mathilda hath forsaken me

in case you don't know, mathilda is my car.

my recently purchased (september) pre-owned car. which i adore.

it's a subaru, which is supposed to run forever.

weeeellll apparently mathilda didn't like that idea. the gear issue i've been having is apparently not fixable in and of itself. it's not something simple, and subaru transmissions can't be rebuilt, they have to be replaced. just the nature of the beast, supposedly.
so i've been quoted a repair ESTIMATE (no less) of 1/3 the price i paid for the car in the first place.
i've asked their "board" to consider paying for at least part of it since i just bought the car from them (problem started in nov. but went away for a while) and i feel something this major should have been detected, right?... so they are going to discuss it at their meeting tomorrow. meanwhile they are trying to convince me that i might just wanna trade mathilda in for another vehicle they have on the lot of the same make year and model (but WHITE--ugh) instead of putting my money into the poor ol' gal. however because it has 25K less miles on it, i'd end up spending even more!
it's hard to believe people's thought process sometimes. i'm arguing with them over paying for the repair in the first place and they want to convince me to spend more. grumble. i guess i'll be spending the next 24 hours calling for other estimates and weighing my options.

one good thing came out of my visit to the dealership ripoff shop: i did get the chance to chat with erik hiljus while i was paying the $78 they charged me for 4 hours of sitting around waiting and the very bad news they finally delivered. i was so upset about mathilda i didn't get his number though. ah well...