot of our work with each other.  Ray told me that he’s listed on the repairpal.com website’s now, and is getting a lot of business from that listing.  Ray says that the repairpal website helps people locate mechanics and auto shops anywhere in the country; if you need to find a San Diego auto repair or an Augusta Maine auto repair, that is the website to go to!

I hear so many people complain about how bad the economy is, but they seem to find the money to go and buy (and gas up) the cars they love just the same! For example, my nephew was asking me what I thought a fair Toyota 4runner price is because he thinks that he wants to buy one! I hear that car sales are slumping, but you couldn’t prove it by me!

And just last week my next door neighbor was telling me that he was looking into the toyota yaris price. He wants to buy one for his wife sometime this summer. He’s expecting a pay raise and a bonus and he hopes to use it to buy her a new car.

I admire the sentiment, but right now I think that counting your chickens before they hatch can be a big mistake! I hope he doesn’t put a down payment on the car before he gets that raise and bonus in his hands! After all, a car is to get you from Point A to Point B. A new car IS a luxury that many of us can’t afford right now.

I’ve seen too many stories on television about repair shops taking advantage of the out-of-towner who needs something done quickly while on a vacation to want to be in that kind of a helpless situation – being at the mercy of someone who might be well-known locally for being disreputable, but completely unknown to me.  That’s why I think that the Internet makes it easier to find good help in situations like that.  For example, the repairpal.com website will help the consumer to find reputable repair shops around the country, and even give you an idea of how much the repair should cost.  Armed with this information, it should make it harder for the disreputable folks to take advantage of the traveler in need.

I’ve been thinking about the  chevy avalanche specs I was reading – I’m hoping to buy a new pick-up in the near future, and my heart has always belonged to Chevy or GMC trucks.  If I were in the market for a car, though, I’d want to give the honda crosstour a test drive.  I’ve heard that it handles well and gets good mileage, too.  There are so many great sounding cars out there it’s hard to make a decision!

My wife gets bored from looking at all of the car photos that I download onto my computer.  I guess she just doesn’t “get” my enthusiasm for cars.  Especially the older cars that the owners customize with after market accessories!

Now my wife, she gets a lot more excited about looking at new cars.  She’s been wanting to buy a kia since back in 1998 when she was thinking about buying a new four wheel drive vehicle to commute to work.  At the time, though, the car reviews were not very flattering about the kia car and she ended up buying a Subaru Outback Sport.  That car has needed some repairs off and on, but one of the things about Subarus is that if you take really good care of it those cars will run almost forever!

The biggest complaint we have about that little car is the road noise;  I think that if they had insulated the roof better we would like it much better!