1. It doesn’t have heated seats.

Moderate amounts of rain lately plus my friend’s long gravel driveway mean I now have an off-road edition Mazda6.

I’m thankful for my little ‘Bird.

20% all the way around. Got it done for a hundred bucks. Not bad.

Got some birthday money and an eBay gift card from my in-laws. Decided to spoil the Sunbird a bit.

29-years-old today. That’s right - I’m an ‘80s baby by just over a month.

Sad times. I’m still taking the Sunbird to car shows come springtime.

Jolene the Sunbird’s first cruise-in car show was a success. It was a “Candy Cruise In/Trunk-Or-Treat” at my church. I got several compliments from kids and parents alike.

New serpentine belt, new A/C belt, oil change, and a quick detail. Tomorrow, she goes to her first cruise-in car show. 56,660 miles now.

15 minutes and $185 later, no more giant windshield crack.

I am pleased. The shop used all OEM parts and washed and vacuumed the car, too. They are billing Allstate (the other guy’s insurance) for the extra cost and parts they had to order. Allstate’s estimate didn’t include the tow hook covers nor did it include my bumper guard. And the OEM bumper was only a few dollars…

This little car has lived a hard, hard life. 38,000 miles in just under two years as a rental. Yikes.

Enterprise promptly handed me the key to this:

Took Jolene the Sunbird for a cruise tonight before putting her back in the garage for the week. She usually comes home on the weekends and stays in my friend’s four car garage at his place during the week. 56,400-something miles now.

I am beyond impressed with our little CX-5. We’ve driven it just over 1,000 miles since Thursday (to Detroit and back) and it hasn’t missed a beat.

Heavy traffic. Truck in front of me stopped short. I stopped. Car behind me didn’t. Boom.

My wife and her family and some good friends of ours packed up my mother-in-law’s Town & Country van and the Sunbird and went about 45 minutes north to Indiana to camp at my father-in-law’s cabin this Labor Day weekend. It was a great time and the car handled the drive just fine.

Taking Jolene the Sunbird on a little trip today. About 45 minutes to my in-laws’ cabin in Indiana for camping. I’m so nervous it’ll break down...but it hasn’t given me any indication that it will.

I got a new/old cassette player (from eBay again) installed in the Sunbird and my grandma gave me a collection of old tapes she had. Literally a briefcase full. I was jamming to some old school Dolly Parton today. The stereo is loud as can be when playing a tape. It’s literally just the radio that is quiet. So, it is…

Swapped cassette players with the one I got on eBay. Promptly broke the eBay one with a junky tape adapter that fell apart inside it. Deconstructed both the original broken and unplugged cassette player and the eBay one to see how they work and if I could fix either of them. Negative.