My first car was a 1992 Hyundai Excel Hatchback. I bought this car in 1996 for $3000 with about 56,000 miles on it. After driving this almost new car for a few months, it became old faster than I thought possible.

I had the outer tie rod ends replaced to cure a clunking during deceleration. That worked for a couple of thousand miles, and then the symptoms returned. But I didn't bother fixing it again.

At about 65,000 miles the 4 speed automatic transmission began to lose its ability to move the car. It would let the engine rev up, and then engage with a bang. Soon the bang was gone. The movement that normally followed the bang was also gone. As an experiment, I unplugged the transmission computer and attempted to drive it. Success! The transmission stayed in third gear no matter what forward position the shifter was in. From a standstill, the Torque converter would allow the car to accelerate very slowly up to cruising speed. I still wanted the overdrive fourth gear to get better gas mileage, so I tried plugging the transmission computer back in at about 30 mph. Success again! I installed an illuminated rocker switch to cut the power to the transmission computer during acceleration. This almost took the car to 80,000 miles.

The 1.5 liter engine consumed a quart or two of oil about every 3000-5000 miles. After a while, I think starting out in third gear took its toll on the engine, and the smoke increased to the point where it would smoke continuously at idle.

One night I was about five miles from home and I came to a stop sign. When I attempted to continue driving, I was greeted by the familiar transmission-less rev. I checked to make sure the shifter was still in drive and the switch was off. I even pulled the wires off the switch to make sure the computer was not receiving power. The transmission was dead. Except for reverse, which was never effected by the transmission problems. That was a long drive home in reverse. I drove right down the center of the road, because I couldn't decide if I should be facing or going the wrong way.

I decided not to fix the Hyundai. I put a "For Sale" sign in the window and sold it a year and a half later for $500.