Last Thursday, on the way home from the office, I got on I-285 and quickly merged over five lanes to the left. I then realized that my accelerator was no longer making the car go faster. Fortunately I was on a long, downhill slope, and I had some built-up momentum, so I didn’t get stuck. I then coasted over six lanes to get to the righthand shoulder. Once there, I turned the car off, then back on. To my surprise, the tachometer jumped up, as it should have, when I pressed the gas pedal. I was able to drive the remaining 28 miles home without incident. But I knew there was probably something wrong with the transmission, based on how hard it was shifting.

The next day, I took it to my usual shop, and after checking it out, they told me that there was something wrong with the transmission, but they could not fix it. Since Saturn is no longer in business, parts are already getting scarce. I had already decided that unless the needed repairs were extremely cheap, I wasn’t going to sink any more money into it. This settled it.

On Saturday, we test drove and bought a new 2010 Ford Focus. It’s a very pretty red. I really wanted a blue one, but none of the six dealerships anywhere near us had an SEL model in blue. But once I saw the red, I liked it enough to get it. So far, I like it. It comes with the SYNC system, which is nice, but not without its quirks and problems. The car is peppy (for a 4 cylinder), drives smoothly and is very quiet in the cabin, even at high speed. Every time I drive it, it grows on me a bit more.

If you’re interested, here are some photos of it.