NOT For Sale

When I bought my car, brand new, the salesman said to me, most people keep their new car for four years, a VW owner keeps theirs for 7 years.

Next month my car will be 10 years old. Do I want a new car? You bet your ass I do! (And I even have a one or two in mind.)

But the real question is, do I need a new car? And to that I can proudly say, no.

I drive a 2000 Volkswagen Golf, with 167,000 kms on it. This is the fifth VW I have owned, and I have owned nine cars in my life, so I guess you can say, I am a "VW guy".

Recently, over the last year or so, I have been having a love/hate relationship with my current car, the 2000 Golf. I lost a front hubcap last winter due to a run in with a snow bank, and then a few months later, I lost the other front hubcap mysteriously while on my way to work. I didn't replace them and drove around all summer without my two front hubcaps. I also stopped washing my car, something that I normally do at least once a month. And then it developed an anti-freeze leak, which I choose to ignore.

Had my love affair with my Golf finally come to an end?

I decided that I needed to make a choice. Get rid of the Golf or get off my ass and start taking better care of it.

After much thought, I decided to keep my little car.

I gave it a wash, some TLC, and even sprang for four shinny new hubcaps. I took it into my mechanic up the street to get it all fixed up. The anti-freeze leak was a bitch, it took three visits and $1500, but it finally got fixed. And in the end, I'm happy with the choice I made.

A woman asked me what year my car was the other day while I was at the pumps filling up and couldn't believe my little VW was 10 years old.

This cars costs me nothing except repairs and insurance to keep on the road. This year I spent a total of $2500 on repairs and maintenance, plus insurance. Last year and the year before that, repairs and maintenance was well under $1000, plus insurance. A hell of a lot cheaper than the monthly payments of a new car, especially if you really don't need one.

My Golf may be 10 years old, but it still has a lot of life left in it. I can drive it across the country without a second thought, knowing I would not have any problems. I'll get that new car one of these days, but until then, I am going to drive my little car into the ground.

Go, go, VW, go!