As you may have recently learned, I consider cars to be disposable drivetrains. That is, if the body of a car does not show signs of rust or major previous body work, everything else is replaceable. Even the motor. Especially the motor. I routinely have purchased cars with well above 100,000 miles on the clock. If the rest of the vehicle, from the body to the tires and brakes to the transmission to the suspension, if all is in good order and recently serviced, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the motor will blow for some reason beyond my responsibility. While some might call it throwing good money after bad, I have always worked with good, competent mechanics. I have replaced a couple of motors under such circumstances with bench-tested used power plants with perfectly satisfactory results - continued, relatively bug free motoring at a cost substantially under that of starting over.
My Xantia gave me four good years and was running just fine when the AC gave up. You need AC here. New AC parts were just no longer available for a system that old and used parts wouldn't work. So I went looking again. This time on leboncoin, the French equivalent of craigslist without the personal ads for traveling companions and nude models. Over the years, I had discovered an interesting class of European MPVs that I wanted to try. Smaller than a minivan, taller than a station wagon, modular seating. Both Renault and Citroën had good-looking models. Nothing shaking in the lots that I had visited prior. Two parking lot meetings with private owners were a waste. A Renault Scenic in the side lot of a garage in an industrial park looked hard used. But behind it, shoved into the weeds at the back of the lot, blocked in behind rows of cars on both sides, a bright red Renault Megane station wagon caught my eye. I asked if it could be pulled out. It could. I did my dance. I drove it. I made an offer throwing in the Xantia. And for 3000€, I drove it away, drove it all the way to Spain from right off the lot.
I wasn't quite through with the Xantia yet though. A parking ticket came in the mail two years later. Apparently, the garage hadn't complete the process of taking my name off the registration before they resold. The town cop and a local lawyer shrugged in a very French way, suggested that paying the fine would be less of a hassle than contesting it, and told me how to separate myself from the Xantia online if I had the paperwork. I did. Advice that I took.
Ruby gave us eight good years. (What else would you name a bright red car? You name all your cars, don't you?) Then, after a pleasant dinner with friends in a town not far from us, a wild boar decided to cross the road in front of us, one assumes to get to the other side. Pow! By the time that I stopped and got out to take a look, the boar was gone. So was about 1,000€ gone from my wallet to the local body shop. And so was my entire front end suspension gone, according to the inspection agent about a year and a half later. (French cars are inspected by businesses dedicated to the task every two years. Independent. Very strict.) I argued that I had been driving down the expressway at 130kph - about 81mph - without a shimmy or a shake, even under hard braking. Solid as a rock. But you can't argue with the inspectors in France. You either do the work prescribed or you are illegal. To pass the re-inspection would have cost more than Ruby was worth. Back to the drawing board. Back to leboncoin.
I considered electric or hybrids, but used vehicles in my price range had the range of a bobsled on dry land. And France was discouraging the manufacture of new diesels for environmental reasons. What to do? The answer came to me late one night. I really did like my old Renault, they still made the same model with the same motor. Screw the environment. I started looking and immediately found several Renault Megane station wagons in our price range, about 4,000€ give or take, clustered in used car dealerships not far from us. I made three appointments, one after the other. At my first stop, I once again did my dance. Very clean in and out. Complete mechanical history. New cambelt. Drove like a dream. I didn't waste time. Canceled the next two appointments and bought on the spot. Seven years newer than Ruby, a bit wider, a bit heavier, a bit more civilized. After several thousand kilometers, about 5% less gas mileage, probably due to the extra weight and seven years of improving the exhaust system. Comfy and utilitarian and a decent sound system too. The French call the color marron, also the term for a chestnut. I suggested the name Marnie. Cathey suggested Coco(a). Guess.
I made certain that all necessary paperwork complete this time. Ruby's carte gris (title) voided. Application for the new carte gris submitted. There's no separate registration document in France. The title stays in the car and is handed over in a traffic stop with your license.
One last thought. An all-electric Megane is available at about 35,000€. Recharge cost minimal. Even at the ridiculous current price of diesel thanks to the war against Iraq that America won several weeks ago, I can drive Coco for the next eight years, purchase price and gas included, for one-third that price.
So far, so good. If I have to buy again, I'll post again. Fingers crossed.
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