Maybe driving is a rebelpeon.com thing. I mean, Bree just had an entry about it, and now I will too.
First off, I don’t care if you’re the only person on the interstate, you do not need your hi-beams on. I mean, seriously, is this so much to ask? I love the people that have them on, and then “forget” to turn them off after you pass. It’s almost tempting to turn off the cruise, slow down, get behind them, and let them know what it feels like.
Speaking of cruise, learn how to use it. For the love of god people, it’s there for a reason, and that reason is not to just be there. I suppose I’m super-addicted to cruise control. I use it whenever I’m on the interstate. As long as I can keep a steady speed, it’s on. Just when I went up to Fort Wayne this weekend, I used it the whole way, even while driving through Indy. Granted, it came off a lot more then, but still.
I can’t fathom what goes through people’s heads that don’t use cruise. I had a truck without it, my driving life was miserable. So much so in fact that I barely left Champaign-Urbana because it was such a pain. Nothing like having your leg fall asleep because you have to keep pushing the gas. Plus there’s the fact that whenever I would hit a hill I’d have to watch the speedometer that much more carefully, especially when there were people around. I always felt like a tool when I just passed someone, then hit a hill and slowed down a little, only to have the person I just passed, pass me. Plus, it’s just annoying to constantly go, slow down, go, slow down, go, etc. That’s supposedly the beauty of the interstate, it’s not city stop and go driving. You’re supposed to be able to maintain a specific speed the whole way. However, without cruise that makes it next to impossible.
I think I can summarize with:
If you’re not using cruise control, you’re not only doing a disservice to yourself, but everyone around you.
Well, I’ve already done my first “mod” on my Jetta. Took me all of about 10 minutes to do. My kind of mod. What I did was called a Ventectomy. What it does is increase your fuel tank by about 2 gallons, or, with my car, adds an additional 100 miles to your tank. From the link above, you can see that you remove the venting mechanism of the gas tank. Normally, in a gas car, when you fill up, this venting area is used because of the expansion and volitility of gas. What this extra 2 gallon area does, is prevent your gas cap from blowing off during driving or while it’s sitting in the sun. However, diesel doesn’t exhibit these features, so that extra 2 gallon tank goes to waste.
In all actuallity, I didn’t have to remove the pieces, you can just press the button back as you fill up (preferably with the nozzle, because diesel is dirty). However, this just makes it way easier. Instead of having the little nub sticking out into the fuel line, there’s what looks like just another tube.
With this mod, my tank will hold the same, if not a little more than my truck used to. Ought to be interesting to be comparing them directly on tank size. When I didn’t go on the freeways at all, I was lucky to get 300 miles to a tank with the truck. I should easily be able to double that now.
Speaking of gas mileage, the car has been awesome. I’ve been averaging around 44mpg. However, this last fillup, I didn’t do such a great job. I only got 38mpg, my lowest yet. This could be due to almost total city driving though. No matter what, though, it’s way better than my truck was in about every single way.
Well, I just filled up the Jetta today, 12 gallons of diesel. That in-and-of-itself, isn’t such great news, right? I mean, bleh, 12 gallons of stinky diesel. However, the fact that I got 522 miles on that tank of 12 gallons is reason to cheer. Yes folks, that’s right, that’s 43.5mpg. Granted, that’s still about 5 or so lower than what I should get after the engine is fully broken in, that’s about 25mpg better than the truck ever got. Plus, it has working a/c. What more could a boy ask for?
That’s right folks, I finally have my new car! Holy cow, talk about worth the wait. It’s just a smidge better than my truck: leather seats, sunroof, automatic windows, automatic door locks, a trunk, room for more than 2 people, etc. Talk about fun to drive too. When passing on 2 lane roads, I’ve got enough power in 5th to easily fly by people. I think think was definitely a good buy. I’m actually up in Ft. Wayne right now. I spent the night at my friends house, and now I’m going to finish my journey up to Detroit. I’ll probably update more about the car, and other things, from there, since I have yet to take it on the freeway (it was all highways between here and Lafayette).
Well, I still don’t have my car. The salesman gives me, usually, daily updates about it, but there’s not much he can do. Apparantly it hasn’t even arrived in the country yet. However, as soon as it does, he having someone go get it at the other dealership for him, and then we’ll do our swap. Man, I really hope it happens sometime soon, I’m so anxious to get it. Good things come to those who wait though.
Yesterday was the day I drove up to Lafayette, IN to talk to the guys up there. Unfortunately, when I got there, I was informed that they didn’t have the car yet. I was quite bummed about that, especially with the prospect that I’d have to drive back up there to get it later. While I was there though, they checked out my truck to see how much the’d be willing to offer me. They seemed much more competent about figuring out the trade in value. Here in town, the first value they gave me, they didn’t even enter the car, the guy just walked around it. Then, the second time, he drove it around the lot. Well, up at Mike Raisor Imports, they actually took it into the mechanic and did a once over on it. Of course, they found out that, yes, the cars as A/C, but in fact it doesn’t work. It really hasn’t worked that well since the car was new, but oh well. Mike Auth (the salesman I delt with), was straight up with me. He said that they’d probably be able to get $1500 for it the way it is (broken windshield, a/c not working, etc). However, since I was given a trade-in value here in town of $2330, it was obvious he didn’t want to just give me $1500. In fact, after talking with his boss, he’s giving me a trade-in of $2500. Plus, he can give me the car for less than sticker price. This is the point, I’m thinking there’s no way I can go wrong.
So, I wait a bit to talk to the money people. Actually, it was quite awhile, but that’s ok because Mike sat around and talked with me to pass the time. Since I had talked to Mike earlier and given him all my info, they had already gotten me approved at various banks. That definitely saved some time. However, when I started talking to Jaquie, she was quoting me prices starting at over $400! That was over $100 more than what I was going to pay here. Granted, that was with all the extra slapped on, but even the base price of the car, without any extras, was still quite a bit higher than what I was told here. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why either. I mean, the car was cheaper, the trade-in was for more, and the taxes were a quarter of a percent lower. Well, it turns out she was using quotes from the local banks there, and their apr was 7.9%! Obviously this was quite a bit higher than the 3.9% that I was given here in town. Needless to say, I ask her why I wasn’t given quotes with the 3.9% that VW was offering. Well, for what ever reason it required more paperwork, so she hadn’t even gone through that. Well, I was very frank with her, if she couldn’t get it to the price that the place in town was, there was no way I was going to purchase from them. Especially since by buying it out of state, I’d have to do more legwork after the purchase; I’d have to go to the DMV, and get setup and pay for the title, license, and pay the extra quarter percent of tax.
Needless to say, she wanted me to buy the car. So, she priced it out with 4.9%, apparantly the best she could do, since I wanted 72 months (that way I didn’t have to worry about high payments, but can always pay more which I plan on doing). She got the price below that of what was offered here, and then threw in some extras (like the extended warranty) to make up for the fact I have to stand in line at the DMV and pay extra then. At that point, I really couldn’t say no. The people there were way to nice, and they had beaten the price, which is what I wanted.
Unfortunately, like I said earlier, they didn’t have the car on the lot, so I couldn’t drive it home. Instead, they are going to deliver it to me. Actually, we’re going to meet half-way, because I’m such a nice guy :) With everything that I delt with here in Champaign, I’m so glad that I happened to have called up there and talked to Mike Auth. Talk about a great guy to deal with. Heck, everybody that I talked to at Mike Raisor was great. Unfortunately not all dealerships are like that, but as far as I’m concerned, they should be. I’m almost tempted to have my service work (if I ever need any), done up there. So, sometime this week, I’ll be driving a Spice Red Jetta GLS TDI. I can’t wait!
Yesterday over my lunch I went by Obrien Automotive to talk to them about the TDI. Tom (the guy that brought me on the testdrive) had actually called me and wanted to get me in and to talk to me. I figured it wasn’t a big deal, and I wanted to wheel and deal with him anyways after the original quote was given to me. I left work around 11:30 and drove home to get the paperwork that they had printed out for me on the original deal. I then get to the dealer only to find Tom busy with another customer. No big deal, how long could it take, right? Well, and hour later, he’s still with the other customer. He finally comes back and says he’s going to pass me on to another guy (Julian) to help me with this. I walk over to the other building to talk to Julian. When I get there he asks me what I want. I tell him that I want to get the price down off sticker price. He pretty much flat out tells me that it’s not going to happen. He then says, he may be able to work with my trade-in however. He drives it around and ups the trade-in value $500.
The reason that he won’t budge on the sticker price is because he doesn’t have anything comparable on the lot to trade with another dealer, so he’s going to have to get it from someplace else, and pay to have it delivered, etc. So, naturally, I ask him, “Well, with that sort of thinking, wouldn’t it just be cheaper for me to go someplace else that has what I’m looking for, or something comparable to trade?” Of course, I get some bs answer about how, no, it wouldn’t end up being cheaper. I tell him I’ll think about it, and come back to the office.
Now the great thing about the internet, is that many dealers have their stock online. Makes it easy for me to find who’s got what. So, I went to the VW Website, did a search for dealers within 200 miles of my zip code, and started looking. Turns out in Lafayette, IN there’s a dealership that has something similar to what I want. I give them a call, and find out exactly what the one they have has (the website only lists so many features). Turns out it’s not really what I want, but the guy wants all my info anyways. I give it to him, eventhough I know I shouldn’t have.
Forty-five minutes later, I get a call from him asking if there was anything else he could help me with. I tell him that the reason I called is that I’m looking for a specific car, and that I was calling around trying to find it. He asks if he could help by scanning the full midwest in one-fell-swoop. I figure, what can I lose, and tell him I’m game.
I get a call back about an hour or two later, saying that he’s found 1 in the midwest that fits what I want (spice red, black leather interior). Unfortunately it’s currently on it’s way into the country, and he’s not sure if it’s been sold or not. I told him I’d be interested in it, if he could infact beat the price that Obrien was trying to sell it to me for. He got all the info on my truck for the trade in value, and said he’d give me a call later with details.
Sure enough, I get a call later, and he’s excited to report that he should be able to beat Obrien’s price by “a bunch.” However, he wasn’t able to get in touch with anyone at the Chicago that is receiving the car. So, instead he wants to have a bit more of a commitment than me just saying I’ll be there. Plus, there’s the fact that I can’t get out there till Saturday, and he can’t garauntee that his trade car will even be available until that time. This is totally understandable since they’d be stuck with that car, and the price to get it there if I decided against it. He also said he’d get all the paperwork set for when I get there. They just wanted $100 deposit, which, if for whatever reason I then didn’t like the color or whatever, I could get back. It also turns out that I still qualify for the recent grad discount (something that never came up at OBrien). I’m not exactly sure what all it entails, but any little bit helps.
So, on Saturday I’ll be driving out to Lafayette, and hopefully returning in my new car :)