04' GTI 1.8T vs. 11' Tiguan SE 4Motion

While I am meticulous about maintenance it’s no mystery that I haven’t had the best of luck the last few years with my car. After having a series of issues thanks to a bad mechanic that lead to a very costly repair I have been on the fence about keeping my car. On a recent routine trip to a new awesome mechanic it was brought to my attention that there were a few areas of concern. 5 things were looming and would need to be addressed in the up-coming months. Those were a bubble in one of my tires, worn & loose strut mounts, a worn catalytic converter, brakes on all four wheels, and some rust starting to show on the front left fender.

After a quick calculation and calling around for prices I had a decision to make, invest $2500 to make my car whole again or evaluate replacement options. According to KBB, Edmunds, and NADA my car was worth somewhere between $2000 and $4000 so investing another $2500 didn’t make a lot of sense.

Having decided that I would replace my car I wrote a list of the pro’s and con’s with my current vehicle. Pro’s: Fast, fun, sporty, easy to drive, fuel efficient. Con’s: low to the ground, small cabin space, 2-doors, no sunroof, 2-wheel drive. These are just a few examples of what I listed. This allowed me to decide that on my new car there were a few must haves. I wanted a larger 4-wheel drive vehicle that would maintain a decent MPG but would allow me more cabin space. I wanted it to have 4 doors and come with a sunroof.

Having loved the feel of my car I evaluated getting a new version of the GTI but I just felt the cost was too high for a car that lacked a few things that were important to me. VW wasn’t letting me walk quite yet thou. They had an alternative that seemed to meet all my needs. That perfect fit is the VW Tiguan.

Not ready to spend a ton of money on a new vehicle I put my retired father to work locating the perfect used Tiguan. He found a possible option in Quincy, MA just a few miles from where I had bought my current car. Along with my parents we made the hour long trip only to be disappointed that this dealer had misrepresented the vehicle. He claimed it had a clear car fax and that it had never been in an accident but the obvious indicators that it has not only been in an accident but a bad one dashed any hope that it would be the next car for me.

Since we had driven all that way I suggested stopping by the local dealer and seeing what they might have. Not much I would learn and the sales guy was definitely you’re typical snake oil salesman. He showed me one 2011 Tiguan S and went through a pretty impressive walk around of the car showcasing its construction and safety before we headed inside to talk numbers. We went back and forth about 4 times before it was obvious that a deal wasn’t going to happen.

After leaving there we started the long ride home and alone the way stopped at 2 more locations. What I learned was that the Tiguan S wasn’t going to be the car for me. I wanted a Tiguan SE 4-Motion. The price difference was minimal to upgrade to the full awd option and most of the SE models come with a full panoramic sun roof.

2011 VW Tiguan SE 4Motion

At the last dealership I found the perfect car. A Certified 2011 Midnight Blue Tiguan SE 4Motion with Navigation and the Panoramic Sunroof. Of course with all perfect options the price was less than perfect. I was hopeful however that a deal could be made. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be and we left. After a few days I got a call to see if I had any question or if I had given their offer and thought. I was honest with the sales guy that we were 2k away from where I wanted to be and if he would meet in the middle we could make the deal happen.

Unable to make any promises he took my offer to the bosses and when he called back he was able to come $500 bucks closer but would repair a few things that I had pointed out with the car that needed to be done and throw in a few extra’s. Given that those repairs/extras were well over the remaining $500 difference I agreed and left him a deposit.

Today I picked up the car. I will need to return in a few day’s for my registration and an inspection but I couldn’t be happier to have closed the deal and gotten the car I wanted. My parents were equally as please to see me in a larger and safer vehicle.

Lemon's, Lime's & Orange's

I had been thinking about getting a lemon tree for a while but never bought one because I was concerned that for the roughly $150 bucks was a lot to pay for a decent sized one online and also they are shipping concerns during the winter months that it might not make it. Since it was the late fall that I was thinking about it I opted to pass and forgot all about it.

While in Orlando checking out a gift shop I noticed that they were selling small lemon, lime and orange trees. There were very small for the $7 bucks each I decided I would pick up one of each and see how they would do. It took some effort to get them home in once piece without crushing them but they made it unscathed.

I planted them per their instructions and made sure to use soil specifically designed for citrus trees. I will keep you updated on how it goes and if I can manage to pollinate them myself and get them to bare fruit.

Orlando Vacation: Day 6 - Ripley's Believe It or Not!

We decided to check out Robert Leroy Ripley’s collection of the strange and unusual on a whim since it was a rainy day and what else did we have to do. Even before entering we noticed that the building/odditorium, as they call it, looked like it was falling into a sinkhole with its significant lean.  Its a cool way to draw attention to the building and its contents. Its particularly fitting since there have been a number of sink hole issues in Florida lately.

After paying our admission we made our way through he turnstiles where we found Wall-E one of my favorite animated characters. I couldn’t resist taking my picture with this garbage collecting hero of the 2008 Disney/Pixar movie. This guy isn't a mock up from the movie but a very cool depiction by a talented artist.

Once in the exhibit hall we found ourselves first looking at a hologram of Robert Ripley sitting behind his original desk where he produced a series of drawings for his newspaper column. In addition to being a cartoon illustrator he was known for collecting all kinds of weird, unusual, and rare items from all around the globe. We learned that Ripley first displayed some of his collection to the public in 1933 at Chicago’s World Fair. Over 2 million people visited that first exhibition and with its success he led a cross country exhibit before the first permanent Odditorium opened in Saint Augustine Florida. Today the collection is vast and is spread between 32 such museums/odditoriums around the world.

This particular odditorium open since 1992 has a collection of 600 exhibits in 16 themed galleries housed in 10,000 square feet of showroom.

Some of the notable or interesting items we saw included a variety of Africa artifacts such as a necklace made from dog’s teeth which was a form of currency in New Guinea. Other unusual African items included the African skin mask made with skin flayed from slaves which according to legend allowed surviving relatives to inherit the virtues of the person whom it resembled. There is also a selection of skulls that have been intricately carved and serve as “war trophies.” Some of my favorite items are the shrunken heads made by the Jivaro Indians of Ecuador who would shrink the heads of their killed enemy’s as war trophies.

In addition to the more primitive African curiosities they also had more modern examples of collectibles such as a pair of signed panties from Madonna. They also have a significant collection of taxidermy of unusual and deformed animals like the two headed calf and mike the chicken from Fruita who survived decapitation for 18 months.

 

Some of the most unusual items are from darker medieval times in history. Many of these items were tools to punish people like the shame brank to humiliate a person or the confessional used to extort confessions from people using sharp spikes. They seemed to have a little of everything from this period all meant to torture or kill.

 

They also have a collection of less odd items more of the curiosities then the weird.  Some of my favorites were the miniature items some made from gum wrappers and others just so small that you can barely tell what they are without a magnifying glass. Imagine playing cards with a miniature deck or trying to eat using these mini spoons made of gold. One of the more impressive items is the Old King Cole book. It is the smallest printed book in the world and there was only a total of 85 printed in Scotland.

They also had a collection of oversized things such as the enormous Goodyear tire which was so big I got my picture taken inside it. Then there was the lifesize model of Mr Wadlow who stood almost 9 feet tall. He was also known as the Alton Giant. He is the tallest person in history and stood at an incredible height of 8’11.1”. He died at the age of 22 from an infection.

More highlights include a 25-foot mural of Jimi Hendrix made from over 8,500 playing cards and the model shark jaw with teeth from a Megladon.

 

Nearing the end we bumped into some of the world’s most unique people and visitors from Tussaud’s collection of wax statues like the lizard man and the Mexican Vampire woman. The final part is the vertigo tunnel just before the gift shop. It’s a challenge just to keep your balance in this tunnel.