Well, we got the car yesterday. Very exciting. My thoughts thus far: It's a hell of a lot of fun to drive. The diesel makes no big difference at all as far as pickup and power. It's as good of a time as my old Jetta with a lot more character. It also sounded fantastic this morning when I fired it up. Nothing beats the sound of a diesel on a cool autumn morning.
The only complaints that I have thus far are that the steering wheel control for the radio apparently seeks through stations instead of jogging through presets. I may be able to change that, though. Also, the seat doesn't seem to go as low as I want. I had to move the steering wheel closer to me to avoid having it rub my knees while just sitting there.
Other than that, everything is spectacular. The color combination is perfect and the blue interior lights soothing.
I was checking around online and came across this article on the new Jettas.
Normally I might be somewhat annoyed at getting an older-styled car. However, after reading the review and checking out the photo, I'm happy with the "Jetta IV" as it's known. Mainly because the newer generation is larger (I like small and nimble) and the styling not as interesting. I mean, really, it looks like a Camry/Accord behind the front lights and the lights are looking rather souped-up Corolla-ish. The rear lights especially look like they belong on a Corolla.
I'm kind of wondering what this upsizing will mean for the Golf. I mean, really, if you want a larger VW, get a Passat.
Friday, November 19
Tuesday, November 16
New Car
Well, well. Many a thing has happened since we last talked. The big one is that we got into a bit of a car accident and the Audi has been totalled. Not a very happy experience, and one that could be seen as mostly my fault. No need to rehash the details here, but it was, surprisingly enough, a low speed incident and not something on the highway as I'm sure you'll all expecting.
Here's a photo of the front end damage that ended the run of a 2002 A4 1.8T with a bit over 56,000 miles on it.
It's all very annoying because now I'm slightly on edge when I drive. It was more a lapse in judgement than anything else. Usually I'm pretty good about paying attention when I drive. Maria and I are both fine, by the way. My wrists were a bit scratched up, (thanks, airbag) and Maria found some bruises later on in the week, but they didn't provide any pain. Again, wear your seatbelts.
Anyway, on to other things. Namely, the poor car's replacement. We decided, for economical reasons, to go with a VW Jetta. Diesel. That's right. A 2005 TDI. There was basically one option, leather. So it's got almost everything the ol' Audi had save for heated seats in the back, 6-disc in dash and uh, more room. But that's fine. As most of you know, I used to drive a 1997 Jetta and so the change back to a smaller, more wily car is welcome. And yes, the car will have a manual transmission. The all-wheel drive is not there, though, so I'll be pretty tame come the first snowfall.
The diesel also gets about 38 MPG City and 46 Highway. That's pretty insane. With a 14.5-gallon tank, that's at least 500+ miles. Enough to drive to Pittsburgh and back from Lancaster without fueling up. Although the price of diesel is now slightly higher, it should fall back in line with regular unleaded then hopefully below.
The car should be here by the end of the week. We went for a dark gray exterior with light gray interior.
I'm really not sure why more cars in the States aren't diesel. VW has the Jetta, Golf and Passat available. Mercedes has their one E-series sedan. That's it. If you want to see something depressing, go to Mini's UK site and check out the gas mileage of their little diesel. Why can't we have that over here?
Ramadan is also now over. It ended this past weekend. I was able to lose four pounds during the daytime fasting. Rather unexpected, although I guess I was running a pretty mean caloric deficit for a while. The nice thing (well, sort of) was that for most of it I was working overnight shifts. So by the time I got home in the morning, it was time to sleep the day away. Fasting is much, much easier that way, let me tell you.
Here's a photo of the front end damage that ended the run of a 2002 A4 1.8T with a bit over 56,000 miles on it.
It's all very annoying because now I'm slightly on edge when I drive. It was more a lapse in judgement than anything else. Usually I'm pretty good about paying attention when I drive. Maria and I are both fine, by the way. My wrists were a bit scratched up, (thanks, airbag) and Maria found some bruises later on in the week, but they didn't provide any pain. Again, wear your seatbelts.
Anyway, on to other things. Namely, the poor car's replacement. We decided, for economical reasons, to go with a VW Jetta. Diesel. That's right. A 2005 TDI. There was basically one option, leather. So it's got almost everything the ol' Audi had save for heated seats in the back, 6-disc in dash and uh, more room. But that's fine. As most of you know, I used to drive a 1997 Jetta and so the change back to a smaller, more wily car is welcome. And yes, the car will have a manual transmission. The all-wheel drive is not there, though, so I'll be pretty tame come the first snowfall.
The diesel also gets about 38 MPG City and 46 Highway. That's pretty insane. With a 14.5-gallon tank, that's at least 500+ miles. Enough to drive to Pittsburgh and back from Lancaster without fueling up. Although the price of diesel is now slightly higher, it should fall back in line with regular unleaded then hopefully below.
The car should be here by the end of the week. We went for a dark gray exterior with light gray interior.
I'm really not sure why more cars in the States aren't diesel. VW has the Jetta, Golf and Passat available. Mercedes has their one E-series sedan. That's it. If you want to see something depressing, go to Mini's UK site and check out the gas mileage of their little diesel. Why can't we have that over here?
Ramadan is also now over. It ended this past weekend. I was able to lose four pounds during the daytime fasting. Rather unexpected, although I guess I was running a pretty mean caloric deficit for a while. The nice thing (well, sort of) was that for most of it I was working overnight shifts. So by the time I got home in the morning, it was time to sleep the day away. Fasting is much, much easier that way, let me tell you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)