4 cars in one day

Today was the day I had to say good bye to my truck for a little while until it gets repaired... I went to the car rental place and was getting ready to get my car, when I saw that they had a Dodge Ram... hehe.. so the wheels in my head start spinning.. upgrade, maybe? (I think my next truck is going to be a Ram, so it's the perfect opportunity to test drive one for a week) So I ask how much one of them suckers cost a day.

Rental Car Guy: $54.99 a day. Why, you want one?
Me: (smiling) No thanks, I think I'll stick to my $22.95 economy car.
RCG: Well, I can give it to you for $34.99
Me: That's still a big bill at the end of the week, but thank you anyway.
RCG: Well, if you really want it, I'll give it to you for $24.99.
Me: Are you kidding me?
RCG: No, you want it?
Me: Hell yeah! (For some reason, I think Filipino boys dig me...)

I thank the guy and drive out of there with a new Dodge Ram (with a HEMI) and went about my way, enjoying every horsepower in that studly machine. I get to work fine and have fun plowing over the smaller cars on the freeway. Then lunch time rolls around... Hmm, I think I'll go to Target and get a few things I need. On my way there, the gears slip. What the fuck?! I'm sitting at a red light in the middle of lunch hour traffic, and my truck won't go! It's in gear, but revving like its in neutral. And on the highway, I would keep my foot on the gas, and in the middle of driving, it would slip out of gear, and the tac would shoot up to 6,000 rpm with no juice. It kept doing this the entire time, and I'm thinking I'm going to die, or even WORSE, get hit (I declined the rental car insurance). I get back to my office somewhat safely and I call rental car dude. I tell him something about the transmission is fucked up and when I'm at a stop, the truck will shake violently so he might want to look at the spark plugs too, and thanks for sticking me with a possessed monster. He apologized and said he would send someone over to my work to switch cars. About 3 hours later, the driver shows up.... and he says "Here's your car". I said, "What? Is this a joke? Seriously, where's the truck?" I was staring at a Chevy Malibu... no offense to anyone that drives one... but... but... it's just not my style! So I suck it up, and take it home. But on the way home, the stupid brakes won't stop shrieking while I'm driving. It sounded like the friggin rotors! So I called the rental car guy again and tell him about it. So he apologized and asked me to bring it back down and he'd switch cars for me... again. I asked if he had another Dodge Ram.

RCG: No, our other one is out.
ME: An F-150?
RCG: no, it's out
Me: A Tahoe? Suburban? Titan? Anything big?
RCG: No, we just have compact cars left in our lot
Me: Ayyyyy... what do you have?
RCG: An Eclipse
Me: Eh! But that's a little car! What else do you have?
RCG: A Dodge Neon
Me: Fuck... ok.. I'll take the Eclipse.

The Eclipses are cute and all, but just so... little.. I need room for the freakin car seats, hello?! Besides, the last time I was in a little car was in high school, when I inherited my brother's piece of shit... which, by the way, I heard him and Barbsie made some memories in there... hehe... but that's another post (yeah, I'm traumatized now and refuse to purchase a used car-you never know exactly what went on in there... thanks a lot, Barb)

So I show up and he's cleaning the windows and I look at the car...
Me: Is that mine?!
RCG: Yeah, this is yours
Me: SWEET!!!!

Man, I was soooooo excited! It was a 2005 Spyder! Excuse the schoolgirl giggling, but I've never been in a convertible before! So I hopped in and asked how to take the top down... He showed me and I started the ignition... but when I started to back out of the parking lot, I was really disappointed.. it was an automatic transmission... eeeh. Dude, don't tease me... If you're going to put me in a Spyder, make it a stickshift. How else am I supposed to abuse the speeding capabilities? Oh well. It was a smoooooth ride and REALLY fast, but the stereo system sucked ass, big time! I expected more from an Infinity deck, but it was really shitty and weak. Then I picked up the kids at daycare, and you would swear Santa just dropped off a shitload of presents... I don't think I've seen them so excited since Christmas. But after explaining that it was a rental and I'd have to return it (I knew they would start crying the day we'd have to give it back), they got in and I took them for a spin. They loved it. We loved it. It was great. That car TOTALLY fits me... stylish and free... :) but I don't think I'm ready to go small...YET (at least not until I start my mid-life crisis). Hehe... for me, bigger (and stronger) will always be better.


[edit: I feel badly about my behavior (blushing)... I realize that I was getting too picky about the rental cars, especially when I was going to start off with an economy car in the first place. It must've been the frustration of being hit, having to take time off work to take care of it, having to go through 3 different rental cars because the first two could've landed me in a ditch in the middle of a highway somewhere, and other huge issues I was trying to deal with... I'm not usually a diva like that :) ]