My car, although it got me most the places I needed to go...it tended to be a bit of a money pit in the process! It was a 2005 Chevy Equinox and besides the regular upkeep items like oil, tires, and brakes I also replaced the battery 3 times, the AC unit twice, and parts of the radiator! By May it was making such a terrible clanking noise that I took it into the shop yet again only to be told it had a combustion leak, cylinders were misfiring thousands of times a minute, and something about the lifters too!?! Long story short, I was told it would cost a minimum of $2,400 and 10 days to fix it and I owed less than half of that on it!
I took my brother's advice and took it down to Chevy for their "we buy cars" program and they actually bought it for $4,000 on June 18th, 2010!!! I took that check and ran strait to the bank! In the meantime I'd been searching for a
good replacement that would still fit all my needs but this time I consulted with Consumer Reports before making ANY decisions! (Incidentally, Consumer Reports had the '05 Equinox listed as the worst year for that make of car...reveling engine and cooling issues!) I've always liked the Toyota Sequoias but they get MPG that is closer to a truck than a car and then I thought about the Toyota 4-runner but it was a bit claustrophobic for me and then I drove a Honda Pilot and fell in love! It reminds me of my old civic and even though it is a big car it still drives smooth more like a crossover or a car! I searched for a
used one first but they seem to hold their value because it turned out that I could buy a new one for about the same price! Honda in Bako wanted an extra grand to find and bring the model and color I wanted to Barber Honda! I said forget that and started
calling dealerships within 200 miles of here to check inventory and found that Galpin Honda Mission Hills in Fountain Valley had it! Mom and I drove down and I bought it that on the evening of June 19th, 2010! I just hope it lives up to Honda standards of working forever!!!
My car, although it got me most the places I needed to go...it tended to be a bit of a money pit in the process! It was a 2005 Chevy Equinox and besides the regular upkeep items like oil, tires, and brakes I also replaced the battery 3 times, the AC unit twice, and parts of the radiator! By May it was making such a terrible clanking noise that I took it into the shop yet again only to be told it had a combustion leak, cylinders were misfiring thousands of times a minute, and something about the lifters too!?! Long story short, I was told it would cost a minimum of $2,400 and 10 days to fix it and I owed less than half of that on it!
I took my brother's advice and took it down to Chevy for their "we buy cars" program and they actually bought it for $4,000 on June 18th, 2010!!! I took that check and ran strait to the bank! In the meantime I'd been searching for a 
good replacement that would still fit all my needs but this time I consulted with Consumer Reports before making ANY decisions! (Incidentally, Consumer Reports had the '05 Equinox listed as the worst year for that make of car...reveling engine and cooling issues!) I've always liked the Toyota Sequoias but they get MPG that is closer to a truck than a car and then I thought about the Toyota 4-runner but it was a bit claustrophobic for me and then I drove a Honda Pilot and fell in love! It reminds me of my old civic and even though it is a big car it still drives smooth more like a crossover or a car! I searched for a 
used one first but they seem to hold their value because it turned out that I could buy a new one for about the same price! Honda in Bako wanted an extra grand to find and bring the model and color I wanted to Barber Honda! I said forget that and started 
calling dealerships within 200 miles of here to check inventory and found that Galpin Honda Mission Hills in Fountain Valley had it! Mom and I drove down and I bought it that on the evening of June 19th, 2010! I just hope it lives up to Honda standards of working forever!!! 
