items wanted

[Dan DiBiase]

I plan to run all of my kids through a track program similar to that. I guess I assumed that they had to have a license (vs permit). At this point, I'll wait until spring (although I did play golf wearing shorts on Saturday here in NJ!!). 

Re: the Volvo - been on a variety of boards asking about 850's/S70's (isn't the internet great?? How did we ever research cars before Al Gore invented this thing?!) I did find a '98 S70 T5 wagon with 5-speed that I liked VERY much - fleeting thought given to having my son drive my A4 and buying that car for myself....

Re: Carfax and the totalled Honda - very irritating. When I sold my '96 Jetta to buy the A4, I ran a Carfax on it and noticed that the accident I had with the car when it was 2 years old didn't even show up! The car wasn't totalled but repairs were over $12k - all sheetmetal and a few engine accessories and airbags of course ($5k for just those); no unibody damage. But I still disclosed it to all parties that looked at the car. maybe I'm stupid but I couldn't sleep at night if I didn't.

Lee Levitt <lee at wheelman.com> wrote: My son has picked up my enthusiasm for cars. 10 days into having 
his learners permit, he took a defensive driver training course 
with the local chapter of the Audi Club!

(Other organizations, including Bridgestone, IIRC, put on these 
defensive driver training courses. Highly recommended).

WRT the Volvo - subscribe to the mailing list at 
www.swedishbricks.net and ask a bunch of questions...

And Carfax -- you'll never know what an owner will (or won't) tell 
you. Before I ran a carfax on a car we looked at last night, the 
owner told me that the car had been recalled as a lemon, and that 
it had overheated fairly dramatically last fall. While the first 
would show up on Carfax, the second wouldn't. The car spooked me, 
tho. It was missing its engine cover, one of the valve cover 
covers was cracked and the tb cover was cracked and patched with 
duct tape.

Oh, and it had gotten hit in the rear, the RR door didn't *quite* 
close like it should, and the subwoofer was missing (prolly 
forgotten by the body shop).

Oy.

I don't think we're buying *that* car. How does one crack those 
covers anyway?

I expect maintenance to be fairly low...after all, my son has 
almost nowhere to drive, so how many miles can he put on over the 
course of the year?

Lee