It Was Good While It Lasted

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At some point, the writing is on the wall.

And so it was with our 2003 Buick Rendezvous, known to us as Rhondy.

We bought it brand new, and truth be told, a big part of the reason was because Tiger Woods did a commercial for it.

Now I knew that Tiger Woods probably wasn’t driving one of these, but the fact that he was doing a commercial for it influenced me enough to take a look at it, and after doing so my wife and I thought it would be a great car.

And that turned out to be true.

We’ve had it for almost 18 years, and it had close to 190,000 miles on it. And the repair bills over its life were relatively low. We took lots of great trips with the car, including multiple vacations to the Jersey shore and to North Carolina.

But by the end, it became clear that it would spend its remaining time in a junkyard. The front bumper was held on with gorilla tape, the windows no longer rolled down, the heated seats no longer worked, two of the four doors wouldn’t open, and  the heater was lukewarm at best.

So thanks, Rhondy, for all the wonderful memories, it was a great ride while it lasted.

And perhaps living up to your name, I hope you meet that someone special at the junkyard…

 

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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43 thoughts on “It Was Good While It Lasted”

  3. Jim,

    During one Summer Business Institute session I remember you telling the students never buy a new car, but instead buy a good used car and ride it into the ground.
    With Rhondy you deviated slightly but after 190k miles that puppy owes you nothing!

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    1. what a great memory you have Joe. And you are right, I hadn’t learned that lesson until a few years after buying a new Rendezvous. It worked out OK, but ideally, I would have bought it for a much cheaper amount a couple of years later, and still gotten 18 years out of it…

      Our current car is a 2006; I bought it with 130,000 miles on it a few years ago, and now it is up to 225,000 miles. I’m hoping for 300,000!

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  8. I should check and see what kind of car Tiger was driving when he wrecked. The car was totaled. I’m glad to hear drugs and alcohol seem to have been ruled out. Let’s hope he recovers quickly and still has the ability to golf.

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    1. I was happy to hear that he was not impaired either, but I haven’t heard anything about what may have caused the accident. I hope he recovers as well, and will be back to golfing…

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  9. Pete, I believe Tiger was driving a Genesis, as it was provided since they were a big sponsor of the TV program being filmed and the tournament Tiger had just finished hosting. Jim, that is an amazing story about “Rhondy”. What a good and faithful servant she has been. What more could you ask for from a vehicle? Will you be replacing her with the same make, as your experience with the brand was so good? May your next car be as faithful as your last!

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    1. Rhondy was a good and faithful servant. Our local mechanic has an old Honda hybrid with 125,000 miles on it, for only $3,000. If it passes our two-minute test drive, that may well be our next car…

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  10. RIP Rhondy.

    My dad had a car that had a similar lifespan, and he was crushed when he finally had to say farewell. I hope you find it easier to say goodbye than he did. And I hope you like your new vehicle as much as you liked your Rendezvous.

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  11. American cars still have engineered obsolescence.

    My neighbor down the road has a 2003 Toyota with 385,000 miles on the original power train. Even though we salt our roads heavily during our mountain winters there’s no visible rust even underneath the body. It still looks like a new car except for the worn seat cushions.

    I sadly bought a Jeep Cherokee in 2003. Before the warranty even expired there were some problems like having the differential replaced (I’m told this is a chronic problem with over half of the Jeeps made). After the warranty expired there were thousands of dollars in repairs (I should’ve read Jeep’s lousy ratings in Consumer Reports). Then in 2009 this vehicle would no longer pass the NH inspection due to massive rusting underneath. I sold it to a junk yard for two cents per pound.

    Since we don’t have a Toyota dealership less than an hour away, I bought two Subaru Forrester models. Nothing ever seems to give us trouble, and there’s no rust anywhere.

    So much for GM, Ford, and Chrysler vehicles and their planned obsolescence.

    By the way, the Cherokee Indians recently asked that Jeep no longer use the word Cherokee. This in part is because the Jeep Cherokees have such lousy reliability ratings.

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    1. it’s amazing how long US cars have lagged behind others in terms of quality. I guess they just count on a large number of people wanting to buy American, which is really hard to do even if you buy from one of the big U.S. auto companies.

      Our other car right now is a 2006 Matrix that I bought with 130,000 miles on it about seven years ago, and now has 225,000 miles on it.

      Our mechanic showed us a Honda Hybrid with 125,000 miles on it, for $3,000. We will take it for a test drive and if it seems ok, that may be our second car…

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  12. I always name my cars, and try to keep them a long time. I’m currently driving Sylvia, and very loyal and hardy silver Subaru outback. this one followed the red devil, not my favorite, and black diamond. what will you be getting next?

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    1. I’ve heard great things about Subarus. And how do you choose your car names?

      We are looking at a Honda Hybrid that has 125,000 miles on it that our mechanic is offering to see for $3,000. That could very well be our next car…

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      1. I tend to tie in with their colors in some way. My black car was a Honda that was amazing. 2 of my 3 girls learned to drive in it and it went through a lot – I live Hondas

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  14. It’s good to see from the comments that you’re going to fill the gap in your lives fairly quickly, and hopefully with something not associated with Tiger – he should stick to driving on golf courses…

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  16. Cheers for Rhondy! We had lots of great memories with ours too. It is funny how cars can become sentimental to you the longer you have them. Good Luck with making more memories with your new vehicle. Whats going to be the name of it?

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