The little blue car hits a milestone

We bought the little blue car just over eight years ago. It's the only car we've ever owned that we bought brand new. At the time, I was doing some contract work with GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation) and they offered us a deal at $500 over dealer invoicing and 0% financing over four years. I think it came to around $13,000 plus tax.

Couldn't turn it down!

But I wanted a very different options package. First, a car has to have cruise control. Knowing that we do a lot of highway driving, we think it's the best option going. In fact, it shouldn't even be an option. Simple as that.

But I also wanted a standard transmission, and I did not want the added cost of air conditioning. Besides which, we were buying this size of vehicle specifically for the fuel economy and having air conditioning on a little car like this just doesn't make sense, especially when most of it's use would be in Canada where you might only use it about two weeks of the year. Probably a slight exaggeration, but you get my point.

The day we bought the little blue car at the end of June 2006.

Anyway, you couldn't order cruise control without also ordering power windows and power door locks. It was part of an option package, and I'm glad it came that way. Power windows and locks (and remote key fob) are definitely convenient.

So the other day, we were driving into Swift Current to do grocery shopping when it clicked over to 200,000 kms. 

This day would have been meaningless if the little blue car were American because it would have been 124,274 miles. So it's also funny how we totally ignored the day that it clicked past 160,934 kms which would have been 100,000 miles!

Eight years and 200,000 kilometers (124,274 miles) later and the little blue car still has the original brake pads and shoes and the original clutch. Lots of highway miles! 

And lots of tender loving care.

One of my jobs today is to oil spray rustproof the car. I bought a couple of spray cans of Krown oil spray which is the very best vehicle anti-rustproofing product out there. $8 per can, and a couple of hours work. I've done this every year, and despite the fact that the little blue car was driven for a couple of Ontario winters where they deliberately and excessively use salt on the roads, there is zero rust on this vehicle. 

Looking at the car the other day, I don't see why it can't go another 200,000 kms!

Taken the other day. The little blue car loves going out to explore!

An interesting side note. The little blue car is a Pontiac Wave. Built by GM Daewoo, a General Motors subsidiary in South Korea. The little blue car was actually built in Bupyeong, South Korea...just outside of Seoul.