It's Time for Goodbyes

 

Here we are, the fourth of June already. The time is leaving our grasp as quickly as it comes. 

Our car, the Kia Sportage, left our hold in March to make a fourth trip to the dealership in Eugene. More of the same issues. The car locks down when going above 28 MPH or so. 

We received word from Kiefer in Eugene yesterday that they simply cannot recreate the scenario to get the car to do what it has done to me four times now. With only 14,000 miles on our new car, it left us with loaner vehicles more than being able to drive our own automobile. Frustrating is one word. The other words cannot be or should not be written here. I am, after all, a lady. 😏😒😂😇

But let's get real here. A brand new, off the showroom floor car, that is now about two years old, driven for the first eight months of ownership. Other than that, it was three days of having it back when it would fall apart again. Now either the vehicle doesn't like me or there is something seriously wrong here. 

We sent the car to Eugene once again in March. June 3, we hear back from the dealership. They cannot get the car to do what we say it is doing. We have provided photos of the dashboard turning all shades of red, bitching at me to pull over immediately because the car has gone into protection mode. The hybrid battery system failure lights were flashing like a neon sign and protection mode had engaged. Even with the photos we sent them of the dashboard telling us something is wrong, they know what it is doing but cannot figure out what is causing the car to become so pissed off.

That being said, it doesn't matter any longer. We are in negotiations to get ourselves out from under the loan so we can move on. Terry and I have discussed a Nissan or Toyota for the next car. What this means is that we have received a call from Eugene telling us it is time to say goodbye to yet another loaner. They have learned that we are pulling out of the contract by contacting the main Kia office. 

Terry has accepted Kia's offer to pay off the loan on the car, give us a refund $3,711, and we pay $500 of the $3,000 in attorney's fees. Once the offers and counteroffers have been settled, we are done with Kia, once and for all. Now it's the waiting game. Waiting for them to accept his latest offer or deny it so we have to agree to disagree and head to court. 

Saying goodbye to a car I have driven for almost three months now is difficult. I'm feeling a bit depressed and even somewhat nostalgic to say so long to yet another Sportage. I miss my car and miss all that goes with having a vehicle you can call your own. Terry and I were very comfortable in that car, at least while it ran. We had made that car ours and were settled in. 

I have run the gamut of cars as far as loaners go. Terry is still driving his Nissan Xterra while I'm bouncing from a Sportage, another Sportage, a Soul, then back to a Sportage, and in between our car for about three days at a time. The last time was a good two weeks, leaving me to believe it was actually fixed. Then boom! Back onto the tow truck, headed for Eugene. 

I was getting used to this 2025 Sportage. It is difficult to see in the photos, but the car is a darker gray with flecks of blue in the paint. In the sun, you can see the blue flecks sparkle. I really love the color and the car itself isn't bad. I've enjoyed driving it for three months now. We have had our adventures together. But alas, it's time to say goodbye once again. So long, friend. Thanks for the miles we've traveled without you breaking down. 

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Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Terry and I were discussing places to have dinner. There is an eatery called Garden Buffet that we thought we might try. Turned out to be an okay place to eat. 

As you walk in, you see two long buffets set up to accommodate quite a lot of food. One was for shrimp, mushroom chicken, coconut chicken, beef dishes, noodles, rice, pot stickers, spring rolls, and much, much more. The second buffet was set up to hold various types of sushi, which is something neither of us are interested in. 

We filled our plates and began to munch. Garden Buffet foods were good, for the most part. Nothing to write home about, as sweet man said, but good enough. 

My dinner consisted of some spring rolls, a pot sticker, rice, mushroom chicken, shrimp, and broccoli chicken. I had small amounts of each one, just to try them. All the dishes were good, especially the mushroom chicken. 

Terry had beef and noodles and a bowl of egg flower soup. He said both were good but (once again), "nothing to write home about." I do tend to agree with him, although I would eat there again. He is not as excited to return.

Looking around the Garden Buffet dining room, it was clean and had some interesting designs in the building. Overall, pleasant trip out to eat. 

I loved the overhead light fixture. Beautiful design. 

At the end of the meal, we finished up with the American way of saying we ate Chinese food, the fortune cookie. Terry's fortune was odd, but it was correct in what it said. 

Mine was a lovely sentiment, reminding me how fortunate I am to have the friends I have.

All in all, it's a place Terry said he probably would not visit again, but he thought it would be nice for Mallory and I to have lunch there at some point. I think he may be onto something there. 

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It's early June and the temperature is up into the high 80s. In fact, Sunday is supposed to be very close to 90. Wow. If this is the way it is going, our summer is going to be very hot. Scoot over, Togo. Mom's coming into your wading pool with you!

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I was looking over the blog analytics last night. We have some readers farther away than I thought. 

Hmm. I've wondered where "other" is located. Space? Our alien friends are reading about Kia Sportages and dinner at Garden Buffet. Interesting. 

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Thursday, June 5, 2025

Today is warm. It's comfortable. One of those lazy days where you feel like hanging out on the couch, lounging all day long, while using your platypus as a pillow. It's a perfect day. 

While it may be perfect, a couple of hours ago I had to say goodbye to the Kia. Two people came to drive it back to Eugene's dealership. I've wondered what will happen to our original car, the one Terry and I actually had in the beginning. Will they try to clean it up and resell it even though they have no idea what makes it shut down into protection mode? I hope not. I would really hate to imagine someone else having to deal with returning the car to the shop all the time like we had to. 

Terry thinks that all Lemon Law cars legally cannot be sold unless the buyer signs a statement acknowledging that they know the car was returned under the provisions of Oregon's (insert state here) Lemon Law. I agree. If they cannot figure out the issue on the vehicle, they should have to part it out or take it off the market at least unless the buyer signs a waiver stating they are aware of the issues. I do hope that's what is happening with it. 

It is such a shame as I really do love the car. The idea of the car anyway. Sportages are good looking, have plenty of room, get great gas mileage, and have lots of good features. I know there are many of them on the road that are running. 

I don't get it. We really thought that car was going to be amazing and it was the first few months of owning it. Who would have imagined that it would fail the way it did? We still think it was caused from the "update" they gave the computer system about nine months in to our ownership. Two weeks later, all of the failure stuff began. 

I am happy but bummed at the same time. My hubby is just over it all. He does feel bad that I don't have a vehicle right now, but we will survive. It just means that work outside of the house is not going to happen for a while. 

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Our weekend is playing out as a relaxed time together. We have nothing planned, thinking about nothing really, and are probably going to stare at the walls and drool on ourselves for a couple of days before the work week begins again. Life is good. 

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Until our next post, take care of yourself! For all of those readers outside the United States, thank you for spending time reading the blog! For those in the US, we appreciate you too! Hugs to everyone. Have an awesome rest of the weekend and be safe.