Called for an appointment at Stevens Creek BMW. Surprisingly, got an appointment for January 10th.

Car goes in. No loaner, but I wanted to rent a pickup to transport a fruit tree (too tall even for the convertible) and some cheapo IKEA furniture (big boxes).

I get a red GMC Sierra crew cab pickup from Enterprise (Enterprise is the best, bar none).

I have to say that I admire people who drive these pickups, because they're the crappiest cars on the road. On the highway, they buck constantly, which made me feel queasy after 30 mins. Because of the crew cab, the bed is also pretty small (maybe 5' long), so the fruit tree couldn't lay down flat.

Advisor calls. They're ordering a part. Good sign that they know what the problem is.

Part arrives. Problem not fixed. My service advisor is off on Friday, so I spoke to someone else. He tells me that the right side microswitch is replaced, but the top still freezes intermittently. They've order the left side switch, but it won't arrive until Monday.

He gives me a loaner: a brand new, 650-miles-on-the-odometer, white 330cic with the performance package. The rental guy asks is that will suffice. I say, well, yeah. As I whip the rental car around driving off, I think about where I'll take it over the weekend.

About the performance package...

This wasn't available as an option when I bought my car four years ago, but it's a big change in how the car handles.

We drive across curvy, mountainous Hwy 17 to Aptos (south of Santa Cruz) in search of giant black bamboo. The one thing that becomes very evident is that the automatic transmission makes a lot of noise—sort of a low, growling exhaust sound, and it varies in pitched depending on foot pressure on the accelerator. It's annoying. After 20 mins., it's REALLY ANNOYING. There also the usual "hunting" as we go from incline to decline to slow corner to fast straightaway. I'm glad I bought a manual.

True, the car has the "manual" automatic option. I tried this for a few miles, but found pushing the gear shift forward to upshift unintuitive for some reason. Plus, it feels kind of stupid.

The mystery is solved. Both the right and left switches are faulty. They replace the left side and all works well.

I go to pick up the car. They've replaced the microfilter as well, even though I asked them not to in order to save a few bucks.

Total bill: