Bye Bye Josie

So, i don't know that i've written about how Josie the Jeep wouldn't pass the California smog test. It turns out you need to replace smog failing parts with new parts. New parts are not being made for Josie's engine. (The next year, the very NEXT year, yes. But not Josie's year.) Our mechanic is pretty sure Josie NEVER passed smog at the previous test point but had the smog test faked.

Our only option to keep Josie was an engine replacement and there would be the additional dance of going through getting the engine replacement approved by the state. And an engine replacement would in no way improve her gas mileage significantly. (I looked into diesel replacements.)

So, this was in early July. There is a state ritual where the state will buy the vehicle back from us for $1k, but there were some serious dance moves we would need to go through. Christine is between terms and it's clear the whole act wouldn't finish before she went back to school.

Yesterday Christine found someone who would take Josie back on trade, so we have acquired a used Scion (the hatchback, not the box). It's outfit with a far nicer package of interior fittings than Hélène the Hyundai Accent aka Econobox. About the same miles as when we bought Hélène and an '08 instead of '10, but the interior is in far better condition. (Hélène was a rental in Colorado.)

So new to us car. The Scion will be a nice car for road trips and we expect to keep it for a very long time.