Zum Wohl

On Monday a new era dawned upon my motoring landscape. I signed a lease for a brand new Audi A4 2.0T Quattro with six speed manual transmission, ending 26 years of Volkswagen dynasty. One may call it a brand upgrade, a marriage of sorts into the better side of the family, so to speak.

Since its inception in 1980, the Audi Quattro concept has intrigued me. When the Audi Quattro rally cars swept the World Rally Championships in 1983 and 1984, I was drooling over every press release that came into my possession. As a car fanatic teenager set on becoming a mechanical engineer, I marvelled at the engineering simplicity and genius of the Quattro configuration. It was a car I wanted to park in my driveway one day. That day came to pass on Tuesday.

My first car was a tatty second-hand VW Golf 1100. Yes, in South Africa Volkswagen thought it fit to install the VW Polo 1100 engine into the bigger Golf I. The poor thing was undergeared and underpowered. It was like a toddler trying to make a run on legs too short for the job. It overheated easily and the clutch cable mounting would work its way through the front bulkhead with a crunch, leaving the car stranded in neutral. But it was fun to drive, willing and chuckable.

Then came an upgrade to a Golf 1.6 GL, courtesy of my benevolent, late father. Now that was a decent little car. It stayed together much better than the 1100, could cruise with relative ease across South Africa and had a beautiful, metallic burgundy paint finish.

Came my second graduation - for my Masters - and my first job enabled another upgrade. This time, my father negotiated the living daylights out of the local VW dealership to get me a decent trade-in value for the 1.6 on a new Golf II 1.8. Now that was a great car. It was fun; it has proven to be endless. It has also chewed two gearboxes - the first due to my cost cutting on a replacement clutch plate that threw a piece of metal into the gearbox at high speed on the free-way to Cape Town and the second due to my cost cutting on a replacement gearbox. Don't cut costs with maintaining German cars. The Brits have a saying: Penny wise, pound foolish.

When my father died of cancer in 1996, I bought his Jetta CLi out of the estate and partly paid for it with my Golf, which my mother still drives today. The Jetta was a decently fast and perfectly reliable sport sedan. When I left South Africa for the USA in 2001, I sold the car to one of my best student friends, who was also a house mate of mine at one point. He still owns the car.

The US greeted me with no credit record and nothing on my name on this side of the pond but my academic qualifications and a new job. Being stricken with homesickness, I had my eye on a Jetta 1.8T. VW of USA came to my rescue with their financing for foreign professionals and I drove out of the yard in a black Jetta 1.8T Automatic. Yep, moi in an automatic. The saving grace for male pride was the so-called Tiptronic - some sort of semi-manual override of the automatic gear shifting with its own mind at times. The car was a distinct upgrade to previous VW samples, but only mildly satisfying.

In 2004 the lease was up and it was time for another dream: To own a GTi. I wrote at length on that troubled relationship in previous blog entries. The car brought me moments of enjoyment interspersed with bouts of frustration. I modified the silly, original suspension set-up with mixed results. Twice I tried to terminate the lease prematurely in order to get into something more suave and satisfying. Twice I failed due to lack of equity in the car. Yet, third time lucky popped up this past Monday.

Labour Day in the USA: The day for spenders of all manners. Bargains galore, car dealers have past year inventories to clear and sales quotas to fill. Their sales teams are only half as cocky as usual- even at snotty Audi dealers. I went in determined to turn as many rubber arms as I could find. My sights were set: An Audi 4WD of some sort will become my wheels for the next number of years.

First choice did not reach the negotiating table. The desired second-hand TT was unavailable, except in exchange for silly money. I do not do silly money. Second choice, the A3 2.0T did not come in 4WD for mystical reasons beyond the grasp of normal car enthusiasts and Audi salesmen alike. Slipping to third choice, the A4 2.0T Avant Quattro with sport suspension was off the map. We went into compromise mode.

The salesman, a newbie previously from a Honda dealership, apologetically offered me an A4 2.0T Quattro bare bones edition but for a set of optional 17" rims. It was a rare sight in the US market: A car with nigh on no options. This car had no leather seats, no winter package, no navigation systems, no sunroof - thank God. No wonder it was still in stock. I wonder which salesman ordered it. He's possibly now working for Honda, selling baseline Civics.

But, stripped of my dilutions, that Audi was exactly what I wanted in the end: An Audi 2.0T with the proper Quattro 4WD and six speed manual transmission. OK, I wanted the miraculous Direct Shift Gearbox instead, but that was not available on the Quattro. Moot point. No unwanted extras that came in multiples of $500/$1000/$2000 a throw; just all the basics in the right quantities.

The rubber arm got the twist of the year and the GTi disappeared into the system at no cost to me. A handy discount on top of all that eroded somewhat under wheel and tyre insurance plus maintenance package. Remember, don't pinch on maintenance... But I still came out with a "profit" on the MSRP.

Tuesday I took delivery, on time, without issue. It was a fine moment to savour. This was the best car ever to come into my stewardship if not ownership (it is a lease car after all). The Germans have a saying: Zum Wohl!

Or as the Brits put it: Cheers!