My friend Heika came up with the name “Bettie” for my new car. It totally struck a chord, so I’m keeping it. Bettie it is!  It suits her.  Plus, I like a lot of Betties. Betty White… Bettie Page… Betty Crocker…

Betty Boop is out, though. To hell with Betty Boop and her creepy meatloaf head!  I’ve never cared for her. I never knew I felt so vehemently about it, though.  Live and learn. Blogging is catharsis, people.

Anyway, Bettie is getting her drivers-side window replaced today and the aforementioned “F-Touch” done to it. It’s that Teflon whatever they do to the interior and the paint.  They’ve given me a Yaris as a loaner and you know?  It’s not a bad little car!

Don’t get me wrong, I love Bettie.  I’ve been making a point to drive her a little every day. We’re bonding.  But this Yaris is a zippy little thing! And it had a lot more in it than I expected.  The stereo was fantastic (I want to say better than mine, but I think it’s just because I haven’t figured mine out yet.  ) and it had power windows and everything.  I love the Matrix, but the Yaris was far more car than I was expecting.

There are some oddities… like the odometer and speedometer being in the middle.  It’s disconcerting. I keep trying to glance down at the gauge, but instead have to dart my eyes to the right a bit.  Not having the gauges in front of me makes me feel a bit like I’m in a go-cart, but otherwise, not bad.  It’s got more pick-up than I thought, too.  I guess I assumed the Yaris would be like a Geo Metro, which I’ve proudly (sort of) owned and drove under the back of a Chevy van.  But this is far more substantial of a car for the wee car-let that it is.

I get Bettie back tomorrow. I’m impressed they decided to replace my window. I honestly didn’t care that much about the scratch, I just wanted it noted so I wasn’t charged for it when I turned in the lease, but Mossy Toyota went above and beyond. They’re replacing it with a factory window (which they had to order because they obviously didn’t have 2009’s in stock yet) and also adjusting my alignment at no charge because I noticed it seemed to be pulling to the left a bit on my ride home from the dealer.

And miracle of miracles, they called yesterday to confirm my appointment and when I arrived at 8:45 on the dot, there were tons of people milling around. I figured that I would have to wait at least a few minutes, but no!  Someone took my information, started the process of getting me into my loaner and I was out the door by 9:01.  Seriously.  Every person I’ve been in contact with has been pleasant, courteous and really helpful.

I know… from a car dealer. Who knew?  And I’m totally not even getting paid to say any of that. But I DO need to remember to bring in my survey when I pick up Bettie tomorrow.  There’s a drawing for a free iPhone!  Mmm… overpriced, ultra-cool, relatively unnecessary geekery… *drool*

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