Kate's Quests » Car

The Mini….again

Kate — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:47:52 +0000

So DJ had a hard time getting home the other night when the mini died in the middle of the highway. He called me in a panic and after I had calmed him down, a cop showed up and gave him a jump. He later said that he spent the first few minutes pointing and saying, “battery” and “jump?” until the cop figured out what was wrong with the clueless American guy’s car. DJ got the car started and began to pull away when it died again. They jumped it again and he just barely made it home. And then it became my problem. I decided that since it started when I put the key in that I would try to make it to the repair shop before it died. And then they would quickly fix it, by replacing the battery, and I would spend the rest of the day shopping and cooking dinner. Well, I made it about five miles. Thankfully I got through the 2km long tunnel, but soon after I felt a put put put and she soon died. I called the auto hobby shop on base and thankfully they were available to come get me (it has to be a flatbed tow truck because the mini is too weird to be hauled the normal way and it’s EXPENSIVE to get the Japanese to do it). Last time I needed a tow it cost me $180. So, $35 and a couple of hours later I dropped off the car. They kept it overnight to make sure the alternator was ok (it wasn’t).

Now it’s $500 later, but we have a car. I will be very glad when we leave and can dump this thing. DJ LOVES it, but I suppose it’s easier for him to love it because he doesn’t usually have to deal with it when it breaks. He also doesn’t have to shop in it often (there really is no trunk so all of my stuff has to fit in the backseat and get past the seat that you lift up and forward). And he doesn’t mind hitting a very tiny hole in the road and having your head hurt because you just made a new dent in the roof. Not to mention that now that I’m used to the car, I realize that I’m really just driving a tin can. There are no airbags, no cupholders or an AC outlet and the whole car rattles when at a stop light. But, I will admit that it is great for parking and driving in a country that expects two cars driving in opposite directions to fit on a road that normal American drivers would recognize as one way.

Mini troubles

Kate — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 03:10:00 +0000

This is about the fifth time I’ve had to get the Mini jumped. It’s a 1992 Mini Rover (basically a Mini Cooper before BMW bought Rover out) and there is no signal to let you know that you’ve left the lights on. There’s a 2km tunnel right before you get to the house and you have to turn on your lights for the tunnel. It gets us every time. However, this battery drain was different. A light that I’ve never seen work before (we’ve owned the car for 10 months) went on and stayed on all night. It was the overhead light (although you’d have to call it an overside light because it’s not in the center of the car, but off to the side where a hanger would be in a normal car) and once I got the car jumped and figured out why it had died I was ok. But, DJ was not. DJ had to take the bus to the train station, take the train and then walk to work. It made him an hour and twenty minutes late for work, which is not something the Navy takes to kindly.

Now, what I don’t understand, is why you would design a car that not only fails to chime when you open the door and leave your lights on, but also makes it so hard to tell that you’ve left them on at all. Or even tell that that is the lights switch in the first place! In the photo of the control panel (under the CD player) there are five switches. The lights are the last and blank switch between the hazards lights and the choke. ??? It’s a crazy car, but I don’t think we’ll have any problem selling it. All the sailors seem to love it. We get comments on it all the time.

I waited until about 11am and then while my neighbor was talking to the mailman, I walked over to him with the jumper cables in my hand and pointed to the car. “Oh…bat-ta-rie?” he asked. Nodding, I walked over to the trunk (which is where the battery is…don’t ask me why). And we jumped it. I went on base and got my groceries and of course, bought the guy that helped me jump the car a gift of chocolate (Godiva, yum).

Gift giving is a very important custom here. They had actually been over here the day before because they JUST moved in and had given us a gift of kitchen towels. When you move in you’re supposed to give all your neighbors a small gift. I’ve gotten tea towels, laundry detergent, rice, celebration rice, sake, and cookies. Yea cookies!

The Mini

Kate — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 21:47:00 +0000

Two months ago we bought a 1992 Mini Rover from a guy who was PCS’ing out of here. It’s the smallest car I’ve ever been in. It’s an extremely rough ride. If you hit the smallest of bumps you bounce like there’s no tomorrow. But, seeing as how this is Japan, it’s excellent for parking. So, she’s been burning oil for the past week or so and I had planned to take it to the shop on Friday morning. I had gotten the directions and all the old service records in order and Thursday night as I was driving home…she died. Not that much fun. I was sitting in traffic for awhile when she started to overheat. She started smoking like crazy and then all was quiet. So…stranded, a guy from the base was passing by and stopped to help me. Thank God for him. I didn’t even get his name. He helped push me out of the middle of the street and called Base Security. They sent a tow truck and $250 later the car was parked at the Auto Port. Of course by now it’s 7:30pm and I’ve got to take the train home. I called the Auto Port on Friday and they basically said that they couldn’t help me so on Saturday I walked to the base and talked to the guys in the Auto Hobby Shop. They basically said that there are three things wrong with the car and all fairly easy fixes. So…now I wait for parts. And today is a Japanese holiday so I probably won’t have the car back until Wednesday or Thursday. But…at least we can save it. That’s more than I can say for the three cars we junked in Spain. Now THAT was a bad experience!