The Jetta
After my treasured 1992 Chevy C1500 pickup died when the trans wouldn't shift higher than first gear, I realized it was time to move on. After 17 years in the truck I had to say goodbye. It was truly and literally a depressing moment when I realized it was over. There were so many good memories: When I picked Penny up for our first date, hauling countless loads of large stuff for myself and other people, and driving it almost every day for 17 years to work and for fun. I changed its oil, replaced its parts, waxed it dozens of times, and kept detailed records. It generally always got me where I needed to go. I will never forget telling Penny that morning that the transmission had died.
Yes the transmission could be replaced, but with 189,000 miles on the odometer, it was a good opportunity to move on. The pressure was on to find a replacement so I could drive to work each day. Luckily I was able to borrow a neighbor's 1990 Ford passenger van which was great for hauling my co-workers to lunch. This bought me some time and was cheaper than a rental car, even though filing its tanks with 34 gallons of gas wasn't cheap.
After ruling out buying an early 1980's Jeep CJ, an idea I had been flirting with for a long time, I decided to look for a basic vehicle that would get better gas mileage than the truck did which wasn't too difficult. I flirted with buying a 2004 or 2006 Scion xB Crackerbox, much to Penny's dismay. With a 1.3 liter engine, lots of cargo room, and a claimed 34 MPG around town, this looked like a good buy.
I visited my cousin who was a salesman at Gilman Honda, and learned that the prices for used economy-oriented cars were up because the demand was strong. This limited my options even more. I still had to find something workable. I had always said that I would never really be happy driving anything that I wasn't proud to own. I could drop money on a car that would meet my basic requirements, but if wasn't proud to own it, I wouldn't be happy to drive it. I had seen people buy economy-oriented cars in the past only to turn around and sell them because the car had no personality.
After a final trip to see a good looking but too rusty Jeep CJ with my brother in law, we stopped at several dealerships and car lots to look around. We looked at a good variety of different vehicles and the Mazda 3's and 6's and Volkswagen Jettas caught my eye. My sister had a Jetta that I had always admired. With the possiblity of finding a good-looking Scion xB fading due to lack of availability, I started to focus on plain 4 door cars. I had never owned a car as a daily driver before, so it would be a paradigm shift for me. I had driven Penny's Nissan Altima quite a bit and liked the feel of a car that size but was never interested in it specifically as a daily driver.
One day while checking Craigslist.com for cars in my budget, I came across a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta with low mileage for a fantastic price. It looked good in the pictures, but after my Jeep shopping experiences I knew that photos would never reveal the true details of any automobile. I called the person right away and scheduled a time to go see it that weekend. It turned out that the owner was working for a small-time used car lot not too far from my house. I test drove the car and it was a pleasureable experience.
That night I spent some time researching Jettas to learn more about them. The next day I called the owner back and scheduled a time to have the car inspected at Herr Schmidts on Richmond avenue, the VW-only shop that had been there for 30 years. Other than needing some general maintenaince, they gave the car a clean bill of health. I was hoping they'd find some horrible flaw so that I could move on. The Carfax report on the car looked very good. Insurance for the car wouldn't cost much more than what I was paying for the truck, and the gas mileage was about twice what the truck was getting.
The following Monday the purchase was completed. A friend's comment was, 'Instead of a brawny macho Jeep you get a sleeper autobahn-storming sedan, good choice.' Here are the specs:
2003 Volkswagen Jetta GLS
1.8 liter engne; fuel injection, 4 cylinders, 20 valves, turbo
5 speed manual transmission
15" alloy wheels
Red exterior, tan and black interior
Some day I'm going to buy a Jeep CJ.
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