First off, I decided to make a new Category because car trouble and its happy (or happier) ending isn’t exactly “breaking news” as Headlines would imply. I feel the Category with the most entries should be reserved for matters that are a big deal: a new job, a new pet/baby, etc. The SCLM should do the same. Tiger Woods or Notre Dame’s new head coach doesn’t warrant being on the front page, physical or virtual. Maybe I’ll review the 250 already present and reclassify them…right, after I get the remaining posts (April 2007 to November 2008) off the old server.
Now to the heart of the story.
Thursday night was spent Christmas shopping for several friends at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar since it has the only physical branch of Mondo Tees, a little store that sells the best retro iron-ons for T-shirts; all those memories of killing time at the mall in the Seventies, I can smell the Orange Julius next door! Afterwards, we decided to go out for dinner because I had destroyed Somara’s window of opportunity to work on her annual cookies. What could I do? The catalog didn’t say the Chuck Norris gag decal I wanted was out of stock.
So we went North through the I-35 corridor of Austin, debating over where to stop along the way. A compromise was reached with Pei Wei due to its proximity to Toys R Us (something we agreed on for Julia). As soon as we passed the intersection of Parmer and I-35, the check engine LED came on. How I hate that stupid thing. Unix log files are less cryptic. Fearing the status would shift from solid (warning) to blinking with screeching (failure imminent) we went home while I started planning the next few days around Somara and me having one vehicle.
Long story short, Toby and the gang at Underground pinned down the problem, resolved it and had my VW ready by the end of Friday. Definitely saved our upcoming trip to the One World Theater to see the Manhattan Transfer Sunday night. How much? Less than a new car payment which now brings the average cost of maintaining the beat-up 1996 Golf GL to $92.70/month; this number is based upon what I have spent after it was paid off in June 2001 and includes oil changes and inspections (Austin started including emissions several years ago). Even I’m surprised. I would’ve put it at $110-120/month in light of the two big repairs in 2008 and the alarm last Spring.
A new car remains on the horizon in 2010. It will not be a VW though. Their gas-powered lines are overpriced and get the same mileage as my 1996 jalopy. My friend Bryant continues with his litany of diesel too. Namely the upcoming 2010 Golf TDI. The $22K starting price is enough to be a deal breaker. So while I had the time, I asked Toby what his opinion was of it. His immediate response was a question, “Do you plan to drive it 400,000 miles?” I laughed saying, I barely have 150,000 on mine of 13 years. Toby elaborated on how the new diesel vehicles are disastrous to support due to all the complicated electronics that have been added. He said, the diesel VWs of the early Nineties and before are easier to maintain so they’re great. Meanwhile, any diesel VW has built afterwards are only cost-effective for traveling salesmen; commuters with long, daily treks; and people who don’t mind spending $700 on just the timing belt. I think I’ll trust my mechanic’s assessment on why I should never buy a diesel-powered car more because he’s either being too honest or he’s insane. Think about it. Repairing my car fairly often could help him buy a timeshare nicer than ours in Las Vegas. I know the dealerships (namely Maund in Austin) wouldn’t bat an eye against selling me a new money pit.
This meandering tale just dovetails to how my VW seems to develop an envy streak whenever I spend too much money on other people or objects. I’m grateful the Golf only needed a small appeasement to its bruised ego.