Hi guys! My name is Jim and I live in Roanoke. I just recently moved to the area after being hired by Walgreens as a new grad. I've been lurking and reading on this forum for a while now, and decided it's finally time to create an account.
My first car was a 2002 camry which I absolutely hated. In 2008, I upgraded to a 2005 G35 coupe. And about half a year ago, I lost my G35 in a rear end collision. Fortunately, I was not at fault and their insurance gave me 20k. After the wreck, the insurance company lent me a rental for 1 week. Within that period of time, I researched many options. At the time, my gf (now fiancee), insisted on a practical car with 4 doors suitable for a family. Coming from a coupe, I really wanted a 2 door car and to assign her Camry as a designated family car...
Nevertheless, I merged her requirements with mine. I spent my last 3 years in a small town, if you can even call it that, called Grundy. It's basically a coal mine sitting in the middle of Appalachian VA, a terrible combination of greasy pavement, windy roads, and freezing precipitation. While in the grunge, I had some bad experiences which leads me to the importance of awd in my new car. I also wanted a sporty car, preferably a hatchback, of course with 4 doors. This narrowed my choices down to MS3, WRX, Juke, GTI, and the 4 door awd Mini. Since my fiancee will be driving the car as well, I crossed off any manual cars. Sadly, I was really considering he WRX. It's a beast and comes with awd! Only downside is the cheap interior. And the Mini was out of the question, since she referred to it as ”death in a car...”
That made my choice really simple, a GTI vs a Juke. We did test drive the juke; neither of us were impressed. The crossover resembles a frog and the interior is simply too cramped. Even my fiancee, who is 5'2", did not sit comfortably in the rear. The tranny was also sluggish and lacking power in the low gears.
When I finally test drove the GTI I fell in love immediately. The DSG transmission was as smooth as butter; it offers all of the advantages of a manual car yet can be driven automatically. The fwd with XPS and ESC is as close to awd as I will get. It will definitely perform better than my G35 in poor driving conditions! The paddle shifters are also a very convenient feature that portrays a very sexy and sporty car. The interior definitely outclasses all of the other cars in consideration. The upgrade to the autobahn package future increases the cleft. I really love the black leather seats; I'm not much of a plad guy... The bixenon lights and the kessy key fob were the cherries on top. Needless to say, I ordered an autobahn edition that same day. The GTI is truly a marriage of practicality, sophistication, as well as just pure fun.
Ever since I got my GTI, I've been slowly but steadily modding my car. I actually just finished smoking my tail lights tonight. I applied 2 layers of VHT Nites-shade for a medium tint. I'd rather be safer than sorry than go with the more controversial 3 layer application. The entire mod was relatively easy and it took me 3 hours since I had to sand the tails down perfectly. Overall, I'm very pleased with the results. In the near future, I'm looking to buy a VAG-COM cable for some tweaks, and then work my way into some suspension upgrades.
This forum has really made my ownership that much more enjoyable; it's also eating a hole in my wallet lol... Now I know how it feels to have the mod bug. Nonetheless, there is an abundance of very useful information here, so thanks to everyone who has contributed!
