Car woes

Last weekend, I turn my car on, only to discover that the engine began making a very loud and unpleasant noise. I then got out and opened up the hood. The engine was violently shaking forward and backward!

I later tried it with the A/C off, and it didn't have the problem. So I took it to the local Pep Boys, and they told me it would cost about $500 to fix, oy.

So, in frustration, I started looking at new cars. The Honda Insight, with it's impressive 66 MPG caught my eye. However, there aren't any available for test driving anywhere in the area. That's the problem with a low production vehicle.

At the Honda dealer, I test drove a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid, and a brand new 2006 Honda Civic. The '06 Civic Hybrid only comes in CVT, and I want manual, so I didn't bother test driving one.

Both Civics drove well, but the clutch engages right at the floor. I'm used to a car that engages at about 25% of the clutch throw. This simply meant my test drive was a little shakey and uncoordinated.

I was quite amazed by the short throw and power of the new Civic. It's 140 horsepower really outshines my current Civic's 116.

In the end though, with even the used hybrids going for $18K+, and the new Civic about the same, I decided to keep and fix my current car, and go for something new in a year or two.