rudderless

New Ride!

Eight hours of car shopping later (and many, many thanks to our friend Rachel for watching our ladies all.day.long), we came back with this beauty!!

John and I’d been looking for a new vehicle to take to Maine. We have a Honda dealership not far from us here in Key Largo. We looked at the Element and nearly bought a CRV yesterday. It was so terribly fortuitous that the deal feel through. Just seeing what else was out there, John stumbled on the Volkswagen website and found pricing for the Jetta TDI wagons. For some reason neither of us had considered the TDI, thinking it would be out of our price range. Holy mackerel, it cost less than the CRV we almost bought! And it’s way better!!

Three cheers for Volkswagen for making a “green” vehicle we can afford. It will get over 40 mpg on the highway, approaching 50 . . . hybrid-style readings. The salesman sealed the deal for me this morning when he told me the engine’s set up for biodiesel. The cleanliness of the diesel emissions has drastically improved over the past ten years. It feels so good to be able to choose a vehicle that can carry our family, and also reflect the convictions we have about being environmentally responsible.

I love Volkswagens- my parents have owned Beetles old and new, a Bus, a station wagon, sedans. My sister learned to drive on a Jetta and has a wagon of her own now. My first car was a Jetta, “Gretchen,” which carried me across the country four times. Getting into the TDI felt like coming home in a weird way. We knew the gauges, where the windows were, how the steering wheel felt. Immediately familiar. But that sweet hum of the diesel makes it that much better.

Can you tell that we love it, just a little bit?