PeteyBoy3K
Member
- :
- '04 Mazda3 5d, Titanium Gray
So, I had gotten my '99 VW golf under the worst of conditions: It was a first model year (the MKIV) body style, guaranteeing all sorts of cheap plastic crap to break within 3 years (and it did!). It was a car I inherited and I picked it up in 2001 with 29,900 miles in Ohio. In driving it back to Durham, NC, I had passed over the 30,000 mile barrier... and since the 60K warranty was halved by the owner transfer (at least this is what the VW dealer told me) I could no longer have the broken trunk latch and wonky temp sensor replaced under warranty.
I still loved my adopted Forest Green Golf ("Helga" was her name, "Shnookums" is how we referred to her). It had brought me a world of handling and power I never thought possible compared to my ailing '88 camry (Woogums). I performed oil changes, put lots and lots of highway miles on her (up to about 98,000 miles), bought a little green clean machine to suck out all the dirt from the tan fabric upholstry and carpeting, and armor-alled everything else.
However, when I graduated from Duke, I found myself in Atlanta with a salary and started looking around at all the shiny new happy motor vehicles I could buy myself... I think that the Golf detected it was being cheated on, because it started to fall apart at the seams. I took it in for an 70K service and to try and replace all of the things that had since busted:
1: The trunk latch was a micro-switch laden monstrosity, and somehow the switches had gotten gummed up so that the trunk could never tell it was open or closed, thus, the trunk light would only come on sometimes, and the trunk would re-lock 2 minutes after it was unlocked, regardless of how many times it had been opened or closed. This also meant that it would be insecure in a parking lot for said 2 minutes.
2: The engine temperature sensor was broken, it would read 190, or somewhere below 190
3: the CV Joint boot had to be replaced
4: there was a minor power steering leak
5: the middle rear seat belt had since jammed
6: standard maintanance (rotate, balance, change oil/filter, 4-wheel alignment)
I could only do the CV-boot, temp sensor, and standard maintenance before hitting my preset limit of "I'm only spending $1500 on this car". Thus, leaving many of the other features I loved that had since broken to be fixed in a future visit (it didn't help that the dealer messed up the door locks, at least I didn't have to pay to have them fixed)
So, I started researching such things as the mini cooper S, Mazda RX-8 and VW R32.
within 5000 miles of that service, the ignition coil started failing, causing the Golf to spit and sputter and hesitate like a cat on a plank in the ocean. Luckily, by then I had found a pair of South African mechanics that were on the way to work, who managed to do all the work for under the cost of the part VW was quoting me (part and labor for $500, for what VW was telling me was a $600 part).
by now I had started to look at more sensible compact hatchbacks, like the matrix, prius, Golf TDI, Jetta Wagon TDI.
Then, the alternator went a month after that, another $500 down the hole (for a $600 VW part, yay South African Mechanics)
Finally, I had done another trip to Raleigh, planning on the big 105,000 mile service (where the timing belt would have to be replaced and a general tune given) and I lost the car key. I had to make a round trip in a rental to get the spare because of all the security and immobilizer crap associated with the car would have made it impossible to just somehow jump it. Unfortunately, I only had one key where the remote didn't work because it went through the wash, and it would cost me $200 to get two keys with two working remotes from the dealer (since the keys are special and have to be programmed and the South African mechanics didn't have the tools for it). The security system had also gone haywire: the aformetioned trunk latch had started re-arming the security system upon locking WHILE I WAS DRIVING THE CAR... causing the alarm to go off, the engine to quit, and for me to have to pull the key out of the ignition and re-disarm it by sticking the key in the door and re-unlocking the car. (this means death since 1.5 minutes usually gave me just enough time to make it to the middle of an intersection). I started not locking the car and scheduled an appointment with the dealer the next day
So I took it in to the dealer, and the end estimate comes to $1000 again. $200 for the keys, $180 for the diagnostics on the security system, and $600 for the new security module. I got back to the dealer, paid them $180 for the diagnostics. I had decided to get rid of this car... it was not making it to 105,000 on my dollar, since it was costing me more than a new car payment to keep it running. In fact, I test drove a tornado red '04 Golf TDI GLS before I picked up my little green gobliny golf.
It was strange, seeing all the places where VW had fixed Gripes I had with the '99 golf in their '04 model. four doors, cupholders molded into the midconsole instead of in some little pop-out contraption in the dash. Power everything.... and now much more efficient. Alas, it was still divey in tight turns and the new deisel was much jerkier and prone to spasming under cruise control (there's torque issues, and then there's TDI)
I got back to work, and called a Toyota dealer to ask about the prius... 9 month wait, deposit to get on the list, nothing available to test drive, perhaps if I rent one from Enterprise for a day (at $30 a day) I'd be able to see what they were like... but they'd have a Matrix XRS available the next day. Then... On a whim... I called Mazda... I had seen a few Mazda3 5-doors and thought they were kind of neat. They would be open until 8:00, I arrived around 7:00
I was seduced by a titanium gray mazda3 with leather seats and the moonroof/6-CD that I test drove. It was smoother, handled better, and had a bigger engine than the 2.0 Golf (with the same efficiency). It also treated the 5th door like a... 5th door. Unlocking and re-locking with the rest of the locks on the car. I was also a sucker for steering wheel buttons and the little orange LED's in the dash that lit up every time I hit audio control buttons. So, that same night, after I had spent weeks and weeks going through all the possible cars and fantasized about a weeklong circuit trying to test drive everything... I signed up to finance the Mazda3 that I didn't even realize was missing ABS, Side Air bags and all that jazz (not that it matters, I just kinda wasn't expecting to drive a car lacking ABS in 2004). I had bought another first-model-year car and had now financed it for 5 years with an extended warranty that only lasts 4 (an incentive to pay it off sooner if I ever heard one)
I'm kinda waiting for the remorse to hit, to feel dumb for just going into "new... car... NOW" mode and then ending up with Lina (pet name "ookums"). I worry that something will break and make me feel dumb for being so hasty, that I'll be driving up mountains and have to downshift into fourth and wonder whatever possessed me to buy another japanese car with iffy low-end torque. I ponder that I'll get t-boned or have to slam brakes on an icy day and get hurt because I didn't pay attention because the ABS and side-pillows that the Golf had.
But then I realize, I have a shiny new car devoid of all the safety crap that I never really ended up using in the first place (and now don't have to pay for). I now hope that someone will spill soda on the seat and all I'll have to do is take a tissue out of the storage compartement and just wipe it up! I hope that people will bring in bottles so that I can show them the bottle holders in the door. I hope that I drive on a hill and not only will it hold speed, but it will accelerate beyond someone who /couldn't/ hold speed. I still giggle at how the audio system appreciatively blinks when I hit a button and plan to get the tape deck and temp-sensing mirror upon future visits.
More than anything I'd say this all ties into my own special (eccentric, strange, weird) way of doing things... plan and plan and plan for something that doesn't happen, and then find I was able to manage just fine when something I didn't plan (and usually more catastrophic than I dreamed) occurs.
That, and it really is a lot easier to clean leather and alloy wheels :-D
Thanks for reading this far... Wish me luck with Lina! Any advice/comments are appreciated
I still loved my adopted Forest Green Golf ("Helga" was her name, "Shnookums" is how we referred to her). It had brought me a world of handling and power I never thought possible compared to my ailing '88 camry (Woogums). I performed oil changes, put lots and lots of highway miles on her (up to about 98,000 miles), bought a little green clean machine to suck out all the dirt from the tan fabric upholstry and carpeting, and armor-alled everything else.
However, when I graduated from Duke, I found myself in Atlanta with a salary and started looking around at all the shiny new happy motor vehicles I could buy myself... I think that the Golf detected it was being cheated on, because it started to fall apart at the seams. I took it in for an 70K service and to try and replace all of the things that had since busted:
1: The trunk latch was a micro-switch laden monstrosity, and somehow the switches had gotten gummed up so that the trunk could never tell it was open or closed, thus, the trunk light would only come on sometimes, and the trunk would re-lock 2 minutes after it was unlocked, regardless of how many times it had been opened or closed. This also meant that it would be insecure in a parking lot for said 2 minutes.
2: The engine temperature sensor was broken, it would read 190, or somewhere below 190
3: the CV Joint boot had to be replaced
4: there was a minor power steering leak
5: the middle rear seat belt had since jammed
6: standard maintanance (rotate, balance, change oil/filter, 4-wheel alignment)
I could only do the CV-boot, temp sensor, and standard maintenance before hitting my preset limit of "I'm only spending $1500 on this car". Thus, leaving many of the other features I loved that had since broken to be fixed in a future visit (it didn't help that the dealer messed up the door locks, at least I didn't have to pay to have them fixed)
So, I started researching such things as the mini cooper S, Mazda RX-8 and VW R32.
within 5000 miles of that service, the ignition coil started failing, causing the Golf to spit and sputter and hesitate like a cat on a plank in the ocean. Luckily, by then I had found a pair of South African mechanics that were on the way to work, who managed to do all the work for under the cost of the part VW was quoting me (part and labor for $500, for what VW was telling me was a $600 part).
by now I had started to look at more sensible compact hatchbacks, like the matrix, prius, Golf TDI, Jetta Wagon TDI.
Then, the alternator went a month after that, another $500 down the hole (for a $600 VW part, yay South African Mechanics)
Finally, I had done another trip to Raleigh, planning on the big 105,000 mile service (where the timing belt would have to be replaced and a general tune given) and I lost the car key. I had to make a round trip in a rental to get the spare because of all the security and immobilizer crap associated with the car would have made it impossible to just somehow jump it. Unfortunately, I only had one key where the remote didn't work because it went through the wash, and it would cost me $200 to get two keys with two working remotes from the dealer (since the keys are special and have to be programmed and the South African mechanics didn't have the tools for it). The security system had also gone haywire: the aformetioned trunk latch had started re-arming the security system upon locking WHILE I WAS DRIVING THE CAR... causing the alarm to go off, the engine to quit, and for me to have to pull the key out of the ignition and re-disarm it by sticking the key in the door and re-unlocking the car. (this means death since 1.5 minutes usually gave me just enough time to make it to the middle of an intersection). I started not locking the car and scheduled an appointment with the dealer the next day
So I took it in to the dealer, and the end estimate comes to $1000 again. $200 for the keys, $180 for the diagnostics on the security system, and $600 for the new security module. I got back to the dealer, paid them $180 for the diagnostics. I had decided to get rid of this car... it was not making it to 105,000 on my dollar, since it was costing me more than a new car payment to keep it running. In fact, I test drove a tornado red '04 Golf TDI GLS before I picked up my little green gobliny golf.
It was strange, seeing all the places where VW had fixed Gripes I had with the '99 golf in their '04 model. four doors, cupholders molded into the midconsole instead of in some little pop-out contraption in the dash. Power everything.... and now much more efficient. Alas, it was still divey in tight turns and the new deisel was much jerkier and prone to spasming under cruise control (there's torque issues, and then there's TDI)
I got back to work, and called a Toyota dealer to ask about the prius... 9 month wait, deposit to get on the list, nothing available to test drive, perhaps if I rent one from Enterprise for a day (at $30 a day) I'd be able to see what they were like... but they'd have a Matrix XRS available the next day. Then... On a whim... I called Mazda... I had seen a few Mazda3 5-doors and thought they were kind of neat. They would be open until 8:00, I arrived around 7:00
I was seduced by a titanium gray mazda3 with leather seats and the moonroof/6-CD that I test drove. It was smoother, handled better, and had a bigger engine than the 2.0 Golf (with the same efficiency). It also treated the 5th door like a... 5th door. Unlocking and re-locking with the rest of the locks on the car. I was also a sucker for steering wheel buttons and the little orange LED's in the dash that lit up every time I hit audio control buttons. So, that same night, after I had spent weeks and weeks going through all the possible cars and fantasized about a weeklong circuit trying to test drive everything... I signed up to finance the Mazda3 that I didn't even realize was missing ABS, Side Air bags and all that jazz (not that it matters, I just kinda wasn't expecting to drive a car lacking ABS in 2004). I had bought another first-model-year car and had now financed it for 5 years with an extended warranty that only lasts 4 (an incentive to pay it off sooner if I ever heard one)
I'm kinda waiting for the remorse to hit, to feel dumb for just going into "new... car... NOW" mode and then ending up with Lina (pet name "ookums"). I worry that something will break and make me feel dumb for being so hasty, that I'll be driving up mountains and have to downshift into fourth and wonder whatever possessed me to buy another japanese car with iffy low-end torque. I ponder that I'll get t-boned or have to slam brakes on an icy day and get hurt because I didn't pay attention because the ABS and side-pillows that the Golf had.
But then I realize, I have a shiny new car devoid of all the safety crap that I never really ended up using in the first place (and now don't have to pay for). I now hope that someone will spill soda on the seat and all I'll have to do is take a tissue out of the storage compartement and just wipe it up! I hope that people will bring in bottles so that I can show them the bottle holders in the door. I hope that I drive on a hill and not only will it hold speed, but it will accelerate beyond someone who /couldn't/ hold speed. I still giggle at how the audio system appreciatively blinks when I hit a button and plan to get the tape deck and temp-sensing mirror upon future visits.
More than anything I'd say this all ties into my own special (eccentric, strange, weird) way of doing things... plan and plan and plan for something that doesn't happen, and then find I was able to manage just fine when something I didn't plan (and usually more catastrophic than I dreamed) occurs.
That, and it really is a lot easier to clean leather and alloy wheels :-D
Thanks for reading this far... Wish me luck with Lina! Any advice/comments are appreciated
