50,000 Mile Birthday

Two years ago, I purchased the car of my dreams. A Volkswagen, GTI GLX. When I decided to make this adult purchase, I knew exactly what I wanted, and found a great deal on a used 2001 with only 36,000 miles. I bough it below Blue Book value and to boot, it came Certified Pre-Owned by VW (translation: a used car with a two year warranty).

Other than a $500 Volvo station wagon college-junker, which really doesn't count, this was my first "real car." I am well aware that there a much better cars out there, but I love my little hatchback. For the price I paid, it's a much better value than those "other" cars, and I have so much fun driving it (I actually enjoy driving this car more than my friends' fancy-schmancy BMWs).

Now, when it comes to cars, I am a total dork and get pumped by talk of horsepower, torque, cylinders and other "car speak". The mileage is fairly decent for a V6 engine (yep, this little baby packs a V6!). It's small, so I can easily fit it into tight North End parking spaces. It has 180 horsepower, which means this car has some mean power (I did the math - it comes out to about 1 horse per 11 pounds - sweeeet). And, of course, it's a standard - I wouldn't drive anything else. (Yes, I admit, it has as of late had some mechanical problems, but there issues are resolved and were covered by warranty.)

Tonight, my car became a man. It turned 50,000 miles. Happy Birthday!