2001 Hyundai Elantra "Blue Blur"

Of all things, the HYUNDAI was the first car I ever had that didn't leave me stranded all the time (or, really, at all).  In fact, it was pert near bulletproof.  First car I bought brand new, and it served me pretty faithfully for a couple of years.  I put about 45,000 miles on it during that stretch of time, including a memorable 2,600 mile road trip to New Mexico.  It also accumulated more door dings and scratches than any other car I've ever owned, got a chipped windshield from freeway debris 5 days after signing the loan, and is so far the only car I've owned to have been vandalized (someone keyed the thing all the way down the right side...who keys a Hyundai?).

Loved it quite a bit, but near the end of my time with it, it did develop a nasty electrical glitch (didn't knock the car out of commission, but caused lights to go off and on even with the car turned off, and warning bells to go off for no reason).  It was all repaired under warranty, but the dealership was pretty incompetent in getting it fixed.  Took two weeks of repair to fix the actual problem--which was reasonable given the circumstances of a complex electrical gremlin--then another FIVE weeks of repeatedly taking it back for them to fix something they didn't hook back up right or outright broke while putting the car back together after the original problem was solved.  So I decided that with the B2B warranty creeping close to its 60,000 mile expiration, it might be a good idea to get something else and not have to deal with them anymore.  The car was great...the dealer experience was lousy.