avi’s posterous

I finally picked up my car this weekend!

Went pretty smoothly. Negotiating at a dealer is never fun, but these guys didn't jerk me around or push paint sealant or other junk on me.

It's been great so far. A totally awesome car. :-)

Now I just have to figure out how to parallel park it safely...

- Avi

- Avi

This week has not been kind to my poor old Passat.

On Sunday, the windshield developed a crack from a combo of a new rock chip and the hot East Bay sun.

I had this fixed with a $100 out of pocket charge and the rest paid by insurance.

Yesterday, the rear window plopped down and wouldn't close. The window regulator failed. Ugh.

I took it to the dealer to get fixed since I just wanted it done. After finding out the cost of just the part, I commented to the service dude that at $250 each, that means that when I bought the car new 8 years ago, roughly 5-6% of the total MSRP was made up of window regulators.

He laughed and seemed surprised that I hadn't replaced one already. Sounds like it is a common problem/money maker for VW dealers.

I just want the car to hang on and not cost more money for two more months until my new car arrives, but more on that later.

I guess if the car fails completely in the next couple of months, I can recoup 20% of the blue book value of the car by selling the 4 window regulators it has in it...

I've been thinking about buying a car to replace the VW Passat that I've had since 2000. It's been a great car, but my urge to move on is pretty strong now.

I am deciding between the BMW 335 Coupe, and the Audi A5.

I think I am going to go with the A5, since it really stands out, and the 335 looks just like all the other thousands of 3-series cars that are driving about.

Here are some random A5 pics to look over:

     

Click here to download:

New_car_search.zip (610 KB)

Today my Mini turned over 10000 miles.

I have driven it about 1600 miles in the last year and a half. Not too much, but I am driving it more now. It's terrific fun around town and everyone loves it.

:-)

A few pictures. Sorry for the quality, but my iPhone is a bit blurry and the angle was hard to get.

Before:

After:

Happy 4th of July!

- Avi