Vroom, vroom....

There is tons to tell you about, but if I did it all in one post, it would be obnoxiously long. So I'm going to give you updates in manageable, bite size pieces. So I may do 2 posts tonight, maybe even 3 if I'm feeling saucy. I want to do it while I have a night free. For the most part, each of my posts takes an hour or two to hone and perfect before I want the rest of you to read it, and the time simply hasn't been there to sit down and give you something of quality, rather than meaningless, half-hearted drivel. I'm hoping to do all 3 posts this evening, whilst the happy sounds of Barry Manilow play in the background (Yeah, so I love Barry Manilow. He makes me happy. Sue me. It's still WAY better than Michael Bolton.) :

This post will tackle my new car. Yes, I got a new car...and you're saying, "But Yen, you don't need a new car. Yours is so pretty." And while that is all true, I had my reasons. The original plan was to buy it after leasing it for a few years, once it depreciated a little bit. But as certain events unfolded, those reasons for trading it in began to gain strength. They are as follows:

1. My 2005 Jetta had over 50K miles on it...which means the warranty expired. I know, I drive a ridiculous amount. But that doesn't happen any more...$4 for a gallon of gas has curtailed any previous joyriding. Grrrrr.
2. the accident in January. Once a car has been in an accident and has had major work done, you run the risk of additional problems down the road (no pun intended). This made me not want to buy out my lease anymore, and I was already WAY over the miles on my lease agreement, which would have sucked financially if I tried to turn it in at the end of the lease.
3. The MADDENING buzz in the left dash that no VW mechanic could ever hear when I brought the car in for service. It was very soft, yet annoying...like chinese water torture for my ears.
4. The battery incident. Not 400 miles before I hit the warranty expiring threshold of 50K miles, my car decided to leave me stranded. Twice. Turned out there was a bad connector cable to the battery, and that cable (along with the battery) were replaced for free. It's literally the only problem I've had with my car, but was this a warning of more post-warranty issues to come? Perhaps.
5. I'm poor. I'm sick of always saying, "Sorry, I can't come with you guys. I'm broke." So lately I've been looking into ways that I can cut costs. One thought was to get a car where I was paying a little less each month. I had a higher end Jetta, and if I was driving a base model, I knew my monthly payment would be lower.

With these 5 things in mind, Mother's Day(also the last day before I turned 30), I headed down to the VW dealership, test drove a couple cars, and talked numbers with the sales people, which is just my favorite thing to do. I hate haggling. I hate negotiating. HATE IT. I'm no good at it. Especially at car dealerships. I feel like because I'm a female on a car lot, that I'm wearing an invisible sign that says "Please. Eff my bank account into oblivion." We went back and forth a couple times, but finally we were able to come to an agreement. I opted for another Jetta (this one is dark grey), which as it's now my 3rd Jetta, it makes me utterly predictable. I love the car...it's the perfect size, I love how it drives, and they're just so pretty! (Sorry, girl moment) And I know if I was really trying to cut costs that I would go out and buy a Kia or something. But the idea of driving a Kia depresses the hell out of me after becoming a german car snob (Kia owners, my apologies). But face it, you can't vacation in Palm Springs (Kia) when you've been living in Hawaii(the VW).

Anyway, it's too dark right now to take a picture of my actual car, but this is what my birthday present to myself looks like. Of course if you had an imagination, you could just picture my old car and imagine it was grey instead of blue.The best part of this car buying experience had nothing to do with the actual car. I also got a dude out of the deal! Woo hoo! Let's give this adorable VW employee the fake name of "Pete" to protect his identity. We already went out once, and all I will say for now is that it was GREAT. No more details for now...I'm terrified that saying any more will jinx it. I like this one.