SF: Selling my car and moving on.. weep

unjester

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Location
San Francisco
TDI
2000 Golf
Hi all,

Just wanted to give thanks to everyone who has helped me here online and offline for the last nine years. I came to TDIclub never having touched a thing on a car before. I bought some wrenches... I had never wrenched on anything - I had to learn what metric sockets were and deep sockets and star wrenches and all that. I read a lot of threads. I modded and fixed my car from 70-something-thousand miles to 185k miles now. I converted to B100 on day 1 and ran successfully the whole time. I own lots of tools and spare parts now.

I know how all kinds of random things in the TDI work. The learning has been so fun, the empowerment of knowing I can fix things on the vehicle, the problem solving, the camaraderie, the community. All the get togethers, from changing injectors and being the last one out of the GTG because my car wouldn't start, to the GTG when my suspension was completely in pieces as the sun went down and I ended up driving home late that night.

The pinnacle was the day I was in Russ' driveway, drilling a hole into a brand-new never-been-installed VNT17 (for an EGT) with 4 people all standing around looking really nervous and giving contradicting advice. Each quoting a different thread off TDIClub, none having done this same maneuver themselves before. The advantage of not having done any of this before is that I didn't know it was hard or how you could mess it up. I've never drilled before, I've never tapped a hole, I've got shavings in my turbo, I don't even know if this $1200 piece of gear works before I started modifying it, and somebody asks, "have you done this before?" It was the greatest moment.. I thought, not only have I never done this particular hole drilling before, I have never done ANY OF THIS before, I'm just following directions I read on the internet, with parts I got on the internet, and tools that were recommended on the internet, working on a car I bought on the internet without ever having seen or driven one like it.

Eight years of that worked out just fine. The TDI is terrific, I love driving it, everybody who drives it loves driving it, it is smooth and wonderful as a DD, it gets 38-48MPG depending on how I drive, it beats all manner of sports cars at stoplights and on winding roads, and it smells like french fries if you're behind me when I'm dumping recycled oil on your windshield before my boost builds up sufficiently to burn it all. (And yes the turbo installed and worked just fine and has ever since.)

All of this does take time, and with a new job I have zero time anymore. The pace of learning has also slowed in the last couple years as the car has been problem-free and I don't want to mod anymore because I really like the way it drives and so does everybody else who drives it. So I'm selling my car, moving on to something boring that somebody else will fix when it breaks, and ending a chapter of life with TDI and TDIClub.

Thank you!!
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
Wow. Not only will we miss you, but i have to say how well thought and written that was. What will you be getting instead?
 

romad

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
The pace of learning has also slowed in the last couple years as the car has been problem-free and I don't want to mod anymore because I really like the way it drives and so does everybody else who drives it.
Why sell it if it isn't giving you any problems? If you want someone else to do any work on it, there is always Justin and Matt.
 

unjester

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Location
San Francisco
TDI
2000 Golf
It's an old car - 14 years old. Something will give out, even if it's just a lightbulb or a switch or a relay or a belt or whatever. Right now I just have no time whatsoever as the job is all-consuming, not even time to take something to the shop. Making an appointment at a shop, bringing car there, responding to their phone calls (often takes me a few days to return people's calls, which shops don't like), picking car up, it all takes quite a bit of time - it adds up to a few hours even just for a maintenance visit. And with a TDI you can't trust almost anyone to do even maintenance correctly so you have to hound over them.

I unfortunately have to join the masses of people who need their car to just work (which of course means it will have far less personality and be not customized at all.) It's an opportunity for someone else who wants to play with this TDI to get the same enjoyment I've been having.
 

oldpoopie

Vendor
Joined
May 14, 2001
Location
Portland Oregon
TDI
2001 golf gl, 2006 jetta, 1981 ALH swapped rabbit pickup, 1998 beetle
Hmm. I wonder how long it will take for you to realize your mistake.... Lol
 
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romad

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
It's an old car - 14 years old. Something will give out, even if it's just a lightbulb or a switch or a relay or a belt or whatever. Right now I just have no time whatsoever as the job is all-consuming, not even time to take something to the shop. Making an appointment at a shop, bringing car there, responding to their phone calls (often takes me a few days to return people's calls, which shops don't like), picking car up, it all takes quite a bit of time - it adds up to a few hours even just for a maintenance visit. And with a TDI you can't trust almost anyone to do even maintenance correctly so you have to hound over them.

I unfortunately have to join the masses of people who need their car to just work (which of course means it will have far less personality and be not customized at all.) It's an opportunity for someone else who wants to play with this TDI to get the same enjoyment I've been having.
So you won't be doing or having any maintenance done on your new car? The same time drawbacks you cite above apply to ALL vehicles. :confused:

However, I see you live in Frisco, so you have a plethora of public transit available; you won't need a car. For vacations you can just rent one. ;)
 

apaterso

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Location
Livermore, CA
TDI
Jetta 2009
It's an old car - 14 years old. Something will give out, even if it's just a lightbulb or a switch or a relay or a belt or whatever. Right now I just have no time whatsoever as the job is all-consuming, not even time to take something to the shop. Making an appointment at a shop, bringing car there, responding to their phone calls (often takes me a few days to return people's calls, which shops don't like), picking car up, it all takes quite a bit of time - it adds up to a few hours even just for a maintenance visit. And with a TDI you can't trust almost anyone to do even maintenance correctly so you have to hound over them.

I unfortunately have to join the masses of people who need their car to just work (which of course means it will have far less personality and be not customized at all.) It's an opportunity for someone else who wants to play with this TDI to get the same enjoyment I've been having.

I don't know, drive more worry less. A paid for 14 year old car outweighs the purchase of a new car. Such is life..
 

jetta-girl

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2006
Location
WA
TDI
06 Jetta TDI
I unfortunately have to join the masses of people who need their car to just work (which of course means it will have far less personality and be not customized at all.) It's an opportunity for someone else who wants to play with this TDI to get the same enjoyment I've been having.
Whaddya mean a work car means it will have "less personality and be not customized at all"?! :D
My car is my only car that I use for a long commute everyday... and I still have the race tune in it that I drag raced on!
Only thing worse than a long commute is a long and boring commute! ;)

Best wishes for the next chapter of your life.
 

romad

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 27, 2011
Location
Prescott, AZ
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS Wagon "Cranberry"
LOL! Being a Native Californian, I've been calling it that all my life!
 

NFSTDI

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Location
Sunny California :)
TDI
'98 Jetta
My car just works and it's older than yours. Every now and then something break. I have it fixed and keep driving. I go ten thousand miles between oil changes. Good luck finding anything more reliable that requires less maintenance. I have been down the new vehicle road. Having been there, and done that, I will take my bought and paid for TDI over any new car money can buy...well almost any new car. If I had the cash for a Fisker, or even a Telsa S...

Isaac, you will be missed. I fear you will miss your TDI and the community of folks you have embraced more then you realize. Know that you will always be welcome, no matter what you choose to drive. Hell, I'll prolly show up on my Ducati one day...
 

Baumeister

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Location
Auburn, CA
TDI
'15 Beetle Convertible, '03 New Beetle TDI 5sp, '94 Audi Cabriolet(AFN swap in progress)
I think I was one of the 4 standing around in Russ' driveway while you did that, that sounds familiar and I remember being quite impressed.

Every few years my wife and I confer if we want something else and the answer is there's nothing else that fills that need. I think we're at the sweet spot regarding tuning/reliability.
What's stuck in my head now is to add to our TDI stable via a fresh ALH swap...into either something larger/more family friendly....or a convertible, either a Mk3 Cabrio or another 2003 New Beetle.
 
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