We love the 2008 VW R32 we got back in August. And one of the things we like the most is the nav system. I’ve read reviews that say it’s not the best navigation system, but it does the job pretty well. The most important thing is we never argue about directions…  I was raised in a family where the answer to “are we there yet” was to pass you a map and tell you to find where we were, where we were going and calculate the distance and divide by the speed. Dan has improved his navigation skills considerably since we first met, but before the nav system there were still times I’d have to either grab the map and look at it while I was driving, or pull over to look at the map… Now with “Mildred” (the name we’ve given our nav system) - none of that is necessary.

You’d think the nav system is completely wonderful, but I’m on a trip right now in Chicago and I gotta say there are times I love the nav system, and times I wish I had a map on me. What you lose with navigation systems is a sense of place and location. With a map you get a big picture and see things in relation to each other. Coming into a new city I feel a bit lost using a nav system to get me around. Sure it does a good job, but I don’t really have a clue where I am, and I miss that. I want to understand the city and the nav system doesn’t do that for me. I tried Google Maps and that helps a little, but for really getting and understanding a big map with lots of information density will beat Google Maps any day.

Earlier this year I upgraded my Valentine One radar detector - and I’m so glad I did… We went up to Toronto for the holidays and every cop I came across was using Ka band radar, which older radar detectors don’t detect (they typically just do X band and K band). It’s something I had noticed once back in September or October around the Yonkers/New York City border, but we came across nearly a dozen New York State cops on this trip and in every case it was Ka band radar. Curiously, in some cases there were two bogeys meaning the radar detector is sending out two radar signals, and in one case there was laser on top of that. Sothe NY cops appear to be using a really good radar gun with all the bells and whistles…

In other words, if you’re traveling through New York and don’t have a radar detector that detects Ka band radar - you’re dead meat if you like to drive as fast as I do… And I should mention our Valentine One did really well - I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a good radar detector.

Having recently gotten our new 2008 R32 it’s time to sell our 2000 GTI. It’s been a good car, and if we hadn’t liked the car we wouldn’t be getting the R32.

It is pretty much loaded:

• VR6 (6 cylinder) engine
• Leather seats
• Climate control (set a temperature and forget it)
• Auto dimming rear view mirror
• Rain sensing wipers
• Front and side airbags
• Alloy wheels
• Premium sound with CD player

It has just over 67,000 miles, has a 5 speed manual transmision, is in great mechanical condition, and has NO RATTLES!

In addition it has mud flaps (to keep the car cleaner), a trailer hitch (you can tow up to 1,500 lbs), and a VW roof rack.

Asking Price: $7,900 (priced below blue book value for a quick sale)

Contact me at jay@slicksurface.com or 917/447-2572 if you’re interested…

Update: The car has been sold. There was actually a bidding war for the car (nearly everyone who saw it wanted it), and it wound up going for more than the asking price.

Dan and I (and the dogs) went to Toronto this past weekend. The craziness started with the Canadian border guard who didn’t seem to know what a temporary tag was and thought we were driving an unlicensed car. Then a few miles down the road this kid in the back seat of a Lexus SUV had his window rolled down and was pointing and smiling at our car (guess he knew what it was).

But the funniest thing was taking it to the local dealer - Yorkdale VW. When we were there over Christmas we saw a black, low-profile roof rack on a GTI which looked a lot better than the standard, chunky thing that VW sells. The dealer here in the US didn’t know how to get one so I figured the VW dealer in Toronto could get one…

So I get this guy in the parts department who tries to help me, but he’s junior and looking at all the wrong pages in the catalogs. So he goes and gets help from the more senior guy who’s on the phone. He asks what type of car I have and I say an ‘08 R32. “You have a 2008 R32 here?”, “Yeah…” I say… “I’m creaming my pants right now…” he responds…

He comes out to the car to take a look, and while we’re walking through the shop he tells a couple guys there’s an ‘08 R32 outside… When we get out there there’s already someone looking at the car (probably a sales guy or manager). The parts guy and I take a quick look at the car and then head back inside. We look through the computer to see if we can find the low profile roof rack, but can’t find one - even for an ‘07 GTI.

On my way back out to the car I see a bunch of guys looking at it. The manager says, “I could make a $100 if you stayed here another 15 minutes - just in charging the guys to look at the car.” Later I think it’s more like he’s losing a $100 since they’re not working…

I get out the car and there’s at least 8 guys standing around looking at it. One of them asks me to pop the hood, I do… They ask how much horsepower it has - one guy thought it had 280 - I say 250. They talk about how VW could fit a 3.6 liter engine in there and make an incredibly fast car. I didn’t correct them (the 3.6 liter won’t fit in there). The funny part was how respectful of the car they were - it was like they were afraid to touch it. I wouldn’t have cared - I even left it unlocked when I went back in with the parts guy figuring some of them would want to look inside, but no one did…

I barely had enough time to get home and change for Dan’s grandmother’s funeral, so I excused myself, closed the hood and left… Too bad I didn’t have more time. I really wanted to get some of their dealer plates and a pic of it in front of their showroom so I could do fake “look, you can get R32s in Canada” post… But I didn’t have the time…

Took possession of our .:R32 last night. The session with our sales guy went really well, after some “drama” last week when the car came in and we went to look at it.

I think the drama last week was due to a number of factors. First, it was the last day of the month and they wanted to close deals. It seemed like every sales guy (and their dogs) were at the dealership making it a bit of zoo. Second, there was just simple miscommunication (things were on the wrong line of the invoice, etc.) Then there were a few jerks around there, and unfortunately our sales guy shared an office with one. And lastly, they mishandled the financing. Their first offer was for 7.5x% through VW Credit, then they went down to 6.89% through some bank whose name I didn’t recognize (we wound up getting 6.49% through our bank - Chase).

But he made up for it last night. I’m thinking he must have read my rant on VWVortex ’cause we went into another office (away from the rude guy), and he was pretty meticulous. It also helped that the place was quieter and calmer…

We’re doing a road trip to Toronto this weekend, so we’ll have pictures of the car early next week…

Knowing I was just going to stick it in the parking garage for a few days, we drove around last night. I took it pretty easy since I was just getting used to the car and it’s still in it’s break in period - not to mention that I’m a bit petrified of potholes with the 18″ rims…

All in all, it’s a pretty slick car. Sounds great, seems really solid (critics would say it feels heavy). The few times I pushed it a little it felt really surefooted. However, while I’d read someone who said it felt go-cart-like, it didn’t. The Mini Cooper S felt like a go-cart, the R32 feels too big and substantial for that… Then again the Mini was too much work to drive and I used to like to get back into the GTI and feel real power and more pampering… The R32 is like our old GTI, only on steroids…