My sister recently traveled to Pennsylvania to retrieve a car from our aging aunt, who recently moved into assisted living. I had high expectations of this car, a 2012 Ford Escape “Limited” which was a literal old lady drove it to church on sundays and parked it back in the garage kind of car. Well, almost.
Just a few short years ago (oye, actually, 2003) I picked up a car from the very same garage, same story except it was our grandmother’s car and she had passed away some year or two prior. That was... wait for it... a brown 1981 Aries K wagon (automatic, sadly). It was mint, but still a 1981 Aries wagon and the suspension was shot, hoses were dry-rotted, and in my ignorant relative youth I didn’t keep the car very long.
So now, the Ford. I figured we were getting a newer, better version of the Old Lady car, but for better and worse, I was wrong.
At a glance, it’s nice:
The interior is in good condition, too. It was garage kept and driven to the grocery store and church, and, apparently, a whole bunch of other places, too? It’s got a surprising 95,000 miles on it! The Aries had, I think, 33,000 miles? And it was 22 years old at the time. So my aunt is more active, great. 95,000 isn’t a ton these days. But wait.
Ugh, both sides are like that. I mean, it’s still pretty clean underneath and would be well worth fixing those spots. But seriously! I doubt she drove much in the snow, but I guess she’d drive on salty wet roads, and I’m doubtful it got any washing except if the dealer did it for her.
I guess the point is, do my parents really want to start doing body work on this thing? They could take it or leave it, and this alone might be the decider. Now that I think about it, I’ve seen LOTS of this generation Escape with rusty rear fenders.
In any case, I’d be happy to sell this on CL, it’s pretty nice and would truly be a good car for someone, for a long time, and I’m sure no one in my family cares about squeezing every last dollar out of it so I could price it to sell fast. The only question is, am I going to be listing this one or the Honda? They’re similarly equipped, but for the age and mileage difference and the obvious rust. The Honda’s had a much harder life, but it’s also a Honda. Which would you take?