The past 10,000 miles have flown by quickly, taking only three months! It’s hard to believe that I’m at this milestone before the car is even a year old. That should put me around the 35,000-mile mark by the car’s first birthday, which happens to be on Veteran’s Day. New accessories include a Canvasback Cargo Liner and a Rhino Rack for my Yakima ShowCase cargo box. The car’s existence is still mostly as a quiet commuter car, but I have done a bit of towing recently and even entered a VW car show. This car is doing it all!
The past three months has been somewhat routine. As mentioned above, I’ve added a few accessories. But, for the most part, I’m just enjoying the drive. I’ve become accustomed to the extra power from APR Stage 1. The car’s not boring, but the thrill is not the same. Every now and then, I’m still pleased to get a reaction from a passenger who’s surprised by the little car’s spunk. And I’m sure other drivers are a bit surprised to see anything with a trailer merge into traffic with the authority I exhibit during freeway entry. I may upgrade to Stage 2 before the 40,000-mile mark. By then, it’ll be time for spark plugs and an air filter, especially after 25,000 miles of driving with a tune. Perhaps the extra 20 hp will put a bigger smile on my face… or a sad face when my stock clutch disintegrates! 😉
I’m doing some work on my house which involves moving stuff either into storage or to the local dump. As a result, I’ve been using my trailer more than I had during its first 20,000 miles. I also supported another bicycling event by transporting over 100 gallons of water and 300 lbs of ice. More towing means more parking away from home. I try my best to park in places that allow me to use just one parking spot. Sometimes, I can back straight into said spot; other times require “stunt parking,” which is great for sharpening my backing skills. One never knows when a bit of trailer-witchcraft may be handy. 😉 I’ve shared some stunt parking photos in this post.
I attended a recent BugOut, which is a great place to see classic air-cooled Volkswagens. I hadn’t been to a VW show in ten years. So it was good to see the scene again. Simply smelling those old cars brought back memories of my own Beetle from over 30 years ago. I always show my car when I attend for a few reasons: 1) to support the event, 2) to get a great parking spot, and 3) the periodic detailed cleaning is great for the car. “Show hard or don’t show,” I always say. There were some cars in the field that were clearly there for the parking (no cleaning efforts), but 95% of the cars in the show area were there to show. I was pleasantly surprised to win 2nd place in my show category (2015+ Stock). I’m on the fence about whether I want to dive into more elaborate efforts at future shows. 🙂
In closing, the car runs great and still averages around 32 mpg. Recently, I got a message on the cluster telling me it was time to replace the battery in my remote. I got ten months of use out of it, which doesn’t seem bad when considering everything this system does. I don’t understand the drama in social media about changing this battery. This video details it quite simply. The remote accepts a CR2025 “coin cell” battery. Some have squeezed the larger CR2032 into the remote, but I’m sticking with the CR2025. Either battery is readily available at nearly any drug store. My swap was fast and easy. Moving on, I have a small rattle in the driver’s door that needs attention. I thought it could be a wire jiggling behind the door panel. But I’ve read that it could be the door seals creaking a little. I’ll investigate, lube the seal, and report later.
Almost a Year,
Scott
