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 I wish we lived in a place with good public transportation.  That was one of the things that I dearly loved about London, with the tube and busses, it was easy to get almost anywhere. 

But here, although I live 10 minutes from work if I drive it, if I took public transport it would take anywhere from 1-2 hours for me to get to my shop.  Ridiculous.  So when we have auto issues, things aren't good. 
My Cruiser is a bit more tricked out with chrome
but the color is right.  I love my Cruiser. 

I had started my year by getting tires ($300+) then came the big repair - my brakes and suspension.  They did a terrific job, but the cost...I'll be paying this one down for a long time ($2000+).  Now, I had my regular chiropracter appointment yesterday morning (every two weeks Dr Pat helps me feel younger - great guy!) and when I started my car again, I had the "check engine" light on.  This spooked me.  I've never had one of these come on for me before.  Like an idiot I took Grape to the dealer.  They fixed it, but it really should have been at least $100 less than the $350 it cost me this time.  Jeez, if I didn't love my car so much...
My DH drives a Saturn like this, my mother's car that I inherited when she died.  DH has
never owned a new car in his life - sad :-( 
But, while my car was being worked on, I had to share my DH's car.  That meant I dropped him back off, went to the shop and did a little bit of work, then drove back home to pick him up, then went back to work.  His car, my mother's old Saturn, is starting to have transmission problems.  If/when that goes, it will be another multi-thousand dollar bill.  So we're walking carefully around his car, and still looking for a new truck.   

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    engarian
    I love my car. She has almost 96000 miles on her, and she gets an oil change tomorrow, so more $ into her, but she's so worth it. Absolutely without question the best car I've ever owned, I've never regretted a single day driving around in her. I hope, with care, she can last another 50000 miles at least. I can hope...

    - Erulisse (one L)
    shirebound
    My car is 10 years old, and I wonder how long it will hold out. *sigh* Good luck with your vehicles!
    engarian
    She's ten years as well, with almost 96000 miles and I hope she'll continue for a long time to come. I love my car!!!

    - Erulisse (one L)
    chaotic_binky
    The only problem with not owning a car in London is lugging shopping home on the tube which is often crowded - not everywhere delivers.
    engarian
    I agree that major shopping would be difficult, but my goodness, what a wonderful transport system London has. I absolutely adored it when I was there. Even in the few instances that I had to change to a bus, things were still convenient. And I adored the tube system. So comprehensive and easy to work with. Mexico City's subway is much the same - very easy to work with, but it is a bit less coverage for the area needed.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    samtyr
    I know what you mean -- I feel your pain. Here is impossible for me to travel any real distance w/o my car; basically if I can't drive there -- or more to the point, drive in the traffic of my destination -- then I can't go. (Which I loathe since I love travel but that's another story.)
    engarian
    I love driving and love having a car. I've driven for most of my life on an almost-daily basis and driving for me is as natural as breathing.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    engarian
    The Twin Cities are kindof a crazy area. My original home, Denver, Colorado, was one large metropolitan area with suburbs. But the Twin Cities are two very small cities with large suburbs, each of which is an independent city. I live 10 minutes away from work. I pass through Roseville and Falcon Heights before getting to St Paul in that 10 minutes. When I visit my Chiropractor, 25 minutes away, I go through Roseville, Maplewood, White Bear Lake, Mahtomedi and White Bear Township. It's crazy. Because they are all separate little cities, they use regional transport until St Paul when they join metro transit, and the bus routes are bizarre. I could park and ride, but I would only save a few short miles. Easier for me to drive.

    - Erulisse (one L)
    silver_trails
    The one thing that puzzled me was that the buses seemed to be so slow. I drive to work and it takes 5-10 minutes. It would take the same in a cab, and it would probably take 20 minutes in a bus. But I travel a short distance. People who live in the extremes of the city do take hours to get to work.
    heartofoshun
    Good luck with your cars. That is one thing I love about Brooklyn--transportation!

    You stirred up a sore point: don't ever get rid of a good car that still functions. I am still mourning one that we sold in the Bay Area decades ago. We bought a new one to replace it and when the time came that the new one was starting to break down, the neighbor we had sold the ancient one to was still driving it and I still liked how it looked and its storage space better than the new one. I can't even remember how many miles it had, but I do know 100,000 was ancient history to it. It was a Volkswagon squareback station wagon. It was old when we bought it. Still the best car I ever had and I had some expensive ones.
    engarian
    I totally love my car. It's the most useful and classic styled vehicle I've ever had and I adore it. They'll drag me out of it kicking and screaming when it finally dies :-))

    - Erulisse (one L)
    indy1776
    Good luck with the cars!

    I, too, wish I lived in a place with good public transportation. I hate driving, but can't live without a car. (And my car has issues, unsurprising given it's eighteen years old. I dread it breaking to the point where I need a new one, because I can't afford it.)
    engarian
    Oh my, 18 years old. Our "Beast" that we're going to donate to the Disable Veterans is from 1985, and my DH's car is 1992. So I know all about nursing old cars :-)

    - Erulisse (one L)
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