Cars.com

I listen to your radio show every week and read your column even though I'm only 11. We have a 1988 Plymouth Grand Voyager with 82,000 miles on it. Our poor air conditioner died last summer. Here's the problem. We're going on a three-week camping trip next summer through the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. We will be driving over mountains, through valleys, across rivers and streams, and most important, through deserts. I don't want to fry in the car! We use spray bottles (with water in them) to keep cool. I don't think it's a very good way to keep cool. My parents wouldn't get the air conditioner fixed because it would cost $750. My question: Should my parents get the air conditioning fixed or not? How should I keep cool? -- Sabetta

Tom: You kids are always complaining. When we were little, our dad's car didn't have an air conditioner either.

Ray: In fact, I remember when Dad got a COVERED wagon. We thought that was luxury! No more rain and harsh sunlight beating down on our heads.

Tom: No more "duck and cover" when a flock of pigeons flew by!

Ray: Personally, I think your parents are nuts, Sabetta. After three weeks in the car together without air conditioning, you're all going to hate each other. I mean, it's tough enough to live in such close quarters, but when your thighs are sticking to the seats, and you're breathing 95-degree air laced heavily with Dad's B.O., someone's going to end up hitch-hiking back.

Tom: I guess it's up to them, Sabetta. If they can take it, certainly they can expect you kids to tough it out, too. People survived for many centuries without air conditioning. And "misters" and spray bottles do help keep you cool, as evidenced by their widespread use at the Olympics in Atlanta.

Ray: But if you ask me, I think it's worth the $750 to get it fixed. More for their own comfort than for yours. You'll still need to pack your mister, Sabetta, because the temperature in the back of these greenhouse- like minivans never goes much below 86 even with AC on full blast.

Tom: But at least when you decide to sell the Voyager, you won't have to search far and wide for wackos like your folks -- who like driving around in a rolling sauna. Enjoy the trip, Sabetta.

Everybody wants a new car. But from a purely financial point of view, there is no question that buying a used car is always cheaper, even in the long run. To learn more, order Tom and Ray's pamphlet How to Buy a Used Car: Things That Detroit and Tokyo Don't Want You to Know. To order, send (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. You can also order online.

© 1996 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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