Another update on my car situation

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I got a new car. Well, not new. It's older than I am (1990 Mercury Topaz). But it only has 86000 miles on it, and it cost me less total than just the down payment on the other stupid car was, and that one had 150000 miles.

I think I got a pretty good deal, and it was from a guy my grandpa knows personally so it's unlikely he will do anything like what the other place did. Finally I have my own working vehicle, which means I don't have to stay here

I think the Topaz was the Mercury version of the Ford Tempo. I owned a Tempo in the mid 2000s, and the biggest issue was, first the transmission, which needed replacement after the car got to around 90k miles, and the electrical system (big problem with Fords of this era, google Flaming Fords), which killed the car dead after 109k. The starter went out and my dad insisted that he would "save money" by replacing it himself, and he hooked it up backward and shorted the whole harness out. Otherwise, the Tempo was an ok car, mine was a former State of California fleet car, so very boring but ok.

^^^funny.

Those tempo's were actually fairly decent cars in thier day. Should be a timing chain 2.3 litre car. pre OBD2. Secondary ignition falures are common. It can burn up coils, ignition, and control modules on those cars. I have seen coils melt on those cars. Simply put, replace your spark plug wires! Most fords start on fire because of a leaking brake fluid pressure switch. F 150's, and explorers were bad for that. Instead of using a brake pedal switch to disengage the cruise control, they decided to use a cheap inline switch on the brake line, and poor wiring. there is a recall on those. The fix is a switch, some wires, and a fuse that I have personally seen melt! Electrical engineers at ford made some other mistakes that burned peoples houses, cars, and lives down too. They got away with alot of it by saying the damage to the car is too severe to prove that it was due to faulty engineering. Even though there are recalls, and tsb's all over the place.

Hey buddy,

Congrats on your new wheels!

I hope things are better for you in general.

Yay!

I didn't have a car for more than 2 years and didn't have a drivers licence for a full year, so I understand just how liberating having wheels is. I've now had a car back on the road for over a year and it's great. I'm also in the 1990 car club w/ a '90 civic hatchback that now has 458K Kms on it & climbing. Maintain an old a-beater transportation appliance and it'll serve you well!

Also, I got a giggle out of you saying your car was older than you are because I pointed out to a (gay) guy I was chatting with online last week that he's younger than my car.

Best of luck with everything & your big move if you do decide to relocate to be with your mom or sister.

That's one of my favorite cars. They should have never stopped making that little civic hatch . Put a turbo b-16 in it, slam it, put 17" rims, and z rated tires on it, and you will be one of the coolest cats around. You can race around with most Ferrari's in a car like that.

hey that's great! congrats

lol nah not my style. I'm sure it would be fun, don't get me wrong.. but it just wouldn't be worth spending the money on, to me. I'd much rather just drive it around as is & maintain it so someone else can use it when I'm done with it. Any money I'd spend on a vehicle won't be on mods & will be on a different vehicle more suited to contracting work - very likely a truck. Maybe next year.

For now it's really nice having really really inexpensive reliable transportation & I'm not about to go down the car modding route that completely ruins those benefits I'm enjoying. Plus, being gay, I enjoy the benefit of not having to spend a bunch of money on a nice car in order to attract a woman.

‘the game is afoot’. Good luck with your new car, It's nice that your grandpa helped you source this one.