I'm done. It's unfortunate, but I can't say that I'm going to return again. Yeah, been here before and all that... twice. But this time, given the age of our cars I think the time has come to move on.
My SVX is gone. I got rid of it. Why? Well, the reasons are legion but none of them are about the car itself. It's still one of the better cars I ever owned and I loved the time I owned an SVX; a total of 8 of the last 10 years since I bought my first SVX I've owned one. I've owned three now but the time has come for me to move on to pastures new.
I guess the only thing I can say was the car's failing was that as my kids got bigger it was getting tougher and tougher to get them in and out of the back of the car. We as a family loved that car, my kids loved it too but the lack of rear doors was becoming a liability. While my Volvo was in the shop recently with my minivan currently sitting in the garage with a busted A/C (100 degree heat with no AC... are you kidding me???) the SVX became the family car for a week and it became painfully obvious why I needed to rethink my family's car collection.
It's been over a week now. Actually, 10 days since I got rid of my SVX to a local friend for what I considered a reasonable price. I went out with the cash and invested in another used car; a beautiful 4-door BMW 330i, 2001 model year (latter half, so had the "better" steering feel than the early 2001's). She's silver, and has quite low mileage for her age; less than 80K miles on the clock. She's also a 5-speed... which more than makes up for it being a sedan
Still, I plan to stick around here. The friends I've made over the years made my time in the SVX even more fun that it would've been otherwise. But quite simply life has told me loud and clear that it's time to move on. Besides, with over 140K miles on the clock, body damage I couldn't justify fixing, needing new tires before the end of the year and all sorts of other little things (not to mention heat management problems!) she was getting to the point where my average expenditure on repairs was exceeding what my new car payment will be. With a bit of luck, my new car payments will be done before major maintenance becomes an issue! Besides, my insurance agent was arguing with me; they wanted to drop my comprehensive coverage because of the age of the vehicle and drop me to liability only. I didn't want to... it was an argument I didn't feel like pursuing any more.
So here I am, typing this and looking out of the window of the coffee shop at my BMW. I miss my SVX and I've already had the horrible pang of guilt that lasted a day and a half when I felt that I was going to break down at having gotten rid of an old friend.
I won't own another SVX. Not because I don't want to, but because I don't think it's ever going to be practical for me. The SVX is a gorgeous car and a faithful and fun to drive companion but they're getting rarer all the time. They're starting to become more of the collectors cars we know them to be anyway, but I need a car that'll drive me the 2000 miles a month I've been racking up in my new job. Oh, and the bimmer gets me better gas mileage :P
So just want everyone to know; I'm no longer an SVXer, but I will always bee an SVX fan. And I'll still be around here.
Look out on ebay soon. I'll be listing a bunch of my SVX parts and specialty tools (hub tamer) soon once I go through my garage and get all this stuff together. I didn't jump on this decision; it had been formulating ever since I broke the car from storage even when I got her running problems resolved. Still, it's a tough decision and a tough thing to do. It's for the best, though.
See you around...