Saturday, November 1, 2014

Farewell, Yuki


Here's what I wrote about my old car in Michigan universities on buying cars.
In Driving update for September 2014: Ruby, I lamented the fate of my old car.
Yuki may not reach that milestone, at least not with me driving her.  My wife and I are shopping for another car, and Yuki will likely be the one traded in.  Sigh.  That will deserve a post of its own when that happens, along with the story of how buying Ruby was the fulfillment of a promise I made to my students.  Later.
We've bought the new car, but I didn't trade in Yuki, at least not yet.  I'll write Yuki's farewell when I either sell her or trade her in.
Yesterday, I finally sold Yuki, so it's time to calculate the miles driven and write what will probably be her obituary.  First, here is the projection of how much I would have driven her had I kept her from Driving update for September 2014: Ruby.
I'm driving Ruby more and Yuki less while my wife holds her driving steady.  It's been 80 days since Driving update for July 2014: Yuki and I've only driven my car about 750 miles.  At that rate, it should be another 26 or 27 days before I roll her over to 222,000 miles for 1000 miles in 106.7 days.  That would be a rate of 9.37 miles/day or 285.85 miles/month.  That would be much less than the 11.90 miles/day and 363.10 miles/month during the comparable period last year.
When I sold Yuki, her odometer read 221,841, so I drove her 841 miles since July 9, when she rolled over 221,000 miles.  From then until Halloween is a total of 104 days.  841/104 is 8.09 miles/day or 246.75 miles/month.  If I count until the 29th, when the last mile rolled over, the calculation is 841/102 or 8.25 miles/day or 251.63 miles/month.  Either one is a lot less than what I estimated if I had kept her and continued driving at the same rate.  Of course, neither number really means anything until both Ruby and the new car, which I'm provisionally calling Dez and my wife is calling Lapis, hit their next 1000 miles.  Stay tuned for those driving updates.

In the meantime, farewell, Yuki, and thank you for 11 years to the month of reliable service!

2 comments:

  1. Not to start off topic, but Yuki was my favorite on an underappreciated anime series, Silent Mobius. :)

    That said, while I've never owned a car, I appreciate the special bond humans have with mechanized assets they have like automobiles. I can be certain that Yuki's next place will be just as nice as the company you've given her the last 11 years. :)

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    1. That's indeed who I named her after. I told the story in Driving update for April 2014: Yuki. The irony is that my favorite character in Silent Mobius was Lebia Maverick. Her name wouldn't have fit my Kia. I'd have to save that for a much more high-tech vehicle.

      Also, thank you for your sentiment about Yuki's fate.

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