I'm now the proud leaser of a black & chrome 2006 VW Jetta 2.5, fully loaded with leather seats and sunroof. It looks more like a beamer actually. It took all of Saturday to do the paperwork, select a color, model and haggle the MSRP and lease payments. I say that like it wasn't actually my boyfriend doing all the haggling and number crunching. We basically "played" bad cop and dumb blond cop. At one point the saleswoman held out her hand to collect my driver's license and I, misinterpreting the gesture, placed my hand in hers. She looked at my guy and said "she's cute." Lol, I felt like a flake.
I had originally wanted a red Jetta but apparently VW is no longer releasing Jetta's in red, plus the only Salsa Red they had at the lot was leasing for the same price as a fully loaded model. So, basically it came down to whether a red car was more important to me than a better deal with sunroof and power seating. Is that a real term? Power seating? Did I just make that up? What I mean is that with the red car you'd have to adjust the non-leather seats manually by turning this big wheel as apposed to an automatic button that glides your seat into position and comes with three saved setting options. Although it's not my dream color, I'm extremely happy with it. It looks very ritzy, but now I'm scared as hell that I'm going to ding it or ruin its new detailed look.
It doesn't help that I haven't really driven on a regular basis for the three years now and that I don't know where I'm going, which is shooting my confidence to hell. Plus, none of the street lights here have arrows--nope it's just a free for all when it comes to turning at intersections. As a result, I was reminded of a quote by Woody Allen in Annie Hall, "I don't want to live in a city where the only cultural advantage is that you can make a right turn on a red light."
It also takes three maneuvers to exit my apartment building's tight parking garage. Luckily the homeless guys that sleep in the garage are usually asleep in front of another tenant's car, located in the corners. It's still pretty freaky seeing their feet peaking out from the floor near the hood of people's cars.
My drive to work though is pretty sweet, only 20 minutes and no highways. I also get to pass the Pacific ocean and drive up and down palm tree lined streets. Sunroof open of course. Here are photos of my new ride (see the beach in the distance? That's my street):
