Bear with me (or skip ahead) for a preamble this week on something I typically only do once every 5-7 years.
The need: Over the course of time, cars grow old and inevitably need replacement. Such was the time was for my 2005 Volvo V70. I'm a buy and hold kind of guy. Trusty and faithful for the past eight years, she was approaching 200,000 miles, and repairs were becoming more frequent and more expensive, with a few outstanding now that I was just trying to live with until disposition.
Teens and cars: Meanwhile, Mark called me to discuss his idea of buying his friend's used Passat for $2,000. I told him I was coincidentally buying a new car and that if he wanted, he could have my Volvo for free, as is, but already registered, inspected, and insured. Thanks, but no thanks, Dad; I'm going to buy the Passat. OK. I kind of understood. What teen wants a wagon? And what teen in 2018 drives manual transmission? As a teen myself, I remembered driving my Mom's 1975 Ford LTD massive V8 gas-guzzling wagon, and my Dad's 1978 Dodge Aspen wagon with fake wood panels, which was only marginally better because it had a 4-on-the-floor. Neither car was exactly a chick magnet, and I couldn't wait to save up enough money to buy my own car (a 1974 Fiat Spider two-door 4-speed convertible sports car for the grand sum of $1,700).
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My Dad's Aspen wagon on right in 1979
after a minor accident on icy roads.
Note the vintage VT State Police car on left! |
The dreaded car salesmen: Now the difficult task of choosing a vehicle replacement. This was already my second consecutive V70, the model which I've been driving for 18+ years, as the first one I bought when Matthew was just a baby. They don't make the V70 anymore, and hadn't made it in a stick shift since '07 anyway. After much research (how did we ever do this before the 'net?) and a test drive, I decided on a brand new AWD wagon and began my haggling with the dealer. Man, I really hate dealing with them.
- "Are you going to put down a deposit now?" - No, I need to discuss it with my wife first.
- "No, you don't. You can decide right now." - Seriously??
- "If you don't put a deposit down now, you risk that the car won't be here in the morning." - Do I look like I just fell off the turnip truck? (Well, yeah, I probably do, but that's not the point.)
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| Ugh. My trust and confidence level was low. |
Bait and switch: Negotiated a price with the dealer, and was ready to go. Or so I thought. In going over the particulars the next day via e-mail, the price was suddenly $700+ higher (which was actually better than the first dealer trying to sell me a car $3,500 over his advertised Internet price). Pointed out the dealer's $700+ error, and was told that was after adding in the fees. What fees?! Outraged, I asked for a line item written breakdown, which they provided.
- So what is this $200 "VIN etching" fee? Well, that's a service we provide to our customers to protect them. Yeah, but I never asked for that, and most major consumer advocacy groups advise to steer clear of this, as it's a rip-off that is unnecessary and pure profit for the dealer, so take that off. Sorry, Jeff, we already performed that.
- And what is this $175 fee? Oh, we call that the "Bend over and grab your ankles fee". You get the gist.
Reality check: Well, that was just the pause that I needed. About the same time, we got estimates in for repairing the dry rot on the exterior of the house, and the damage and expenditure is many times what we had originally thought. We're going to have the entire house stripped of its siding and trim, the underlying rotted wood replaced, new flashing, house resided, and painted. That does not come cheap. Perhaps it's time for a little fiscal restraint. Otherwise, this would likely mean either a home equity loan for the house repairs or car payments for the brand new car. Do I really want debt payments at my age?
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| Rot |
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| Broken joints |
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and split clapboards pretty pervasive throughout the house.
Time for some needed repairs. |
Compromises: Jana was very supportive of whatever decision I landed on, but also helpful in getting "the full picture" (a few grand in state sales tax, higher insurance premiums, etc). After a sleepless night, I contacted the dealer and told him I wouldn't be going through with the new car purchase after all. :( Meanwhile, Mark contacted me and said he learned there's no way his friend's car would pass inspection, and after reviewing the associated extra costs to get it fixed, he decided he would take my used Volvo wagon after all. Hmm, interesting. It sounds like the "kid" (he'll be 20 next month) for whom money usually burns a hole in his pocket just maybe is developing some fiscal responsibility of his own.
Resolution: Spent many hours on the Internet on sites like cars.com and cargurus.com and various linked dealer sites. After refining the results, going through Carfax reports, dealer reviews, Kelly's Blue Book valuations, and visiting and test driving a few cars that met my criteria, I made an offer on a used '08 Audi A3 wagon with low annual miles. In the end, I didn't get the new car or AWD that I was looking for, and got a car a little smaller than my target, but I did get a car in good shape, fun to drive, didn't go into debt, and saved a boatload of moolah. All's well that ends well.
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| The "new" (to me) wheels. |
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More of a hatchback than a wagon?
The 2.0L Turbo is peppy! Was quickly up to 90mph without realizing it. |
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| Lots of glass in this car. |
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| Very clean car for 10 years old. |
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Getting harder to find, but was able to find and keep up
my string of all my cars being manual transmission. So much more fun to drive!
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While more than 80% of vehicles in Europe and Japan are sold
with manual transmission, reportedly only 5% of US are sold with manual,
and only 18% of Americans even know how to drive manual!
(US News & World Report, 2016)
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This will be my first ever car with 6 forward gears. I keep forgetting
to shift into 6th on the highway. |
... and on to the running portion of the blog:
Monday: 0
Rest day. Picked up Mark from the airport for a short visit.
Tuesday: 0
Lost much of the day picking up the car from MA.
Wednesday: 6
Had to go to Wakefield DMV to register the car, so went early and ran from South County Y. Mix of roads and bike path through Wakefield and PeaceDale. Average pace 6:45, peppy for me as of late.
Mark's friend flew up from FL and at his request, we took them out to dinner at Margaritas.
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Last night of the Volvo at home.
Is it weird to become attached to a car?
In the end, the old man grew soft and used part of the money "saved"
from not buying a new car to put 2 new tires on for Mark,
plus replaced the steering rack and timing belt. Hope it lasts a while for him.
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Also hope Mark appreciates it. He said he's not giving it back to me,
and I told him he doesn't have to as it's registered in my name,
so if I want it back I'll just call the police and report it stolen. Nice, eh? :) |
Thursday: 11 (double)
AM: 6 miles on local roads, before getting in the Volvo for possibly my last ride in the car. Mark drove to New Haven, I got him through NYC, and then he drove for an hour plus in NJ. He actually drove much smoother with the manual than I had expected. I have no doubt through forced repetition he'll be an ace in short time.
PM: 5 miles in Edison, NJ. Mark dropped me off at a local Y, and continued his trek down to Tampa. Ran on local roads and parks before returning to the Y, showering, and taking an Uber to Metropark station for an Amtrak ride back to Westerly.
Friday: 7
Burlingame campground trails. Had the day off, no time pressures, so it should have been an easy run. For some reason, was struggling from the get-go. Worn down from yesterday's double? Just generally out of shape? Probably a little of both. Felt terrible throughout the run.
Saturday: 9
Arcadia Management Area. Solo run without a phone. In Arcadia, for me, I feel that's a recipe for getting hopelessly lost in the state's largest recreational area at 14,000+ acres. Mitigated that risk by staying on marked trails: JB Hudson trail up to Breakheart Pond and back, and then Mt Tom Trail OAB. In sharp contrast to yesterday, I felt like I could've run another 5 miles or so easy, and was really enjoying it out there.
Sunday: 8
Hadn't seen Tom since his father's service two weeks ago, and was so glad he accepted my invite to get out for a run. Having lost my own father when I was in my 30s, I felt like I could relate to some of the emotions. Aside from the obvious topic, we had a good catch-up on his Boston Marathon and various other topics. Before I knew it, we had finished a fairly peppy beach/road run and were back at The Bakery for scones and coffee.
Weekly mileage: 41
Weekly synopsis: Having missed two consecutive days at the start of the week, I was pleasantly surprised to hit 40 miles. Very unusual for me that I only ran 1/8 of my weekly mileage on trails, but that was primarily due to a combination of time constraints and being without a car. Moderately happy with 40, but will be happier to get this up around 50. It will come.
Weekly highlight: While I enjoyed my solo run in Arcadia, the best run was catching up with a good friend at Charlestown Beach on Sunday.
