So, as Bobbi has alluded to several times, her Hyundai Accent was reaching that point where the various urgently needed repairs would probably cost a multiple of the vehicle's NADA book value and even were they done, she'd still be left with a rusty '02 Korean penalty box.
The "To-Do" list on the dry erase board in the kitchen had featured "CAR" for quite some time and so, when her friend the Data Viking came down to visit yesterday, we turned "let's go look at cars before the movie" into "we can watch the movie next weekend, let's you go 'head and buy a car and get this done with."
She settled on an older Lexus RX300, with high miles but good service records and super clean & straight. At her average monthly mileage, it's likely got another five to ten years left in it with proper maintenance, and while it's the FWD-only variant, it's got a lot more ground clearance for the snowy alley than the Accent did.
I'm not going to lie that part of what had me show her the RX was the way she insisted that the new vehicle be winter-capable and able to take 8-foot lengths of pine board, but also every time she got to talking about the Jaguar XJ6 she had back in the day, her eyes would get all unfocused and misty as she'd describe the hushed comfort of the leather-lined cockpit. I think that Lexus's crossover ute could probably satisfy both yearnings pretty well. We're getting into winter weather here, and Bobbi deserves the joys of seat heaters in her life.
There's the added bonus that Euro Motor Works, the shop that did such a great job helping me out with the Z3, advertises that they want you to think of them "as the "dealership alternative" for service on your fine European or Lexus vehicle," so she can get it worked on there for projects too big to tackle at home.
(Another Plus: Working on starship engines sometimes requires going out into bad traffic at odd hours or in awful weather, and I'm also not going to lie that I feel better knowing she's doing it in something that gets much more stellar ratings in NHTSA crash tests than the Accent.)