I finally sold off my VW Golf GL for good tonight. At least I got cash on the barrel head for it…which was more than I can say the damned car did for me in its last five years. Hell, maybe the last 10 because I think it was practically rebuilt: throttle body, instrument cluster, starter/ignition system, clutch, the alarm and the ability to maintain fifth gear.
The tipping point went down last month when I needed to give a friend a ride and it wouldn’t turn over. Yet another battery! Fortunately, I had the day off from work so I was spared the additional aggravation. We then just kept procrastinating on replacing the part because we’ve grown accustomed to working our lives around the Honda; it’s also transported us the same number of miles in a year while consuming 60 fewer gallons, saving us about $200, maybe double if we were driving two cars more often. Besides, I started looking into how much work the Golf was due for in the short term and felt it wasn’t worth any further spending.
What’s the plan now? Get the paperwork filed with the state and have our insurance lowered tomorrow. Use the cash to put toward the timeshare which is in striking distance of being paid off in full. By the mid-Summer, we will then be making a payment on Somara’s Honda every two weeks.
Then I can finally have my first, new car in 15-plus years! Hint, it will not be a blankity blank Volkswagen. I will miss the relationship I had with Underground/Toby, we’ll continue to support him and provide holiday treats. However, the fault lies in the German corporation. Their cars are overpriced; we paid $18K for the Honda and got an eight-year warranty on it; my Golf in 2010 money was $20K new with only the power train covered beyond a year, an equivalent 2011 Golf starts at the same point; the mileage hasn’t improved (our Honda clobbers the new Golfs by at least four mpg), they manufacture odd models most Americans won’t buy (when one thinks of V-8, VW isn’t on the short list), their girth has increased which is mind boggling unless things got wider in Europe and they’re squeezing out independent mechanics like Toby. Maybe the ones built in Germany/Poland/Czech Republic are better, they just aren’t affordable with our household. Oh to beat the VW diesel apologists to their inevitable rebuttals, I did my homework and discussed the TDIs with Toby who was less likely to bullshit me than a dealer; their ownership costs are ridiculous unless I was a traveling salesman who drove 20,000 or more miles a year. What little savings there could be in mileage evaporates in maintenance; don’t count on the new diesels to have the longevity of their ancestors thanks to the increased reliance on computers.
I think the biggest issue is that I’m not a car person. I don’t like driving, I was never interested in shop during high school and I don’t feel a vehicle should cost as much as my college education.
There were great memories with Bugs, namely the road trip to Phoenix with Somara in 1999, having the means to show Jose and Cindy Austin in 1997, and giving my mother a lift to the Cadillac dealer. During the latter voyage, Mom started to be a backseat driver as if I were in high school again and I got the satisfaction of telling her to shut up since I paid for the entire car myself. However, the “marriage” soured well before the final payments in 2001. There were plans to trade in the Golf around 2006. They were derailed by a larger, more presser financial situation until 2010.
Let’s hope being a one-car family doesn’t kill us since it’s considered unpatriotic.