time to say goodbye

This morning was the last straw.

I have to break up with Jake.

He's been slowly annoying me more and more, and while he's a great car, he's just not for me.

I've never been truly smitten with Jake, nothing like my first love Pedro. Jake was kind of like a rebound. I needed something quick after the sudden and tragic end of Pedro. He was good to me for a while, but I'm just not feeling it.

A smattering of problems. It takes me 20 minutes to fill up my tank, leaving me with my hand cramped and gas on my shoes. And every time I hate it. I've taken it to the Chevy dealership, but I feel like the ugly stepsister Saturn. And they tell me it will take several days to fix and it's not covered under warranty, even though it's something that has everything to do with the construction of the part and nothing to do with user wear & tear. A few days without transportation? How am I supposed to get to work? Pay for a rental on top of the labor and parts? Psh.

And I still have the sub-par radio that was replaced by the dealership after my nice one stopped working. Again, shitty parts & service. I've said it many times; no wonder they went out of business.

Since I have no noises to remind me that I'm leaving my lights on, I leave them on quite a lot. I try to remember, and I remember a lot, but I forget a lot too. Apparently yesterday was one of those nights, because when I went to drive to work this morning, the car would not turn on. The battery was dead.

Then, when I went to go back inside the house and wake up dad, the key would not come out of the ignition so I couldn't unlock the door. So I had to pound on the door until my dad woke up. Then, I figured out that the trunk will not pop if the battery is dead. The battery is in the trunk. And they keys to open it manually were still stuck in the ignition. Great design, Saturn.

I found my spare key and we got to work at 430 in the morning. The battery did not charge, but while the jumper cables were hooked up I was able to get my keys out of the ignition.

I took my mom's car to work.

My dad eventually got the battery charged enough to start it, and it seems to be holding a charge now. But I've had enough. It's time to move on. It runs fine as far as getting from A to B, but there are some serious electrical and mechanical flaws with that car and they only seem to be piling up.

I think it's obvious in relationships, the less you annoy me; the better. Even metaphorical car relationships.

So begins the car hunt. I have time to do research and test drive more than one car. I have no idea what kind I want, but have to admit I'm leaning toward one of Pedro's cousins, a Toyota. He was just such an awesome car, not to mention he saved my life.

Who wants to go car shopping with me?