New Car!

Tomorrow, I will be buying my first official car! I found it on CarSoup a few days after my (usually) reliable '91 Cierra Oldsmobile muffler decided to crap out on me. I've had that thing for many years now, and put a lot of money into its new parts; but alas, it was time to get a real car that I could hand-pick myself.

Here she is!


She's a '01 Volkswagen Cabrio Convertible. $7,995 - 80,000 miles, manual top, automatic everything else, custom wind-screen for the back seat, new brakes and rotors, big trunk with a folding back-seat for extra space, 6-disc CD changer, heated seats, cloth upholstery, front-wheel drive, keyless entry, etc.! My dad checked the BlueBook website and it has a 4.1/5 user rating. Everyone at work says Volskwagen's are very reliable, too.

I always wanted a convertible... not sure why exactly. I used to drive home from college on summer nights, with all my windows rolled down, music blasting... it was very peaceful! Anyway, my story begins with a trip to CarSoup. I have no clue about car makes and models, but I had to find something to give my mum for her to bring to her car guy to have him find me a car I'll actually like. So after questioning my friends and family, I gave her a few options. But the pull to search for convertibles wouldn't let go, so I searched for fun, still within my price range.

I filtered through many convertible options, finding about 8 that were feasible, all the while, realizing that I could potentially get a decent one for a good price. Hope was rising! Eventually, I came across this Cabrio. Instantly I just knew that I had to have this car. I checked out all the specs and description information, and the price was right in the range I wanted. It only had 80,000 miles on it, and the owner described it as EXTREMELY CLEAN. That, as you can assume, caught my attention first. :)

So on Tuesday I gave the owner a call. A man answered and I asked if he was the one selling the vehicle. He said yes, and I said I'd love to come look at it soon! Long-story-short, after talking to his wife, trying to arrange a time/place to meet with not much luck, I called Jeffery back and asked him what his work schedule was like. Immediately he asked me if I was at City Center, as he probably recognized the phone number. I said yes! He said "oh, well, I work in the Plymouth building right next door... and I drove the car into work today, so do you want to come take a look at it now?" :D !!!!! I was stunned! The car of my dreams was sitting near me the whole week, one block away! It was meant to be...

During lunchtime, I walked across the skyway and met Jeffery at his jewelry repair shop. He was a very nice older man, and he brought me down to their building's parking garage. He showed me the car and told me about ALL its great attributes, and explained the history of it, as he knew. He showed me the paperwork he had for the 80,000-mile inspection he just got, and told me all the stuff that was replaced. It was rainy that day, so we didn't take it out for a test drive. Wednesday, we both had work things going on, but this morning I had time between meetings to finally take it out and play! I came to his office and he gave me the keys and let me go drive it on my own.

I was really nervous at first and had to adjust the seat a bit, along with the mirrors before driving off. I had the top up to start, to check out the wind-resistance and noise levels. No problems there! I shot down 35W south for a bit, testing the A/C as well, then I got off on 46th Street, parked and opened her up! It was wonderful to be able to breathe in fresh air while sitting at a stop light. I just loved it, and before I even got into the car, I KNEW it was mine. It's one of those things, ya know? Like when you're apartment/house searching and you walk into a place, and you just get that feeling... you just know.

So tomorrow is the official day! I'm so giddy with excitement... especially considering the shitty 6 weeks I've had. So tomorrow after work, I drive home with my NEW car!!! I'll have to clean out my old one tonight and move it out of my garage space. So, if anyone needs a ride anywhere, CALL ME! :D

Here's some extra pics!