[V8] I've been thinking....never a good thing!

[Ed Kellock]

I've been noticing the Ford 500 and the station wagon version a lot lately.
Also the 1st gen or two of the Toyota Highlander. The rest of my family has
all gone Toyota, 3 Priuses and a Camry. I don't mind driving them. I find
that I prefer the 1990 v8 to the CGT and even the Avant. Getting older I
guess. The 500 and the wagon cousin were designed ny a VW guy who jumped to
Ford. The later versions are too Ford-y and have gone the way of
ridiculously large tires/wheels.
On Jul 31, 2014 6:24 AM, "Roger M. Woodbury" <rmwoodbury at fairpoint.net>
wrote:

> As usual, I have been pondering our aging fleet of Type 44 Audis. My
> wife's station wagon, a 1994 100 Avant Quattro is approaching 200,000
> miles.  It's beginning to look pretty tacky, the curling lower body rub
> strips peeling off and the paint generally needing refurbishing.  But the
> car is mechanically near, 100%, only new struts needed in the late fall at
> inspection time, plus new tires to get it ready for another 30,000 miles.
>  I just  had the engine vacuum lines and top-end seals replaced. Now the
> engine runs as it did when it was new to me, 160,000 miles ago and it
> doesn't leak oil.  Yesterday we drove to my wife's doctor and back, a round
> trip of just shy of 100 miles and the thing runs and runs.  If I fix EVERY
> little thing, and have it repainted the cost will be around three grand, so
> I am not even thinking seriously of replacing it.
>
> The V8 is the other car in the fleet.  I recently tried to sell it. It is
> arguably one of the best there is and with 80,000 something thousand miles,
> it's still relatively young.  Right now it is unregistered as I have no
> need to drive or pay to keep two cars on the road.  This fall may well be
> different, as I have a new venture I may be involved with which will
> require me to be away during the day, and my wife doesn't want to be at
> home alone without transportation if I am away all day often. The V8 will
> be put back on the road if I need it, sometime late in the fall.  Perfect:
>  I look forward to driving it again.
>
> But I think about the 100, and have been looking around for something that
> we might get to replace both vehicles with one. Eventually, we will need
> only one at all, so I have been pondering something with some utility but
> not a SUV thing...something that would have the overall performance of the
> 100 AVant, with the room, but well, something a bit different.
>
> Oh, yeah. I have thought about an A6 Avant, and a Merceded E-class 4-matic
> wagon...about a 1999-2001 model before they became electronically unified
> and unrepairable, but no:  I don't really WANT one of those station wagons
> again.
>
> When they first introduced them, I sat in a Volkswagen CC.  It was small
> inside and cramped with huge, thick doors and NO rear visibility.  Parts of
> it came from Japan, too, which really turned me off.  I thought it was
> chintzy.
> I still do.
>
> A Porsche Panamera is out of the question, price wise, and I no longer
> have much love for Porsche anyway.  I think my Porschedisease has finally
> been cured, now that the 928 is fading into history.
>
> The BMW X6 is an intersting thing, but the snouts are too cut off for me,
> and the price....well, they hype themselves up as the Ultimate Driving
> Machines, but any more, who can use an "ultimate driving machine" in a
> driving environment that rewards "ultimate driving" with speeding fines and
> unaffordable insurance rates? Besides, BMW has been recalling their cars
> because they are now a marketing business not a quality manufacturer...MY
> opinion!
>
> So, I dunno.  Right now, I think we'll keep what we've got and await
> developments.
>
> Oh, then there this morning, somehow I stumbled onto something that I
> can't stop thinking about.  It is a sickness, perhaps, or maybe I'm just
> losing it entirely, what do you think?  I found and have been reading about
> something called an Acura ZDX.  I didn't know what one was so I looked it
> up on Wikipedia, then on the Acura website, then other places. Finally I
> went to eBay and looked to see what was around.
>
> It's an odd thing.  Four doors, fast-back roof with insulting,
> claustrophobic rear seating. Clearly a car intended for two people with
> occasionally, shoving two more in the rear, preferably two people you don't
> like very much and who you don't wan to ride with you ever again.  Glass
> panel roof that opens, rear hatch and rear seats that fold flat to the
> floor.  It struck me that it is probably the right size for my wife and I
> to drive the 50 miles to Sam's Club and back loaded.....about what we get
> when we make that trip.  Neat interior....rather interesting dashboard, but
> like all Japanese cars, far to much going on in front that is electronic
> and probably will fail when it is six or seven  years old andhas around
> 75,000 miles. But then, Honda stuff runs pretty good and for the most part,
> can be repaired, too.  F uel mileage around twenty overall, which is about
> what the 100 Avant has always done....
>
> Horrors!  For some reason, I rather like this thing!  And the dealers
> can't sell them, too, and the thing is being discontinued. Sounds like
> soemthing that I might like....odd, but it might work. I am wondering if we
> should plan a trip to whereever they sell Acuras to look at one in the
> flesh?  I don't know where that is....is there an Acura dealer in
> Portland....that's 150 miles from here, or else New Hampshire or
> Massachusetts, I guess.
>
> Or maybe, I should just go and lie down for a while.
>
> Roger
>
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