"Let me tell you about my boat..."

I suppose the best place to start a blog about cars is to tell you about my own car.   Perhaps, even, to share my car ownership history with you.  On second thought, I will not bore you with that today, we'll stay in the present tense, shall we?  For those of you just tuning in and not having had a conversation with me in the past couple of years, I currently drive a 2007 (MkV) Volkswagen GTI.

Griselda (meaning "Grey Warrior Maiden" in German) or "Grizz" as my wife named her and we have come to call her, has been the object of my affection for a few years now.  And I could not be more pleased.  Two-litres of turbocharged goodness punting around a short-wheelbased bank vault of a chassis, whistling and whooshing and growling, all the while achieving quite good gas mileage.

One wonderful quality of a GTI, outside of its immediate enthusiast appeal, is that it is a small, inexpensive (relative to a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes) German car, with excellent build quality, choice materials, and well-bolstered seats.   This is important, you see, because you feel like you just pulled one over and got an Acura at a Honda price. 

It is also loaded with technology, including a dual-clutch automated manual transmission with paddle shifting, direct fuel injection, four-wheel independent suspension, heated seats, and dual-zone climate control, for when the person a foot away from you wants his or her portion of the cabin warmer or cooler than yours.  As an aside, this confluence of two different temperature air masses may cause tiny thunderstorms.  So be careful.

Ultimately, the GTI is a car that makes you feel like a grown-up during your commute to work and a hooligan on your way home. 


*I don't actually own a boat.