I get that same silly arguement from people who comment about my cars. My perspeective: Last Friday I was in traffic and in front of me was a beautiful 2004 Porsche Cayenne. But to the right of that was another Porsche Cayenne of the same color. In front of that was a 2005 Honda Accord. And to the left of that was another identical 2005 Honda Accord. Most people here in Southern California change cars like clothes. Everyone buys new and no one is unique. They are all the same. And the unfortunate truth is that MANY Americans live only a few paychecks away from bankruptcy.
The necessity to drive a new car and its financial burden does not compel me. I don't really care for one nor do I want the payments, registration, and insurance requirements. The benefits of owning all of my humble vehicles is: 1. I can do very extensive repairs and modifications which I would never attempt on a new vehicle. This is my current extensive rennovation: I would never undertake such a task of this depth if it was my only car. Nor would I do this if I had a new car. I just wouldn't have the money to buy this kind of equipment for a new car. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2114087 2. The other advantage which lingers in my mind is that when I lost my job a few years back, I did not worry about repossession from the finance company. Car payments are a burden I just don't need. It is psychologically liberating. My neighbors kids all drive new cars. One 23 year old girl drives a $45k SUV while the other 20 year old drives a 2005 Pontiac which she bought for $25k on an annual income of $18k a year. My $0.02 is that I place my money into my retirement and investments. I drive the cars I want with the modifications I really enjoy. There are many people with substantial incomes who can truly afford new cars every year. I'm not one of them. I could easily qualify for a new car but I don't need one. Finally, I drive the cars that I own because there is some undescribable visceral pleasure in driving a car that only has 135hp, handles, and brakes well but weighs 2200lbs. My long winded $0.02 -Les -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Andrew White Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 7:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [a2-16v-list] overheating solved (and a little more..) Swapped out the old radiator for a new one, as folks had suggested (thanks for all the emails!). The old radiator was seriously about 30 pounds. It was full of gunk, and was the original radiator. My guess is that it had been a little clogged for a while (the car used to always overheat after sitting in traffic for a long time), and the extra gunk from the leaking headgasket as well as things getting shuffled around when the new headgasket was installed really plugged it up. With the new radiator, the car runs about 20-30 degrees cooler- it stays right at about 200 on the oil temp gauge all of the time, with the water gauge around halfway. Doesn't really budge much at all, and I tried running with max A/C in stop-and-go traffic with the outside air temp around 95, with no problems. Made a huge difference. Having the Passat dual-fan must help as well! The other thing- I was talking with a few friends of mine this weekend, and one was saying "why would you want a car that you have to fix?" He buys a new car every few years, and although he is in debt up to his eyeballs, never really has to fix his cars, since they don't get old enough to break down. Now, my 16v has never stranded me- I do preventative maintenance so that it doesn't happen, but I do have to do work on it every so often. I'm sure that if I got a new car, I wouldn't have to worry about all of the little things that I have to do with my 16v, but man, it's just so much more fun to drive! My dad got a 2003 Saab, with the turbo motor (forget the model), and I drove it this weekend. Super quiet, lots of bells and whistles, supposedly has about 200HP. Was also super boring! No road feel, motor felt weak, not a lot of fun. This is now my 4th Jetta GLI (I've had an 84, 87, 89, and now a 92), and my first 16v. I've had it about 5 years, and still love to walk out and drive it, which I'm not sure how many folks would say about a new car! Plus- it's got history. I got it out of a barn in Vermont, with 67K original miles. That's a much better story than saying that I picked it up at the dealer! Anyways, just my .02. With the new radiator, the car runs amazingly. I'm going to put a GIAC chip that I had lying around in this week, just out of curiosity. I had taken it out, since it seemed like it made the car knock pretty bad. See how it works now. Andrew ........................................................................ PGP public key available from: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x82D3E4A0 26 + 6 = 1 _______________________________________________ a2-16v-list mailing list [email protected] http://mail.a2-16v.com/mailman/listinfo/a2-16v-list For list archives, see listinfo link above.
