Taking a Break

Sorry for my absence, but we were away on vacation and gave the Mighty Fit a break from the rigmarole of everyday life. We went on a trip to Turks and Caicos and left our beloved Mighty Fit in the parking lot of the hotel (park and fly) for about a week and half, and at some point toward the end of the trip I began to wonder (hope?) that the car would start up when we returned. Sometimes when the car sits for a week or more, it doesn't always fire up like you hope it will, especially in cold weather. Plus, I had the usual neurosis of whether or not it would even be where we left it.

We arrived back in Boston early in the day and I figured that if there were any problems, it was still early enough to get some assistance if we needed it, but in the end, we didn't need it. At all. The Mighty Fit started up no problem, and the drive home was smooth and uneventful. I'm just glad we have a reliable car that fires up when we need it.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Andy Laing for the pic.

Hitching a Ride

Last week we had practice up near the even bigger city and I really wanted to take a break from all that driving. Not only are long drives a complete drag, but I feel for the Mighty Fit and all the miles we put on it, not to mention wear on the snow tires, which at that time we had not yet replaced. I ended up asking our friends M&JR for a ride and they were more than happy to oblige since we live en route and they are the sort of people that will completely inconvenience themselves in order to help out. That's just the sort of generous and thoughtful people that they are, making yours truly feel inadequate.

I have to say, it was nice not having to drive, but it got me to thinking about not only how much driving we do, and believe me it's a lot, but how much stuff we have to haul in the Mighty Fit. I think about last year when we were skiing and had hockey practice afterward. It was crazy. We literally packed the Mighty Fit to the roof: we had three sets of skis and two snowboards along with all the required boots, two big hockey bags with sticks, my skates and stick (I was a coach), and an ice chest with lunch. It would have been nice, and still would be nice, to have a roof rack. We would head out to the ski hill and ski until early afternoon, then head over to the rink for ice time. It was a total drag unloading the Mighty Fit when we got home, but it also gave us a warm fuzzy feeling inside because we had such a fun-filled day.

It's a testament to how much you can get done if you just do it rather than simply fret about it and worry. When you do the latter you end up with nothing but a bad hair day, while if you just try, you have so much to potentially gain, especially if you're driving the Mighty Fit. We all know this from experience and yet we still allow negative emotions to prevent us from even trying. The power of negative thinking; it's funny, and maybe a little sad, how that works, isn't it?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Michael Martin for the pic.

Snow Tire Neurosis

Leave it to me be anxious over this, but I really want to swap out my snow tires for summers because with every day that I drive on them, I can feel the microscopic layers wearing off of them, thus shortening their useful lives. That drive up to Maine nearly broke my heart. My hope is that we can get another year out of them, but with all the driving we do, that may not be realistic. Part of the problem is that the weather up here is crazy and you just don't know what you're going to get. One day it's balmy, and the next you get snow. I wouldn't give it a second thought if spring would just declare its arrival and we could be done with the snow and ice. No such luck.

This winter was particularly rough, too, because since there was little in the way of snow, the hard roads probably wore down the snow tires even more. Factor in all the driving we do for hockey, school, and work, and it's amazing we get more than a year out of them.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to crosslens for the pic.

More Good Vibes From Gerrish Honda

As I've mentioned in the past, I generally avoid buying parts from dealers because naturally I assume they cost more. Sure, the quality is probably excellent when you're dealing with Honda, but that quality comes at a price... or does it? I've been changing several lights on the Mighty Fit over the past couple of months and not wanting to mess around, I go to Gerrish Honda to get them. Plus, I figure they won't set me back too much being light bulbs and all. I was over at an auto parts store and noticed that the after market bulbs weren't that much cheaper, and in some instances, they cost more.

Armed with this information, I inquired the other day about oil filters and if you can believe this, they actually cost less at Gerrish. Sure, you can buy really cheap filters at the store for less, but do you want to mess around with such an important thing for your car? It would probably be fine, but it doesn't sit well with me. Anyway, the genuine Honda filters cost almost half of what you would pay for a high-end after-market filter. Plus, you're getting genuine Honda parts that you can trust, and the guys at Gerrish even throw in a new washer with each filter (it goes with the drain plug). Sure, you're saving maybe 75 cents, but it's the principal of the matter. They don't have to do that, do they?

I know where I'll be buying my filters from now on, though I've got to work out where to get the oil, which is not as straightforward. That, as they saying goes, is a story for another time.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to alvaro cabrera for the pic.

121K and Counting

The Might Fit has passed 121K and I managed to squeeze in an oil change this past weekend, and I'm happy for that. It's a bit of a chore getting everything together to change the oil because I have to lug up all the tools and supplies from the basement, but it's worth it to help keep the Might Fit running smoothly. I try to change the oil every 5000 miles, give or take a hundred or two, and I've been good about hitting this target. It was due around 121,500 and I got to it at 121,700. Close enough, right?

The crazy thing is, I just changed the oil in February, and here we are in March and I've had to change it again. That's 5000 miles in one month. It just goes to show you the crazy amount of driving that we've done the last month and a half. With my daughter's hockey games in Stowe and Brattleboro and my son's tournaments in Burlington, Manchester, and Maine, I end up driving 3-4 hours round trip each time. It's sort of nuts when you get down to it, but a testament to the amazing Mighty Fit for pulling it off. I can't imagine doing all that driving in a different car. Good handling and power, legendary reliability, and great gas mileage. What more do you need? I know, I know, a lot of guys want size and braun, but all of that comes with a price.

We had another hockey tournament this weekend and I had to make 3 trips to Rutland, which is about an hour away, as well as trips to Hanover and Woodstock, i.e., a ton of driving. By the time it was all over, I noticed that I'd hit my target mileage to change the oil, but I was exhausted and didn't want to deal with much other than a nap on the couch. However, with daylight saving time, it was still light out, and the spring weather meant it was okay to be outside. I got up off the couch and brought everything up to the car.

As much as I love our Mighty Fit, I will say this: changing the oil is a bit of a chore, mainly because it's low to the ground and I have to jack it up to get under there. I'm not a huge fan of working on the car while it's elevated on one side, but what are you going to do? I usually lift one end, put two jack stands under it, and then brace the tires. Then I spend as little time as possible underneath, though getting the filter off can take some maneuvering and muscle, which is a bit unnerving.

Then I put in about 4 quarts of full synthetic and a decent filter. I haven't quite taken the plunge and paid the big bucks for a Honda filter, but that day may come soon. The guys are the parts store said Mobil and K&N filters are the better ones, so I go with them. I bought a really cheap filter once and regretted putting it on the car (only the best for the Mighty Fit).

Now I'm good to go for another 5K. Hopefully this time it will take a little longer, maybe two months? Hockey is season is pretty much over so that may be the case, but you never know.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Kaleb Fulgham for the pic.

Genuine Honda Wipers

Generally speaking I'm not one to buy into (no pun intended) the notion of buying genuine parts for our car. I figure after market stuff works just fine, especially for general maintenance items like wipers and oil filters. Part of my cynicism stems from the fact that buying parts from the dealer costs more money, and I'm all about saving money.

Windshield wipers are a good example of this. In years past, pretty much for as long as I've driven a car, I've never purchased wipers from the dealer. What's the point? Why would I spend top dollar when I could get them for a fraction of the price at an auto parts store? I figured they would last just as long. In fact, even when I go to the parts store, I usually buy the cheapest wipers, figuring I'll just replace them every year. This will usually set me back around $10 a pop. Just last year I decided to up the ante a bit and buy higher end blades for the Mighty Fit. This meant spending about $20 dollars, which is unheard of for me. These blades looked like higher quality blades and they worked fine for the first few months, but then they started to let me down. In fact, when I was taking A home from a game up north, it was horrible driving conditions and at times the rain was bringing the visibility close to zero. It was really stressful, though I felt better knowing that we were in the Mighty Fit.

I decided at that point that I was done messing around and was going to go all out and get blades from the dealer. I figured since it was a Honda, I could trust the parts. I headed over to our local dealer, Gerrish Honda, and dropped the big bucks on blades. The parts guy knows me by now because I've replaced several light bulbs on the car. They seem to be sequentially burning out, so I head over to get replacements. I ended up spending about $50 on blades, $35 for the big blade, $15 for the small. Under normal circumstances this would have given me a heart attack, but a few things made it all A-okay.

First off, the guys are Gerrish are pretty cool. They never try to sell me more than I ask for. It's a lot like Honda care dealers, they don't need to try to sell you something that you don't want because Honda cars sell themselves. My personal feeling is that when you go to a Honda Dealer, you already know what you want. Secondly, the wipers are great. Honda is definitely a name you can trust, and tey do an incredible job of cleaning the windows. Believe me, I've gone through enough wipers to know. And finally, I learned that if you have factory blades, then in the future you can replace the rubber part of the blades for about $8. How cool is that? If I'd have known this bit of information before, I wouldn't have wasted my time and money buying the cheap stuff. Live and learn, as the saying goes, or was it you're never too old learn? Something like that.

Now we can see our way clearly, or at least more clearly, thanks for our new factory blades. Nothing but the best for our Mighty Fit, right? Unless of course it costs too much, but I'm getting better at that. Best of all, I'm no longer shrouded in ignorance when choosing thrift over quality, at least where wiper blades are concerned. I think My Mentor would approve, and I love when that happens.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Taras Lisachenko for the pic.

Gas Mileage (good MPG)

One of the first things people asked us when we got the Mighty Fit was what sort of gas mileage it got. That's the sort of sensible question that people around here ask because let's face it, they're sensible people. Rather than worry about big flashy cars with leather seats, they want practical cars that get good gas mileage... for the most part. Let's just say that we're not in LA.

Now this Mighty Fit is about 7 years old, and back when we got it we were told it got between 34-37 mpg, or something like that. We couldn't say for sure until we tested it, so naturally I tried just that. The method I used was taught to me by my father in law, RR, who for the record knows his stuff. When he tells me something about science or engineering, I can say with near certainty that he knows what he's talking about. He's an engineer and a former professor. He said he calculates it by filling the tank, resetting the trip meter, driving until half the tank is gone, then refilling it. From there you can divide the miles on the trip meter by the gallons of gas, and voila! You have miles per gallon.

I only tested this once, and it was a few years back, but I kid you not when I came up with about 38 miles to the gallon, if not a fraction more. I was all the more impressed because we don't do as much highway driving as you might think, and I prefer going on smaller roads. Pretty impressive stuff, if you ask me. Then again, what else would I expect from the Mighty Fit?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Jeffrey Lindsey for the pic.