SirRobyn0
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2019
- Posts
- 6,755
- Reaction score
- 11,407
- Location
- In the woods in Western Washington
- First Name
- Rob
- Truck Year
- 1984
- Truck Model
- C20
- Engine Size
- 305
Well I need a distraction from the BS going on in my life right now so I thought I'd start this thread just to discuss my unexpected new car! I wasn't looking for a new automobile this thing just fell into my lap and I couldn't say no.
It's a 2003 Acura MDX, that was owned by a customer of mine. When I first serviced the vehicle it had 70K on it, and today it has 212K. He has kept the body and interior in VERY good shape, and he's had me do whatever it needed mechanically. He was always the kind of guy that would authorize whatever it needed. He just bought a new VW Touareg (yuk), and he did not trade the MDX in because his adult son was interested in it. He had it in the shop to have two things fixed, before giving it to his son. It was due for timing belt, and the battery has been going dead on him. So he authorizes the work and one of the guys gets to it. Because he'd dropped it off late in the day, one of the guys tore down the timing belt stuff and then went home planning to complete the work the next day. Next day I come in and there is a voice message from the owner asking if we'd started the work or not because his son went out and bought a car and now doesn't want it. A short conversation on the phone with the owner, and he wants us to stop work, he doesn't want to deal with selling it and can we have it hauled off for scrap! I reminded him if we complete the work he could sell it for far more than the cost of the timing belt. Nope he's not interested, he just wants it to go away. I asked if he'd sell it to someone at the shop. He said nope, but he'd give it to one of us if any of us wanted "that old beater". I did the right thing and asked the mechanic that had torn it down if he wanted it... Nope. So I said I'd take it. That conversation occurred this yesterday and hour later he was in the office signing the title. I tried again to get him to let us finish the work so he could sell it. Nope, he doesn't want to "deal with" selling a "beater" car.
So now I've got this thing. I finished up the timing belt job yesterday afternoon and put a new battery in it. I'll drive it a bit at lunch today just to get a feel for it, but I can't take it home yet. Monday I'll drive the Jeep in, leave the Jeep at the shop and drive the MDX for the week. Then I'll drive it around as my daily driver, on days I don't need the square, for the 4 - 6 weeks it'll take for the title to arrive. That'll be my trail period. I'm not really a MDX kind of guy, the exterior looks are ok I suppose, but I don't need or want all the bells and whistles on this thing, but my Jeep is sooo worn out. My Jeep was pretty beat up when I got it 100K ago, and the MDX is in really nice shape. Plus I don't own anything that gets any kind of reasonable gas mileage. The truck gets 11 on my commute, the Jeep does 12 (5.2L Grand Cherokee) the MDX ought to be 17 - 18ish on my commute according to the user data on fueleconomy.gov That's nearly 1/3 better mileage than the Jeep. Plus it's a little bigger and has more foot space in the front, which is important, for me do to my foot issues. And my dogs (danes) will like the added space in the back, and the rear heat & A/C the Jeep doesn't have. The MDX has a roof rack, and a trailer hitch, that looks like it's never has a receiver in it. While I wouldn't think of it as a good towing vehicle I have been known to use a hitch carrier and or roof carrier on trips. So it's not a vehicle I really want, but it does check all the needs boxes as far as replacing the Jeep which is what it would do if we keep it. If it works out well, I'm sure it'll grow on me. And if we hate the thing I'll sell it, and have some extra money to put into the truck and Jeep.
Pictures!
I should grab an under hood pic for ya'll. It's got the 3.5L V6 and the 5 speed auto transmission AWD, all the bells and whistles inside including sunroof and heated seats.
It's a 2003 Acura MDX, that was owned by a customer of mine. When I first serviced the vehicle it had 70K on it, and today it has 212K. He has kept the body and interior in VERY good shape, and he's had me do whatever it needed mechanically. He was always the kind of guy that would authorize whatever it needed. He just bought a new VW Touareg (yuk), and he did not trade the MDX in because his adult son was interested in it. He had it in the shop to have two things fixed, before giving it to his son. It was due for timing belt, and the battery has been going dead on him. So he authorizes the work and one of the guys gets to it. Because he'd dropped it off late in the day, one of the guys tore down the timing belt stuff and then went home planning to complete the work the next day. Next day I come in and there is a voice message from the owner asking if we'd started the work or not because his son went out and bought a car and now doesn't want it. A short conversation on the phone with the owner, and he wants us to stop work, he doesn't want to deal with selling it and can we have it hauled off for scrap! I reminded him if we complete the work he could sell it for far more than the cost of the timing belt. Nope he's not interested, he just wants it to go away. I asked if he'd sell it to someone at the shop. He said nope, but he'd give it to one of us if any of us wanted "that old beater". I did the right thing and asked the mechanic that had torn it down if he wanted it... Nope. So I said I'd take it. That conversation occurred this yesterday and hour later he was in the office signing the title. I tried again to get him to let us finish the work so he could sell it. Nope, he doesn't want to "deal with" selling a "beater" car.
So now I've got this thing. I finished up the timing belt job yesterday afternoon and put a new battery in it. I'll drive it a bit at lunch today just to get a feel for it, but I can't take it home yet. Monday I'll drive the Jeep in, leave the Jeep at the shop and drive the MDX for the week. Then I'll drive it around as my daily driver, on days I don't need the square, for the 4 - 6 weeks it'll take for the title to arrive. That'll be my trail period. I'm not really a MDX kind of guy, the exterior looks are ok I suppose, but I don't need or want all the bells and whistles on this thing, but my Jeep is sooo worn out. My Jeep was pretty beat up when I got it 100K ago, and the MDX is in really nice shape. Plus I don't own anything that gets any kind of reasonable gas mileage. The truck gets 11 on my commute, the Jeep does 12 (5.2L Grand Cherokee) the MDX ought to be 17 - 18ish on my commute according to the user data on fueleconomy.gov That's nearly 1/3 better mileage than the Jeep. Plus it's a little bigger and has more foot space in the front, which is important, for me do to my foot issues. And my dogs (danes) will like the added space in the back, and the rear heat & A/C the Jeep doesn't have. The MDX has a roof rack, and a trailer hitch, that looks like it's never has a receiver in it. While I wouldn't think of it as a good towing vehicle I have been known to use a hitch carrier and or roof carrier on trips. So it's not a vehicle I really want, but it does check all the needs boxes as far as replacing the Jeep which is what it would do if we keep it. If it works out well, I'm sure it'll grow on me. And if we hate the thing I'll sell it, and have some extra money to put into the truck and Jeep.
Pictures!
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I should grab an under hood pic for ya'll. It's got the 3.5L V6 and the 5 speed auto transmission AWD, all the bells and whistles inside including sunroof and heated seats.