Objects in the Mirror…

Jeffrey Butts

We’re retired. No salary any more. We talked about this a year ago when we made that decision to bail out from the 9 to 5 (or 6 to 5) world. At some point we knew that we’d need one more car. Trade in or individual sale values would be better with less than 100K on the clock. We did NOT want get another new car. The Volvo was a lesson in depreciation. In spite of the fact that it was the most functional vehicle we own, a quick review of the Kelley Blue Book and craigslist.com showed that the best we could hope for was about $12K. $10-11K was more likely. We had two decisions to make. First, what would we get rid of and second, what would we replace it with?

What to drop? There was no way I would ever get rid of the 914. Even though it is far too low and uncomfortable for Stephanie to ride in because of her back problems, she agreed that this was a keeper. The 914 is my favorite car. It represents the essence of the sports car ideal (and, no, I’m not saying the epitome). It seats only two. The top comes off. It handles well. It has reasonable power. It looks good, even 33 years after it was made. The bike is a single seat 914. With less rain protection. And no music. And more personalized insect splatter. It is not going either. The 911 looks good. Some may not like the color, but more do. The shape is classic. No wings, no oversized flares, no “slope nose.” It has cruise control, power seats and windows, a sunroof and is fast. Real fast. The Volvo is the workhorse. We can transport everything from pets to garden supplies, from furniture to four adults (five if you squeeze) and all their luggage. So, it was either the 911 or the Volvo that was on the block.

Maybe it would be easier to outline what we wanted. First, it would have to be a practical car in that it should be able to transport the both of us and all our (her) luggage for any vacations. It would also be nice if we could take two other people with us on a night out. It should be a car that the kids can use easily in case they need to. It must have already seen the majority of its depreciation curve but not be so old as to be a high mileage contender. Oh yeah, it has to look good, have power/be fast, and have all those AARP extras like power this-and-that, cruise, good music, etc. Well? Simple, right? The wagon has to go. The 911 meets nearly all of the requirements we’re looking for anyway and, besides, who would get rid of a 911?

The 911 was the car that we unloaded. Yes, it was most of those things on the want list and it was even holding its value with a potential for some appreciation provided the mileage stayed reasonable. The issue goes back to practicality. A function of age I suppose. Maturity or senility, take your pick. The Volvo can be used for so many things that it just didn’t make sense to get rid of it. Add to this the fact that we would not get much for it on an individual sale or trade by comparison to the Porsche. Besides, I already had one sports car in the garage, maybe it was time for a sports sedan, something that met ALL of the “what do you want” criteria.

I have always liked the Audi A4 but I lusted after the 2001 Audi S8 that my former department VP owned. It was that wonderful pearlescent white that Audi only made for a few years. He had owned it since new and had even renewed the warranty when it expired. I knew the background of this car and it was a good history. I can’t tell you how fine that particular model is. Alas, he sold it and bought a new one. “Oh,” he said when he was showing me his new car, “I remembered that you were interested right after I signed for the new car.” Thanks. Well, back to the A4, I do like how it looks. In my opinion, the A6 looks a little too stretched where the A4 with its shorter overhang is aesthetically more appealing. Since I already have a white car (“ivory” actually), I can let go of the idea of the pearlescent color easily.

We found a nice A4 Quattro locally. It meets all of our criteria. It has a good sized trunk. Not the carrying capacity as the wagon but we’re keeping the Volvo, remember? It seats four comfortably. The kids can drive it if they need to. It is a 2003 model so much of the depreciation has been realized but it has only 22K miles on the odometer. One owner, all service done at the dealership on schedule. Four months left on the original warranty with free service and then a two-year used car warranty kicks in with only a $50 deductible. All the power this-and-that functions. Fast and fun? You bet. The car has a 220HP three-liter V6 with a six-speed manual transmission. The day after we bought it we went to the coast for lunch (ya’ gotta love retirement) and it is a bitchin’ ride. Will we miss the Carrera? You bet. Are we sorry we made a change? No way.