Bastian's P5 on a college budget

I officially have a parking permit, which is pretty sweet. Drove the car up to school yesterday and did some mountaineering today.
 
im hoping to make my way up to burlington soon for a brew tour with some friends. i know you wont be going out on that with us, but ill still hit you up for a little impromptu laser blue p5 meet :D
 
yeah sadly I won't be 21 for another year and a half... really sucks being in a town with such awesome bars and not being able to go to them. I can definitely recommend some really great places for lunch and dinner up here if you're looking for that sort of thing at some point. But if you're up here feel free to drop me a line.
 
So all four of my struts are toast. Replaced the front ones yesterday, but I physically do not possess the money for the rear struts... on top of that, the front stabilizer links are gone and so are the rear bushings. I've sunk $600 into the car in the past two months and it wants at least $400 more. All of this is disregarding the rust.

This summer, I'll probably be doing some number crunching and see about financing a newer car.

As the Germans would say, Scheie.
 
Poo poo. I know I need new struts too... (Friend asked me today if my suspension is supposed to be this stiff)

Are you going with OEM? I'm thinking of staying stock. If I go to sell, having it as stock as possible is the best option.
 
Are you going with OEM? I'm thinking of staying stock. If I go to sell, having it as stock as possible is the best option.

I ended up going with OEM struts up front. I have yet to do the back ones. I don't want to do anything crazy, seeing as it is very foreseeable that I will be selling this car in a few months.
 
A 2010 VW Sportwagen 5 speed MT is looking mighty tempting....

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The new one does look much nicer I will agree but the headlights just have a shape to them that looks odd and I don't like how they meet with the upper grill.

I will admit every good condition VW I have driven were all impressive cars. I used to transport cars for a living so I have driven a lot of cars and the VWs were always nice in their class.
 
So we got 2' of snow here in the VT last night. The day started like this:



Moved on to this:



And ended like this:



Notice the difference in rear ride height in the last two pictures...
New rear struts!! (2thumbs)

Super stoked, the ride is so supple now. It had been jarring, terrible, and unpredictable on the highway for so long. I think I can love this car yet.
 
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Glad you like the ride again :) I really envy that blue... It's not to say I'm not a fan of the silver, but your paint looks quite nice :)

Please let there be no more snow in MI... You guys got a crap load. We had 6" the other day but it's melted now.
 
So I haven't posted on here in quite a while, mainly because (sadly) I sold the P5 at the beginning of the summer. The mileage was getting high, the body was getting rusty, the cat was dead, and it was too small for my needs these days.

I've replaced it with a 2000 VW Passat GLX wagon, which I LOVE. First of all, it was babied by its previous owner and it shows. There's not a single scratch on the thing, which I find impressive for being nearly 15 years old. The interior is top-notch for the time and in great condition as well. It has the more powerful 190 hp 2.8L V6 engine, and it's much more comfortable than the P5. The little bit of extra room is great - no more bumping elbows with your front seat passenger all of the time, and three people can actually physically fit in the rear sit. That's not to mention the cavernous trunk.

It does suffer from some body roll in the corners, so while it is much more pleasant on long highway drives, it isn't as fun in the twisties. But that's what I have my motorcycle for (2thumbs)

It is also lacking in the transmission department. I sold the P5 and needed to buy another car within three days for a road trip, so I didn't have time to be selective about what gearbox I got, and I'm stuck with the automatic. Some days I'm happy it's an auto, but most days I wish I still had a third pedal.

So, all in all, I'm happy I moved on from the P5, but I'm also happy that the P5 was my first car. I'll miss fooling around in the bright blue accident-magnet that it was. I'll miss always being able to find my car in a parking lot. I'll miss everyone in town recognizing who I am out of the corner of their eye. I'll miss the manual transmission and amazing cornering. I wouldn't have wanted any other car, but it was time for it to go.







 
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That sucks u sold the p5 it was actually a nice build and I used some of your ideas on my old p5. But that wagon looks clean so I can't hate on that. Good luck with new whip man
 
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