That really and truly sucks, Mario.
You might take a look at your leasing contract to see what the language in there says about performance. It appears at this point that the car is not performing, and you may be able to break the lease based on that and give it back to them. Then let them try to bring you into court.
I concur that public opinion is a good court to be trying this in. Is there a reporter in the local newspaper who does local stories? That might be someone to champion your cause.
Keep us posted... 'cause here I thought you were slaving over the IW servers in your new assistant webmaster role
*edit* just thought of something else... a valuable ally for you in this process would be any local competitor of Alfa. Imagine what they could do with your story... local man savaged by Alfa, saved by Honda... or whoever.
Or the leasing company, too. Any of their competitors might jump at the chance.
[ 12-03-2004, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Bungleau ]