Driving Enjoyment, It Doesn’t Have To Be A Volkswagen.
Well, it was only a matter of time before we came to Fahrvergnügen. Do you remember the ad campaign from the 90s? You know,
Its what makes a car, a Volkswagen!
I didn’t work for VW during that ad launch, but I remember it pretty well. I know that people were kinda nuts about saying it. Since the weather is getting awesome, I thought that I would take a little step back and share my “Driving Enjoyment” story.
Growing up I was not really a kid that was into cars. I mean, I loved the poster of the Ferrari Testarossa, or the Lamborghini Countach as much as any kid, but that was about it. My first car was a sweet red Jeep Wrangler. It was the super underpowered 5sp 4 cylinder, but none of that mattered. It was so much fun to drive. What could be better than 4wheel drive, AND a convertible? Not much in my mind..
Now me being me, I could not leave the Jeep how it was.(hang with me, I will get back to driving). The first thing that I did was get a CD player installed. Now this was pretty awesome for 1997. Since I ALWAYS had the top off, I needed to add some bigger sound. I got a couple of speaker boxes from Best Buy, and installed them. I had no idea how, but I figured it out. I had an amplifier installed to pump more juice to the speakers. At the time, I didn’t care about going fast, it was all about the ride.
As a teenager, there as nothing better than cruising around on the back roads with the top down, and radio pumping. I thought I was the coolest cat in town. It was those times that made me fall in love with driving. It didn’t matter if I was in a bad mood, a great mood, mad, sad, you name it. That drive seemed to cure what ailed me.
Fast forward a few years, and a couple of lame cars later, I fell back in love with driving. Ironically it was about the time I started working in the car business. When I worked at CarMax, I found the next my next car love. It was a 1997 Acura Integra GSR. The GSR looked cool, sounded awesome, and was FAST. It was far and away the fastest car I had owned, and my love of driving was renewed. Much like the Jeep, it was windows down, radio blaring, just enjoying the ride. Well, I sold that Integra in an adult decision. I needed to ditch the car payment to go to tech school. It was a sad day to see her go. I learned a lot about installing car stereos on that car. It was the first car I really hooked up, the right way.
Since then I have had some cool cars. My Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX was cool. I had an Acura CL Type-S for a while that was nice, but nothing like the GSR and the Jeep. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Passat. I have had it longer than any other car I have ever owned. The Fahrvergnügen is there, but not like it was.
You know its funny, I talk to people that say “I hate driving”. I like of all the really awesome times that I have been behind the wheel. It bums me out that they don’t share that same love of driving that I do. Now don’t get me wrong, I HATE sitting in traffic and I hate driving in snow. Short of that, I am all about the drive. Let me also be clear, NOT the ride. I don’t make a very good passenger. I am sure that my wife would be more than happy to tell you all about it. 😀
Be sure to subscribe to the Humble Mechanic YouTube channel. The videos will coming more often. The Cabriolet will be coming home on Tuesday(I hope). I can’t wait to start working on it. There will be lots-o-videos to see. Don’t miss them.
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I love summer driving. Windows down, music loud enough that all of the cars around you have to listen to what you want. One arm out the window, and foot to the floor (when applicable).
People who don’t enjoy driving have never owned a car that made them appreciated it.
My girl friend probably feels the same as your wife when it comes to me being a passenger.. she hates driving me. I don’t criticize her driving, I tell her what to do next time. I also get antsy.
All of this talking about driving makes me want to go for a drive.. too bad it’s raining all week
practice your drifting skills! xD
When I take a turn in the winter my girl friend watches my hand brake to make sure I don’t pull it
I have been banned from doing that. I got in trouble with the wife a few years back.. 🙂
Me too. She says I will hit a car. I haven’t yet
I think that I had the Cabriolet on the brain while I was writing that. I drove her home tonight, and had a little flash back moment. It was AWESOME!!!
I’ve always loved driving. From learning to drive on a 1982 Dodge Omni that had the worst manual transmissions ever to learning how to have fun with your ebrake in snow with my 86 Sentra to getting the worst speeding ticket in my life on my 1988 FZR 400 to carving up the curves on Tail of the Dragon with a couple different GLI’s I’ve had to driving my daughter to daycare in our clean diesel Golf getting our one “weeee” curving exit ramp each way. I can totally relate with not enjoying the passenger side as well. I try to keep the drive enjoyable no matter what… and I loved the Farfergnugen campaign.
Oh, and the thrill of acceleration and cornering capabilities with my slightly tuned B5 S4 Avant is missed quite a bit lately but I’m looking to fill that gap again this fall with an Audi Allroad with the same lusting-for 2.7T that will accommodate the family trips a wee bit better than the two door Golf.
I was thinking about your S4 the other day. I hope she is in good hands.
I came SO close to buying an Allroad a few years ago. Love that car.
The Allroad has such potential to be a killer sleeper car given the 2.7T. I would probably would never get to, but would want to change out a few bits on it to give it a more sporty feel. Swap out all the seats for S6 Avant seats and the S6 steering wheel and pedal covers. Yum…
I can verify that you are in fact a terrible passenger! 🙂