We still haven't taken the Rav4 into the shop yet, but Marc and I are both pretty certain that it's the transmission, and Marc did a little research on it. Looks like it's going to be an expensive fix. There's actually a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) out on it, but it doesn't look like that's going to help us. The warranty on the transmission is up at 96 months/80,000 miles, and we're way past 80k miles. From the sounds of it, the total repair cost from the dealership is anywhere from $4000-$5000. I'm pretty certain the car itself isn't worth much more than that.
My coworker recommended a shop in Mountain View that specializes in Toyotas, so we might try that place to see if it's cheaper. Really not sure what we're going to do. We're really not in a place where we want to buy yet another car, but we need something to haul the dog around in. We had hoped the Rav4 would last a bit longer so that we could delay buying another SUV for a while.
So I don't know...I guess we have to see how long we'll realistically keep it if we get it fixed, and if it's worth throwing the money at it. In the meantime, Bandit's cruising in the TL.
I didn't make any progress in my XF marathon last night, as I was watching "Bleak House" instead, which I'd rented from Blockbuster (it stars Gillian Anderson - it all comes back to X-Files somehow - who got nominated for an Emmy for it). It's a BBC Masterpiece adaptation of the Charles Dickens book, and normally I don't go for period movies, but it got rave reviews, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
So far, it's great. Seriously, I'm shocked by how much I'm enjoying it. It's riveting, which is good, because it's LONG. I think it originally aired as a miniseries on BBC in half-hour installments (funny enough, I actually stumbled across one of the episodes when I was in England on travel - I remember going, "hey, what's GA doing on British TV?" - but it was halfway through the story, so I had no idea what was going on), and the whole thing is 8 hours long. I'm almost halfway through so far.
But it's really, really good so far. It starts out a little slow, but not for very long. I definitely recommend it, especially if you like period pieces. One warning - this version was made in 2005 - there was another that was made in 1985. Blockbuster initially sent me that one by accident. I watched probably 20 minutes of it before I realized that it was totally not the right version.
Oh, I think "LOST" and "Grey's Anatomy" return this week! Yay for new TV!
The transmission died on the Rav 4 we used to have, too. While a friend was borrowing it. To drive to LA. Whoops.
Sorry about the car Bonz. :(