Honda – CountUp

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last week I wrote about the demise of my 2020 Honda Civic and the end of an era – my nearly 10-year association with the Honda Civic family.

8 days after the collision that caused the totaling of my 4-year-old car – I bought a new car – a 2025 Kia K4 LX !

Fun Fact: Before I joined the Honda Civic family – I was a longtime part of the Saturn family. I leased a new 1997 SL1. And then I leased a new 2001 SC2. And then I bought a new 2003 Ion 3. I kept that last car longer than any previous car in my lifetime – 11½ years. So – I drove 3 different Saturn cars over the course of nearly 18 years.

And now I’m a member of the Kia family. When I still had that last Saturn, and I was shopping for my next new car (knowing that Saturn no longer existed) – the 2015 Kia Forte was actually on my short list of cars to test drive and buy. Also on that list – the 2015 Ford Focus, the 2015 Toyota Corolla, and the 2015 Honda Civic. (You now know how that turned out.)

So – I paid cash for my new 2025 Kia K4. (I actually wrote a check for the full amount. I’m probably the youngest person that I know that still writes checks.)

I love my new car. It’s got all of the modern technology that I’ve always wanted in a new car – most notably SiriusXM. I’ve been listening at home since 2005, but I’ve never had a car with it included. (Recently – I’d been listening via their app on my iPhone through my car’s Bluetooth.)

It’s also my first car with no key – just a fob. And it’s got a button to push to start and stop the engine. But what I really love about my new car (besides the new car smell) – is the compass, latitude and longitude (degrees, minutes, and seconds) and elevation of where I’m at. I’m looking forward to my first extended road-trip in it.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about my fun day at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I usually post there on Mondays and Thursdays.

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. My 2020 Honda Civic survived Hurricanes Helene and Milton (both Tropical Storms here in my local area of inland South Central Florida), but it did not survive the Monday after.

A couple of miles from my home – while headed to my favorite car wash (how ironic) and then movie theatre (to see “White Bird”) – I was sideswiped by a heavy lawn and tree care utility truck while stopped in a long line at a red light. The point-of-impact was the rear-right corner / edge of my car, and the entire right-side (including tires) was smashed with pieces of it laying along a frequently congested portion of Sebring Parkway (approaching U.S. 27). Police arrived. Fire and Rescue arrived. A few were placed on stretchers and transported with injuries to a local hospital. Traffic was shut down in both directions for about 90 minutes during the aftermath.

I didn’t see it coming, but when I was hit – my car didn’t move one inch. Neither did I. The truck that hit me then hit the next vehicle up, and that ultimately caused 3 other vehicles to be hit. It was a 6-vehicle collision involving about 10 people.

Most of the vehicles were towed away as undrivable, and mine was almost immediately identified as visibly totaled (just by looking at the photos alone). Confirmation occurred several days later at the insurance company’s salvage yard by an adjuster.

The next day – Tuesday October 15TH – I picked-up my rental vehicle – a 2022 Buick Encore GX – a subcompact SUV. My insurance company reserved it in my name and paid for it. I drove it around for 8 days. Needless to say – I am not a fan of driving around in an SUV – no matter how subcompact it is.

So – it’s the end of an era. My almost 10-year association with the Honda Civic has come to an end. I leased a brand-new 2015, and then I leased a brand-new 2018. In August 2020 (coming out of COVID) – I bought a brand-new 2020. It was intended to be my retirement car – a car that I would finance and make monthly payments for – and then have it paid off shortly after retirement. I would keep it forever after that, or as long as it would keep on running. (I was thinking 15 or 20 years or more.)

It lasted exactly 4 years and 2 months – 50 months (to the day) – 1,523 days. The final odometer reading was 37,910. That’s an average of just shy of 25 miles per day. I drove to and from North Texas twice in that car – in November 2021 and April 2024 (my well-documented 18-day retirement road-trip). Over the course of almost 10 years and 3 Honda Civics – I drove a total of just over 94,000 miles. That’s well below the U.S. national driving average of about 14,000 miles per year.

Incidentally – on the final morning of driving that Buick Encore rental – I reached a milestone. I drove my 10,000TH mile of 2024. I’ll surpass 11,000 miles next month. I did that last year too. It’ll be the first time since 2016 and 2017 that I’ll drive 11,000+ miles in back-to-back years.

On the 8TH day of driving around in that Buick Encore – I got my insurance money – and I bought a new car. I’ll write about it – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

#CountUp & #TravelThursday is on Facebook. I usually post there on Mondays and Thursdays.