Friends

Goodbye Bug, Hello WRX!

Our 2002 Turbo Beetle (aka Naranja) has been giving us significant maintenance issues as of late. The check engine light has been on constantly for the last 6 months. The car looses power sporadically. The car lost all of its coolant, randomly. When the 'battery' died, it looked a lot more like the car fried its brain and we had to have it towed. The car was on its third instrument cluster and second automatic window motor. The stereo wouldn't work for a couple of days after a hard rain. Random plastic pieces on the interior fell off. Not stuff that should be happening with 45k miles on it. (If you ever plan on buying WV, make sure it was made in Germany, not Mexico (the first digit of the VIN must be a G).

Jean and I checked the pay off and current value on the bug and decided it was time to get rid of the bug. Since I got the scooter, I hadn't been driving the bug nearly as much and Jean needed to work to establish credit, we decided that this car would be for Jean, and not for me. Then we checked what kind of car Jean wanted and it turns out the dealer here in SLO had the exact same model Jean wanted -- that doesn't happen often! We handed them a deposit, got the bug detailed, turned off the freaking check engine light and drove to the dealer today.

We traded the bug for $110 under blue book, but got a $2250 discount on the WRX. We also had them throw in the armrest extension for free and then things looked pretty good. Overall, I'm pretty happy about this deal -- and since Jean is going to be using the car 80% of the time, she is also going to make 80% of the payments. This means that I am saving $125/month by doing this, Jean is improving her credit and we don't have a maintenance nightmare on our hands. Pretty good all around, Jean is happy, I'm happy. Yay!

And really, this car *is* Jean. Right color, right attitude -- just wait until she puts a serious subwoofer in it.

Posted by Mayhem at August 13, 2005 04:38 PM