TOM: Well, you could just stick the screwdriver in there and then hacksaw it off and paint over it, Bev. That’s what I’d do.
RAY: And that’s why my brother has never successfully sold a car to anyone other than a junk man in the past three decades. I’d fix it correctly, Bev. This car still has a fair amount of resale value.
TOM: The problem is the shift lock, which prevents you from taking the car out of park unless your foot is on the brake. It’s a safety device, designed to keep you from shifting into drive or reverse while stepping on the gas and inadvertently speeding over your garbage cans.
RAY: Or the neighbor’s children.
TOM: The shift lock has several components, and the cost will depend on which component is broken. The way it works is that when you step on the brake, a switch energizes a solenoid, which pulls a pin and allows you to shift out of park.
RAY: It could be as simple as a bad fuse. If that’s all it is, it’ll cost you a buck to fix. Or it could be the switch at the brake pedal. That’s probably about $50. Or if it’s the solenoid, you could be looking at a couple hundred bucks.
TOM: But the number of potential buyers who will flee when they see you jamming a screwdriver into the console will cost you far more than that, Bev. So I’d get it fixed.
There’s such a thing as taking frugality too far
Dear Tom and Ray:
My husband insists that taking the center seats out of our Toyota Sienna will increase our gas mileage and save us a lot of money over time. I don’t mind them being out sometimes, but he doesn’t want to put the seats in for friends, who then have to ride in the third seat, which is uncomfortable and hard for older adults to get into. He will not put the seats in when our grandchildren visit, so that when we all go somewhere, someone has to take an extra car. I say, why have a passenger van if you are not going to use the seats? I can see not having the seats if we go on a long trip and it is just the two of us riding. Does it really save that much gas mileage to remove the center seats of the Sienna? Please, help our marriage! Thank you. — Naomi
TOM: We have nothing against trying to save a few bucks, Naomi. But at some point, the obsession with saving money can override normal human behavior.
RAY: And I’m afraid your husband is pushing right up against that line. What’s next? Is he going to insist that you stay home with the seats so he can save a little more weight? Where does it end?
TOM: He is correct in theory about the seats. I don’t know what year Sienna you have, but the newest, heaviest captain’s chairs that are optional as middle seats in the new Sienna weigh about 75 pounds each. So let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and use the heaviest possible middle seats to do the calculation.
RAY: So he’s shaving 150 pounds from a vehicle that weighs about 4,500 pounds with the two of you in it.
TOM: Cutting down on weight does increase mileage. I don’t know if the two things are directly proportional — they’re probably not, but let’s assume they are, to estimate.
RAY: So he’s shaving about 3 percent off the vehicle’s weight. If we increase the mileage by a similar percentage, that means that instead of getting an average of about 20 miles per gallon, with the seats out he’s getting 20.6 mpg.
TOM: And for that, he’s ticking off his wife, alienating his friends and telling his grandkids that his gas mileage is more important than they are. Makes perfect sense to me!
RAY: Yeah. That’s why my brother has no friends, and his family won’t speak to him.
TOM: Actually, we’re on your side, Naomi. It’s crazy to buy a seven-passenger minivan and then use it as if it’s a four-passenger sedan.
RAY: Why not just buy a sedan in the first place? For the same money you spent on a minivan, you can get a more luxurious and lighter sedan, which gets better mileage all the time, with all of its seats in!
TOM: So you have to try to reason with this guy. I know that seems like a lost cause, but give it a shot, Naomi. Perhaps it’ll help to ask him what he wants on his tombstone: “Loving Husband, Father and Grandfather”? Or “Stubborn Chiseller Who Got an Extra Six-Tenths of a Mile Per Gallon”?
Send your comments or questions for Tom and Ray to: Car Talk Plaza, P.O. Box 3500 Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 02238. Listen to them Saturdays at 10 a.m. on 91.3 FM or 88.5 FM. Visit them on the Internet at www.cartalk.com.