New job and impact of longer commute on cars

[FC]

Originally Posted by lemming

congrats on the new commute. yes!

hope you actually get snow this year. i hate it when it's cold and gray but no snow. then what's the point of winter, really?

Agreed! And thanks!

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After some thinking, there is no question that in retrospect, the better move should have been to buy the GTI instead of the M3, but that decision was made a long time ago and I've enjoyed the M3 for the past two years.

Even my wife agrees that an LR4+GTI+Boxster setup would work well. I'm just not prepared to sell the M3. I fear I will regret selling it in a way I wish I hadn't sold the ZHP. But I could not afford to keep the ZHP then and I can afford to keep the M3 now, so it stays - at least for now. My fear is that keeping it will preclude me from getting a Boxster. It may well come down to one or the other. My wife has trouble accepting 4 cars, especially when I know she will consider the M3 and Boxster both to be my toys.

In the short-term, the tentative plan is to swap the Miata for some kind of MT Golf. I'm assuming I can get a recent, not beat-up version of one these for around $20k or less. I figure the Miata should fetch ~$8k.

1) Vanilla Golf - cheapest to buy and run, good all around car, good hand-me down for kids, but slow. Probably the wisest choice.
2) GTI - More fun, LSD, etc. More expensive to buy and run. Won't feel slow in the hwy.
3) Alltrack - Slower and less fun than even the plain Golf and bigger (I want a practical small car), I assume, but more utility and better traction.

The alltrack would be a move to make my wife happier as I am sure she would love to run errands on this car, but I'm sure she'd be happy with any of them. Personally, I don't think it's that good a move to get an alltrack. But she has a weird obsession with wanting a Subaru and this would be pretty close. I personally naturally lean towards a GTI.

Regardless, I have a few months to figure it out.

[wdc330i]

Just reading up on the 2021 Golf GTI. Up in power, better performance specs all around, and made in Germany. Sounds really great...

[FC]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

Just reading up on the 2021 Golf GTI. Up in power, better performance specs all around, and made in Germany. Sounds really great...

Prices hold so well, it may not be insane to think of a new one, honestly.

[equ]

Note that all 2018 & 2019 VW's, assuming they were not modified, have 6/72 warranty.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by equ

Note that all 2018 & 2019 VW's, assuming they were not modified, have 6/72 warranty.

Nobody ever mods a GTI.

[Alan]

I’m with RMR on this one, if I were getting a fun cool car it would be the Civic. That is one of my favorite cars in that class, yes the Golf is cool too so the choice is a tough one.

[Nick M3]

Ignoring the looks, the comment that I hear on the Civics is that NVH isn’t great. The GTI is a much more civilized car, which is the whole point.

[Jeff_DML]

Originally Posted by clyde

Nobody ever mods a GTI.

Yeah some guy came up to me at 711 and asked if my 2019 was modded yet

[FC]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Ignoring the looks, the comment that I hear on the Civics is that NVH isn’t great. The GTI is a much more civilized car, which is the whole point.

I have to say that I was VERY impressed with eGolf and the MK7 in general in terms of build quality. My mom's Rav4 feels like a piece of crap in comparison.

My BIL just got a new Jetta GLI (which I drove) and that also felt very nice.

In the end, my wife is a huge VW fan, so it's not up for debate that if we get a car in that category, it will be a Golf/GTI.

Ultimately, Golf will end up being, in effect, mostly my wife's car except for the winter, when the LR4 will go back to being her primary car. On non-winter days, I'll probably drive the M3 3-4 days a week and she can have the Golf.

I'm still debating keeping the Miata just because it is so cheap and can't really depreciate too much more. But again, it's the 4th car thing and the money I'd get for it goes a decent way towards a Golf.

[FC]

Well, apparently I was wrong and my Miata should get me closer to $10k than $8k. It's unbelievable considering I paid $11.5K 4 years ago, but it is what it is. At that value is not worth keeping around.

Range is supposed to be 8.5k to 11k. The exterior cosmetic damage is not good, but I did improve the dents and the interior is in excellent condition with a new, custom leather steering wheel, and excellent mechanical shape and records. It's very hard to find GT Miatas of that year for less than $15k, so I think at around $10k it's a great value option.