The VUE is not so rosy

Just over a year ago we bought a beautiful new Saturn VUE. It was what they now call Rainforest Green (at the time it was "Medium Green.") And it was certainly not their new color Lime Green, that looks like a bottle of Mountain Dew threw up.

On Friday, I had my first problem ever with the car. It died on me. I was driving home on 32 and went from 55 mph down to 20. In about 10 seconds. I frantically signaled and pulled onto the shoulder. Trying not to panic I took a few deep breaths, turned the car off and let it rest. It was REALLY cold on Friday, and thinking I hadn't given it enough time to warm up before hopping in and heading home, I restarted the car and let it run for a few minutes. After feeling assured that the whole thing had been some kind of fluke, I got back up to speed and merged back onto the highway.

The same thing happened. I went from 55 to 20. Noticing I was close to the exit for my Grandmother's office I pulled off and hobbled the poor car up the road. Hurking and jerking the whole time and praying over and over that I wouldn't stall in an intersection and that somehow my Grandmother would be at work even though it was her day off, and it was now almost 5 PM.

No such luck, well about my Grandmother being there anyway, I managed to get there without stalling. Now was the time for my night in shining armor. I called Andy. And aside from a rather severe lecture about changing the oil properly (next time I call you from the side of the road frantic about my car being broken sweetie, a lecture might be able to wait!), he was incredibly helpful.

I called Saturn and spoke with a man who has become my best buddy over the last few days, Joe. I explained to Joe the problem, where I was, and asked what I should do. The final answer, call Saturn's tow line and have the car brought to the dealership.

Being only 5 minutes away from my own office, I once again made the poor car hobble. It was too cold outside for me to sit where I was another hour!

Walking back into my office an hour and a half after I had left brought a bunch of "What are you doing back here?" and "Why didn't you call me???"s coming at me.

The good news was that I was in a building where I felt safe, and it had heat. The tow truck was on it's way and so was Andy. The bad news? The tow truck would be there in about an hour and a half. Putting it's approximate arrival time at 7 PM.

The truck finally came and we got the car to the dealership. They took the keys and someone would look at it on Monday.

I won't go in to the rental car kafuffle, but I currently have one, a Nissan Sentra *Loud Raspberry*

Checking in with my best buddy Joe today the following will be replaced in my 1 year, 1 month old car:
The ignition module
The spark plugs
The wiring
The coil module
The catalytic convertor
The rear oxygen somethingorother that he said too fast for me to write down

Everything's all covered under warranty of course, and happily it's supposed to be ready for me to pick up this evening. But I didn't realize how attached I've already become to MY car. I want it's height, I can't see anything in the rental car, it's too low to the ground. I want it's armrests, I want to know where all the controls are. And most important, I want my all wheel drive back. It's sleeting outside.