Old Man's Car?

[oldE]

This week I sold the Golf Cabriolet I had been fixing up as well as the '07 Mercedes which was needing work. My guy had a Golf with a manual transmission I wanted to check out and, while I was at it, I also tried a Jetta Highline with the same drivetrain as my wife's Golf wagon, the 1.8 turbo mated to a 6 speed automatic. To my surprise, after driving both cars back to back over some interesting roads, I bought the Jetta. I had really anticipated bringing home the car with the manual transmission, but realized the automatic was better than I was. I also tell myself the Jetta has more room and will probably get a bit better mileage.
I guess my needs have overwhelmed my ego. Why not?

Best
Les

[epbrown]

Maybe it's a Chicago thing, but the Jetta has always been a "female recent college-grad" car, not an old man's car.

[ted]

try a GTI DSG.

[unclebilly]

Nice looking car Les! Enjoy.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by epbrown

Maybe it's a Chicago thing, but the Jetta has always been a "female recent college-grad" car, not an old man's car.

That was true of Mrs. Noah. (Well, before she was Mrs. Noah.)

[Skytrooper]

I had a 96 Jetta VR6, definitely NOT an old mans car !

[oldE]

I just did 745 km (about 460 miles) in the Jetta yesterday to see family and was pleased with the car. It has the comfort of the C280 and moves like the Golf. The 17 inch wheels seemed to help through the corners, but I think the rear shocks were overwhelmed on some of the frost heaved sections of our Nova Scotia secondary roads. Drove it like I was in a hurry and it used 6.5 liters/ 100 km (somewhere over 30 mpg). It threw a code when I dropped 3 gears to overtake another car on one stretch, so I'll have to find out what that was about. Other than that I am happy. I left home at 7:30 in the morning and got back at 7:40 the same day and felt like the car had looked after me.
I had driven the base Jetta with the 1.4 l turbo a few years ago and was saddened by how the model had been de-contented. Putting the Golf bits back into the car makes a world of difference.
One oddity: the odometer is accurate given I have driven this route hundreds of times in the past 48 years, but the speedometer is reading high by about 8%, measured against two of those "Your speed is..." units. Both the needle and the digital reading. WTF?

Old man's car is a good label, as I'll be 69 next month.
Best
Les

[stevej37]

I've only owned one Jetta and it was a black 1980 two-door with a 5 speed.

I only remember two things about it....it was a very reliable car and the seating position was very high and comfortable.

[Baz]

NICE! Great score, Les. Just a little early for your birthday, but that's OK.

[masraum]

Happy early Birthday, Les!

Glad it was a comfy cruiser.

When I was a teen, I had a 1965 Chevy Impala. I used to think "when I'm older, I want 2. I want one with the 425hp 396 and a 4speed, and I want one with a 327 and an auto." Even then, I saw that there might be times when you'd just want to cruise without having to worry about shifting. I've pretty much always had manual trans cars (except a few years here and there when I was really poor and took what I could get) and can't see a time when I wouldn't have a manual trans car. But I definitely see the appeal of an auto under certain circumstances.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Baz

NICE! Great score, Les. Just a little early for your birthday, but that's OK.

Yep, as you get older, the actual day, and the surprise of gifts gets less and less important.

[oldE]

Thanks guys! I seldom get a surprise that I like. (Especially a check engine light) I did a bit of poking around and it seems: a/ the engine oil level is high. Not enough to trigger a warning light, but too high on the dipstick. b/ at high rpm, the pcv valve may not be able to do its job if the oil level is too high, resulting in a misfire. My current plan is to extract the excess oil and have the code reset. The car worked well on the was home, but I was careful not to exceed 3000 rpm.
I haven't seen any sign of coolant or gasoline getting into the crankcase, so am guessing it was a "mechanic's error".

Best
Les

[masraum]

Originally Posted by oldE

Thanks guys! I seldom get a surprise that I like. (Especially a check engine light) I did a bit of poking around and it seems: a/ the engine oil level is high. Not enough to trigger a warning light, but too high on the dipstick. b/ at high rpm, the pcv valve may not be able to do its job if the oil level is too high, resulting in a misfire. My current plan is to extract the excess oil and have the code reset. The car worked well on the was home, but I was careful not to exceed 3000 rpm.
I haven't seen any sign of coolant or gasoline getting into the crankcase, so am guessing it was a "mechanic's error".

Best
Les

Hopefully, it's as simple as that.

[oldE]

Even simpler. Turns out when I dropped those gears and revved to 6000, the waste gate controller was being asked to do something it hadn't done in some time. Freeing it up was a simple job. I can assure you I will not allow the waste gate controller to lie idle while I have the car. .

Something else which struck my curiosity is the relative position of the gas pedal in the Jetta and my wife's Golf. My comfort level is the Jetta is greater. I can go for hours without aggravating my sciatica. My limit in the Golf is about an hour. The cars are both 2016s. The seats feel about the same in shape and I have my driving position dialed in in both cars. The big difference seems to be the angle of the gas pedal. The usual position of the gas pedal in the Jetta finds it in almost exactly the same plane as the dead pedal so my feet are at a comfortable position. In the Golf, under the same conditions, the gas pedal seems to be about 10 degrees closer to vertical, resulting in an awkward angle for my foot. I never noticed this until I drove the cars back to back. I'm going to have to see if there is a way to adjust that. Either that or I will just have to drive a lot faster in the Golf.
"Honest Officer, I was just trying to relieve my sciatica!" I'm willing to bet the cop hadn't heard that one before.

Best
Les

[jyl]

I will always have one car with a stickshift, but I no longer want manual in my daily drivers. Traffic sux.

[pwd72s]

Today, the manual transmission serves well as an anti theft device. No real advantage otherwise...

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Today, the manual transmission serves well as an anti theft device. No real advantage otherwise...

Not true. For me it is MORE FUN to drive.

[pwd72s]

Shoulda posted "No real performance advantage...

[Tobra]

I dated some pretty hot women with Jettas

Not sure how this fact is relevant, other than to belie the old man car thing.

[WPOZZZ]

An old man's car That would be a Camry or a Lexus ES.