(darn it, my message kept blowing up, perhaps too long? I started pasting paragraph by paragraph to find out exactly where it would freeze, and here is the last bit that just wouldn't go with the previous post.)

continued from previous.....

My Swiss mechanic, however, had an interesting idea. He suggested that we wait until the bright German Subaru dealer has a used car that we'd like to buy. Then we'd take his trade-in offer, which now seems quite generous given the actual condition of the car. It wouldn't really be dishonest, since he did have the car for a week to look over and supposedly checked everything. <evil grin>

Oh, well. I will keep you all posted on my continuing adventures. For now, I’m just going to kick back, put some nice liqueur in my coffee and relax