This is a week late but it’s a long post. I was sick all of today and am taking the time it gives me to write this up.
As the week came to a close, we finally traded in my aging, steadfast, Intrepid and instead picked up a 2002 VW Jetta GLX. I’ve got to say that I have gotten to really like the car more and more since then. It was low mileage, and as a certified used car had even more room on its warranty, giving it more warranty coverage left than many new cars, including one Pontiac Sunfire I had owned. Like the Sunfire, it’s fairly small, so it’s far more convenient for zipping in and out of downtown parking spaces.
What I appreciate most is the fanatical level of attention to detail that the engineers at VW have displayed, such that I’m far happier with this car than my wife’s Mercedes. This is to date the only car I’d seen where setting the cruise control engages it with imperceptible smoothness. The controls are all well placed, with the same precision that the car displays in its steering and handling.
I like it.
So we broke the car in by taking it down to the Daytona area to help my mom get settled in at her new apartment. This of course was done on the weekend of the Pepsi 400, so, a few accidents (including one where a SUV had done at least 1 and 1/4 rolls), and a few too many hours later, we spent a grueling weekend unpacking boxes, throwing out dross, and getting stuff hung/organized/you name it. We headed back starting at 10PM on Sunday, picking up slurpees at the last 7-11 we came across on the way out of central Florida, before entering the barren wasteland without these oases of light and icy goodness.
Getting back at 4AM we passed right out and woke up in time to go to a friends for a celebratory 4th lunch, and picked up some ice cream and fireworks on the way home. That night we made a few shells and roman candles go “boom.”
Then we went to bed.