blog.bharper: the blog of brandon harper

Well, not quite yet, but the plan is to go pick-up my “new” 2003 Volkswagen GTI 1.8T 5 speed on Monday. I found a 2003 model with only 8,600 miles on it, with all of the options I was looking to get. Originally I had planned to buy something a bit older than this, but the price for this particular car was really quite surprising.

I’ve been pretty OCD about researching cars in the past few months, and this car seems to be just about the right fit for what I was looking for. I was actually mostly researching for the future as I planned on maybe upgrading next summer, however I called in to see what the balance was on the Accord, and I pretty much immediately knew the pay-off vs. it’s trade-in value were pretty close together, so I started putting the plan into motion a bit early.

I wanted something quick that had room (but nothing too big), not something you see everywhere, and something slightly more luxurious than my current beater, a ‘97 Accord, without getting something pompous or very expensive. After narrowing down the candidates, cringing at sticker prices and/or resale values of most of the cars on my list, I decided I wanted a used GTI. Sure, it’s a bit Euro-trash of me to get this car, but I don’t care what you people think, I like the car.
I went to test drive it today during a pretty good downpour and was very impressed. I’ve driven them before, but this was the first time I finally got to drive one alone without a salesperson hawking over me and grilling me with questions to pretend he was actually interested in me / trying to gauge how much money I make.

Originally I had cringed about the GTI’s curb weight when I first started looking at them (3,800 lbs for a small FWD car? Ouch!), but I definitely found out why it’s so heavy-it’s a very solidly built car. I think the doors on the GTI vs. the bumper on the Accord would be an interesting head-to-head battle, though I don’t plan on trying it out.

Despite it’s heft, it’s a pretty quick little car. I was really impressed with the 1.8T-it will flat-out get up and go! The interesting thing is that it can easily be bumped up another dependable 30-40 horsepower just by chipping it. Eeps!

Another fear of mine is how it would handle in the weather-a co-worker had mentioned that they suck in the snow. Honestly, I don’t think I believe that. They are quite heavy, front-wheel drive, and it felt very solid and stable in the heavy rain today.

My only remaining fears about the car would have to do with potential electrical problems which seem to be common lately in the Audi’s and VW’s. Luckily there is still a lot of warranty left for this car, and I’m considering getting the extended warranty as well so it will be warrantied for the entire length of my loan. I’m still flip-flopping about that decision, though.

Anyhow, perhaps I’ll post some more impressions once I’ve driven it for a couple of weeks, tried the 9 steps to cook rice, and learned about all of those cool nuances German cars have.