For a couple of weeks, our car has had this weird little noise coming from the engine part of it (can you tell I know nothing about car engines?). I took it to a mechanic, who basically scratched his head, changed some oils and gave me a bill.

The sound didn't go away, so I took it back today. The mechanic scratched his head again, changed some more oils and gave me a new bill. That was not reassuring. And the noise was still there. So I did something you should never do. I asked him to guess. That's like asking your doctor to guess. You don't want these people guessing what can be wrong with you. Or your car.

His best guess? "Slowly failing torque converter". His words. To fix that, if that is indeed what's wrong with it, it would be "best" to install another automatic transmission. A low-milage used one, plus labor, could cost a thousand dollars.

So my options are:

• Wait until it breaks (a week, a year), and then buy a used 'tranny'.
  
• Trade the car for another used one. More money, maybe less hazzle.
  
• Buy/lease a new car. Much more money, definetly less hazzle.
  

Fun. Fun. Fun.