(Sh)itsubishi Rant

I own a car as well as my bike. It's a 1995, Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T. I've had it since, maybe.... '98. It has a turbo and that makes it a fun car to drive. It looks nice when it's clean, it's fast, but it's the most unreliable piece of shit. It's a love-hate thing.. although, now that I hardly ever drive anymore, it's more of a hate. I've spent thousands of dollars on repairs over the years when something just breaks for no reason, and yes, it's for no reason. I don't even really drive it hard. I drive like a grandma because it's a gas hog. I've replaced the axle, maybe three times, the clutch, the clutch master and slave cylinders at least four times. Alternator, multiple sensors. I had to replace the entire engine head once, had to have part of the body welded because it cracked. I hate this car.. it's nickname is 'The Black Hole' because it's got that effect on my bank account.

I actually only drive it about once or twice a month now. Many moons ago I stopped driving it to work. What happened was my clutch broke and left me stranded in the middle of a busy intersection during a lunch break from work. I paid about 300 bucks to have that fixed, then just one week later, my alternator died, so I had that fixed, but too soon, I couldn't take it, I snapped.. I decided, fuckit, i'm riding the bus from now on. (then later started biking) Plus I just got sick of sitting in bumper to bumper L.A. traffic. My work is around 13 miles from my apt. It takes about 45 minutes to get there in my car because of traffic. In the afternoon, it can take an hour and a half on a bad day to get home, again, because of traffic. In comparison, my bike takes an hour each way, not much difference with the benefit of exercise and skipping the gym... the bus is about an hour and a half each way. The car is stressful... that's the main reason I stopped... and gas prices. If I drove my car to work, it'd cost me around $150+ a month. Bike is free, and exercise to boot... The monthly bus pass is $70, cheaper than gas, and can be ok, but because of the high gas prices (i'm assuming it's why) it's more crowded and I always have to stand now... it sucks.. I can't wait till my leg muscles are strong enough to bike every day.

I started typing this because tonight, the 2nd time i've driven this month, only once last month, the month before that, not at all.. .i'm taking my friend home from a bus stop and what happens.. the damn Check Engine Light comes on. The car just can't let me win.. I've only driven it around 150 miles since I got it serviced.. so what the fuck could be wrong with it this time? Mitsubishis officially break down for no reason, this is proof... damn it, i'll never buy one again.. i hate it.. damn Shitsubishi..