^{This is my journey in searching for a new car, and be ready to say goodbye with my dying car}

Yeah.... when things keep happening and burning my wallet, it doesn't stop; and this time it is hitting my 15 year old car.

Recently I was thinking that my carburetor is not working properly, and I was hoping to save up to change it; however, due to the fact that my car is already 15 years old, it does take time to search for an old model carburetor that isn't from a super famous model.

However, just yesterday when I was about to travel 40km journey with my parents to my brother's house during noon, when the heath wave have been one of the worse, my car's temperature suddenly hiked to 70% hot! Fortunately there was a patrol (gas) station nearby and we ended up chilling at the station for 15 minutes for the engine to cool down before heading off again to my brother's house that was only 6km away.

After talking to my brother, it seems to be a "clog" in the engine of the car, but because it is the Lunar (Chinese) New Year right now, most mechanic shops are closed for the long break; and I have already planned ahead with my parents to drive 300km to my hometown to look at the house to make sure everything is ok, things are going to be very tricky.

I might be planning with my parents to leave for my hometown early in the morning before the sun is up so that the weather is cool and take more rest stop breaks in between so that my car gets more breaks.

However...

This is not going to be the long term solution even though I have strong sentiment with my car. It saved my life 15 years prior but the last 3 years we have practically overworked it from moving house to traveling hundreds of miles just for hospital trips, even sometimes during traffic jams / heavy thunderstorms.

It has been telling me that it wants to retire from strenuous travelling. At first I thought of getting another car and then donate this God anointed car (with so many fond memories) to a minister, but with this condition, it is just not going to go any further that could take thousands to repair and get back to shape.

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With a heavy heart, I have started scouting for alternative cars that could not only send me from one point to another, but also to be able to ferry my parents with the case of potential wheel chairs in the future.

The only way to do so is to get an MPV.... even though...

I would love to get one of the cheapest Sedan in the local car industry; but to lung wheel chairs might not be the best way. Besides it is only a 5 seater and could just be under powered, which is actually more taxing on the petrol (gas) expenses later.

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Looking at the Sedan BEZZA is actually significantly cheaper than the MPV, however it is "more electronics" than the MPV itself, which can be both good and bad. To be frank, if my left knee is giving me less problems, I would anytime trade for a manual over an automatic car; however my left knee is really giving me some troubles and I can only pray that the LORD will help me with my knees.

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So my dilemma would be deciding a current wallet solution or a long term solution since I have no choice but to take on a 9 year car loan.

And the current crypto market is actually not helping when I need it to function properly the most....

I can only pray that when the time comes, I will still be able to gather all the funds together, and obtain the best solution car that I can find.

Right now I can't think of anything except if my car starts acting up tomorrow I might need to rent a car to head back to my hometown, where I already need to spend additional for hotel lodging since my parents' house that is already left for almost 2 years might be too dusty to stay in.

I honestly hate making such decisions because cars are liability (useful) tools (in an unfriendly public transportation environment); but probably the best way to do is to make an appointment to see if there is a way to test drive the cars before making a proper decision, and then go from there.

What can we learn from this?
Even people with YOLO mentality, planning ahead is very important. Living a day at a time isn't very practical anymore; heck even living off grid / being a digital nomad, there's always a need to have enough emergency financial cushion to land on, especially when family is concerned.

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Most importantly I think I need to get off my lazy bum and make time to write more now! haha 😅

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Until then

Time sure flies! I am "4 years old" now! haha