A busy weekend

Daniel — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:30:22 +0000

We went up to Phillips, WI to have Thanksgiving dinner with Wanda’s relatives. On the way, we hit a deer on Hwy 10, trashing the side of our new Jetta. It was heartbreaking. After dinner, we set off for Wanda’s late parents’ house to do some remodeling. We got quite a bit done. We did a lot of painting, scraped off accoustic ceiling, installed some hardwood laminate flooring, replaced a toilet, and installed some new lights in the hallway. There’s still a lot to do, but it feels good to watch the progress.

Soon we’ll have some remodeling of our own – we’re planning on installing a dishwasher and garbage disposal in our kitchen.

Das Auto

Daniel — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:58:34 +0000

We made a rather large purchase on Thursday.Â We bought a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI “clean diesel”.Â You see, the lease is almost up on our Saturn, but we were going to wait to purchase one when we used up the miles.Â However, there is a 6-9 month waiting list in this area for the TDI.Â We were on the list, but we anticipated using up the lease’s miles in a couple of months, and we didn’t really want to be without a second vehicle for a long time (Wanda and I have chronic tardiness issues in the morning, so carpooling yields mixed results).Â We were looking at used TDIs, but you don’t save much on buying a used one because of supply issues, so we thought it would make sense to buy new (even thought we vowed never to buy a new vehicle again, we seem to keep failing that resolution).

Apparently, Van Dyn Hoven Imports had an extra one come in, and they called people on the list to see who wanted it, first come, first serve.Â It was probably a naughty purchase because we’ll have 3 vehicles for a couple of months, but at least I’ll have a car right away when I use up the Vue.Â It’s white, which we generally don’t like as a car color, but the Jetta doesn’t look too bad in white, so we pulled the trigger.

Driving it is like making sweet love.Â It’s a turbo-charged diesel with a lot of torque, so it’s pretty zippy.Â It also gets in the low 40′s for mileage on the highway.Â Satellite radio, in-dash 6-disc changer/mp3/aux input, V-Tex upholstery, seat warmers, bluetooth, moon roof, and standard smugness upgrades.Â They recommend oil changes every 10,000 miles (which I wasn’t aware of), and we get free maintenance (oil changes, etc) for 3 years.Â And for those who care, it meets Tier 2/Bin 5 emission standards.

I wish our Saturn lease was up…

We also saw the new Volkswagen CC hotness while at the dealer, which makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X.Â Too bad they don’t make a diesel version for the U.S. (yet).

Daniel M. Hendricks » jetta

A busy weekend

Das Auto