I'm part of your little secret club society now...

I've been lurking on and off in this group for six months, even having asked a couple questions which were met with thoughtful replies. Anyhow, I FINALLY got my driver's license straightened out (note: if you're gay, and date a loser of your same approximate age and physical description for 6 months just before making a cross country move, don't ever allow them access to your social security number... 10 years later you'll discover "you" were charged with multiple moving violations that "you" failed to appear in court for)... well, in addition to the one you actually got in your actual state of residence recently that brought the whole tangled mess to light. Anyhow. I digress.

That's finally straightened out, and this past Thursday, I bought my Cabrio... I doubt anyone will remember the threads I started a few months back when I was first getting my bearings, but I'd kind of hoped to find a "great bargain" on a 99 1/2 GL. Well, in that I'm a student (the world's oldest living sophomore), and this is a "Two Year Car" to use until my insurance rates return to normal, the criteria were all very flexible with the exception of it needing to buyable-paid-in-full budgetwise. At one point I'd come across a 97 with low miles, I thought that was the one, and the input from this group help me avoid a mistake (I didn't understand the cancer that "a touch of rust" is, and you guys saved me).

Drum roll...

I found a 1995, just a couple hours from here. One owner, clean and complete records, a pristine VW (Cabrio) for VW (New Beetle) trade-in, with a little more than 70k miles on it. I even get allege that "Oh, I wanted a GERMAN built one, not a Mexico model" all car-guy like!

I feel like a 17 year old to be this excited about my "new" car. Well, WHEN I was 17, this is the car I wanted so very badly, so maybe that's it? LOL.

I take delivery on it in a couple weeks. :-)

My point and I do have one... Anyone else have a 95 here? I've got a couple of questions about the controls and instruments. I know the general lay out, but I don't have a clear photo of the center dash. And my focus when I was looking so diligently was on the 99 1/2's.

If I've deciphered it correctly, the hazard blinker control is on the steering column, right? So the buttons adjacent to the gearshift will be, left to right, AC; Re-circulation on/off; some option I don't have; another option I don't have; rear defrost; door locks; LR Window lift; RR Window lift. Or do I have something misplaced?

Also, does anyone know if the 95 stock stereo cassette player was wired for an optional CD changer? 95's a gray area year for my recollection. :-)

--S. John

I believe that VWs of that vintage have the wiring in place for a CD changer even if the radio doesn't have the CD controls on it. Nice car, hard to keep clean though (I've had several black cars that looked great when clean but were a major PITA to keep clean). Good luck.

Hey thanks. Something else, regarding radios. I seem to remember that the Cabriolets and Rabbits had radios that worked independent of the ignition and keys (I guess so you could pop the top at the beach and popular while providing music). Is that still the case?

Yeah, I know the hell that black is to keep sparkly. I'd originally wanted blue with beige-- which evolved into black with beige. That eventually became "any color but red".

Anyhow, our other car is a 2001 Dodge Ram Standard Cab truck (my partner's got this delusion he needs a truck and that perhaps he's all butch and blue collar because of it-- he's a 5'7" Network Administrator; he's nearly an Sheryl Crowe song personified). IT'S the same color combination the VW is. Anyhow we've ALSO got two black/white/grey/tan Siberian Huskies... 2 and 3 years old. I long ago gave up on the notion that anything in our possession would more than "casually tidy." I mean, not filthy or anything... just it's that a requisite layer of puppy hair has become an "acceptable" part of clean.

Orbit:

And actually, my children (the dogs, if anyone needs it spelled out) are the reason that tipped the scale for deciding NOT to buy one of the 5 zillion used Miatas that seem to be everywhere here. Well, actually they were my excuse to dismiss the notion when it came up.

I feel so pretty:

At least mine's not white.

--S. John

All VWs to '91 could do this. I know for '92 in the Golfs, GTIs, and Jettas the radio was key activated only. However on my '00 Eurovan the OEM radio could be played w/o the key for up to one hour after the key was removed...it went off but you could just turn it on again and it'd stay on for 1 hour.

In the A4 (1999 and up) style Golf's and Jetta's you can turn on the radio with the key out... but if you pull the key while the radio is on, it will shut off (just hit the power button and it will be back on).

I think there is a battery rundown timer of ~1 hour for interior lights and radio (I leave interior lights on all the time and I've never drained the battery... they are off when I get into the car... and i've fallen asleep in the car with the radio on, and it's been off when I woke up)

Don't think VW would have this feature then get rid of it for the A3 body style...

My Mexican built '92 Jetta Carat (A2) doesn't need the ignition on to play the radio.

Got my Cabrio yesterday... it's nearly perfect. I mean really, a 95 with just 74k on it and in immaculate condition, this car was treated gently. It's pristine mechanical shape too. It could easily pass for 2 or 3 years old. Anyhow, I'm not sure how mine fits into the scheme of things, but it seem my radio doesn't require the ignition be on, but it requires the key be in the hole.

One missing feature of my new-to-me-car: Owner's Manual (not surprising considering there's not a glove box, LOL). Anyhow, I can't seem to figure out if my fog lights are working or not-- actually, I'm wondering if I've even got fog lights. There's lights on the front of the car that could be fog lights, and the headlight knob also pulls outward, and that little icon LOOKS like a headlight behind wavy lines (the international symbol for both fog and unpleasant odors)... so they should, like, come on right?

Also, without an owner's manual, I'm genuinely stumped as to what that narrow detent toggle button between the rear window lift switches is for... window lock? doesn't seem to affect that (or anything else really). I kind of picture a light bulb back in Germany going on and off every time I press it... with a short little guy named Hans scratching his head.

Oh, I'm not sure if I read it here or on a site somewhere, but someone mentioned "getting waved at." It happened this afternoon. I was on my last leg home going through what I could only call the "quaint, boutique shopping district" for Fayetteville, NC. Some soccer mom and her kid in a Blue Touareg were just delighted at my very juxtaposition to them. That or they though I was someone else. Still, it was kind of nice.

--S. John

the key be in the hole.

Unlike most cars where you turn the key to the first position and it's "accessory" and 2nd position is "ignition on", VWs are made so that the presence of the key in the hole triggers the accessory position and the only position past that is ignition on.

considering there's not a glove box, LOL).

Gloveboxes were added halfway through 1996. Can be retrofitted.

actually, I'm wondering if I've even got fog lights. There's lights on the front of the car that could be fog lights, and the headlight knob also pulls outward, and that little icon LOOKS like a headlight behind wavy lines (the international symbol for both fog and unpleasant odors)... so they should, like, come on right?

That is the correct description of a foglamp switch. Your fogs are inboard of the signal lamps and are small round lamps instet in a more rectangular housing. They will probably work only with the low beams on.

narrow detent toggle button between the rear window lift switches is for... window lock? doesn't seem to affect that (or anything else really).

Is there an icon on it?

Yeah, it's a picture of a window, actually. In fact, here's a picture I swiped off e-bay a week ago:

That's not of my car, BTW, but it's identical to my control cluster (is of another 95). Anyhow, that skinny button between the two back window controller switches to the right.

And actually, as long as I've got that picture on display, what's the serial port looking thing? My dash has it too, but I'm not missing the snap on cover, like the one on the photo.

--S. John

I still haven't had my coffee yet.

Make that "parallel port" looking thing. Anyhow what gives? I have

1995 HP Laser Jet, can I plug that into it? Is that how you print the Owner's Manual :-)

--S. John

That's the OBDII connector. You can hook it to a reader and do a lot of checking with that port!

That's probably not a button. It's just a label for between the other two actual P/W buttons since the P/W buttons themselves have arrows but not a window icon.

It's the connector for diagnostic equipment for the engine. You'd connect a vag-com or similar device to it to read fault codes from the ECU.

Well, I've got the fog light control (complete with a little light on the dash to say they're on), but the lenses on the from of the car are gray plastic on the inside, and my life-partner-Al says there's no wiring harness (let alone bulbs, LOL).

Anyhow, I've also noticed I'm evidently missing fuse in the engine... there's a little clear plastic housing, and it's got seats for 2 fuses yet only one is there. I'm popping by the dealer this afternoon to ask about that, but meanwhile, take a look:

Ideas?

--S. John

Well, it's definitely a spring-loaded toggle button with distinct depressed and not-depressed positions. Actually with the fog-light discovery, I'm more curious to know what it WOULD do if I had whatever option it was.

--S. John

That button is used to lock/unlock the rear window controls of the 4 door golfs. Since cabrios dosesn't have that rear controls, it's a blank button....

T.-

"S John M-M" escribió en el mensaje news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Is it a power-window lock? Try toggling it and see if the window would still roll up or down...

Interesting.

Ok on your headlamp switch, do you have an off and headlamps-on position only (so only 2 positions) or do you have off-parking lamps-headlamps on (3 positions)?

An unmolested US or Canadian A3 car wiith DRLs (all Canadian A3s and all US A3s from '95 have DRLs) came with the 2-position switch. If yours is a

3-positiion switch, the previous owner replaced it with a European-specification switch and also chose the one with the foglamp option while he/she was at it.

Dunno on that one.

Three positions. Four if you count "out" to engage the nonexistent fog lights. I'll snap a picture this weekend.

Well, having lived with the car for a week, and from the detail for the carfax file, I'm confident the car's never been wrecked. And if it was, it's been put back together perfectly. I mean, I've NEVER had a car that drove so evenly and pointed itself so willingly perfectly straight... I had a 93 Isuzu Pup (WAY BACK, new) that never stayed aligned... then a 95 Mustang Convertible (new as well) that just bounced and twisted if you THOUGHT about anything other that a glass smooth road. Anyhow, I can't imagine why someone would start changing the interior controls.

I'm enormously happy with this car. It could easily be a 2 year old. It was money very well spent.

S. John

Were the rear power window switches for the 4 door golf THERE? I thought that was kind of a Cabrio idiosyncrasy. Anyhow, I kind of figured it must be something along those lines.

Thanks.

--S. John