or was Saturday not representative of the fleet...?
Got a call from a friend. She needed to buy a car quickly, preferably that day, or so she said. She'd done research on what used cars were available locally and just wanted a "car guy" to help test drive and spot problems for her.
Car one: base model Focus. Don't remember year. A grim little penalty box of a car. I couldn't find anything really wrong with the car other than one quarter panel had been repainted, badly - the tape line was evident inside the door jamb and the paint was already bubbled in several places. But it was loud, slow, didn't ride or handle particularly well, and was just thoroughly unappealing. Needed new tires. Asking price was $7K. I thought that was insane.
Car two: A4 chassis Jetta 1.8T. Asking price $7K - sold as we were driving up to the lot. (I figured that this would be the car she'd buy, but no chance to make that happen.)
Car three: A4 chassis Golf 2.0. Asking price $7K. Interior was not well kept, lots of the rubberized coating was peeling off of various trim bits, smelled like smoke. Car was loud and so slow that I did not feel safe driving it. Also appeared to have had a complete repaint at some point in time (overspray on brake/fuel lines under car) Had new tires, but some cheap off brand. Stalled the first time it was started, then took a long time to crank over and catch. Not real confidence inspiring.
Car four: BMW 530i, mid-90's. Didn't get to drive because private seller wouldn't answer his phone.
Car five: '01 BMW 330xi (or ix? I forget. It wasn't AWD anyway) wasn't on her list, but was available at the dealership that had the POS Golf for $7K. Gorgeous car. Asking price $8K. Couldn't find a damn thing wrong with it other than that it had 150K miles and had a little more deposits under the cam cover than I'd prefer - but it drove excellently, and felt like it had far fewer miles than it was actually showing. New Dunlop tires, suspect it has sport suspension package as it is STIFF. I did explain the higher TCO of a Bimmer to my friend, but she bought it anyway. I can't say as I disagreed with her decision, because either the Golf or the Focus were simply unacceptable vehicles in my opinion. Did I mention that I completely f**king love this car? Silver/black leather, just like all good German cars should be, fully loaded, DAMN I love the exhaust sound and that wonderful shifter. Pedal position is so wonderful that heel and toeing is cake easy, although I didn't detect any weak synchros. Loved it loved it loved it...
So here's my question - were the Golf and the Focus representative of what they are supposed to drive like? As in, when I'm going maybe 50 MPH and downshift to third and floor it (all cars tested were 5- speeds) shouldn't something happen besides the engine getting louder? I seriously think that both were slower than my old F*rd pickemup truck with the 300/E4OD. Golf definitely was. Are they really that thrashy, loud, slow, and unrefined? Or am I spoiled and overly picky from years of only driving sporty, higher-end cars (not really high- end, last two personal cars have been a Porsche 944 and before that a GTI 1.8T.)
Honestly, I never thought I'd say this, but I like my company Impala more and more because of all the cars that we test drove only the BMW didn't feel like a *downgrade* from the Impala, and I never considered the Impala to be a particularly outstanding car.
nate