Scenes Seen: We Had Ourselves A Bit Of A Carpocalypse… Dadmobile Files.
My wife and I have had quite the car week. A cracked windshield. Some maintenance. A minor fender bender. All different cars. Including a mechanical failure that necessitated a purchase.
So… My wife and I have an approach to car purchases…
But let me back up first.
My Dad and I were car nuts. We prattled on about cars incessantly. My first car memory was my Dad’s Plymouth Road Runner…
…which I was convinced was mine also.
So I was obsessed with things like HP, 0-60 times, and later handling and other concepts. As a kid I had subscriptions to most car magazines. Car and Driver, Road & Track, and later Automobile magazine. I read them front to back on arrival and obsessively memorized statistics and whatnot. Still do. When the Woods purchased a new car it was an event. The selection process was based on pairing the most powerful engine with a mid level trim. Dad was not a fan of latest and greatest features. As he would say, more stuff on the car is more stuff to break. The negotiation process was a master class and I had a front seat. High points:
- If trading a vehicle negotiate the new car price first and then introduce a trade. Otherwise they may play games.
- Decide what you are willing to pay up front and be prepared to walk if necessary.
- Shop for your financing in advance. If the dealer wants to offer financing they need to beat that deal.
- Turn down all add ons.
To this day I still shop the same way. With the modern tools available I always walk on the lot knowing exactly what car on their lot I intend to buy and with financing already in place. I only need them to complete all of the necessary paperwork to get out of the door. One to two days is all it takes.
Mom’s wisdom.
The selection process. When my Father and I asked for my Mother’s input, she said the same thing.
“Can I put gas in it and it will reliably take me where I want to go and back?”
We would all laugh. But the older I get the more I adhere to my Mother’s way of thinking.
Across the board all cars were pretty equal quality wise. Meh reliability was the norm. So you were left to choose largely on your preference. Dad’s were simple. Good looking. Fairly priced. Big honking V8 up front driving the wheels out back. But as times changed so did he. V8s were no longer common so he made peace with a turbo four and V6s.
But he still mostly had V8s and his preference for RWD remained.
The only deviations were a 4WD Eddie Bauer Explorer and an AWD MDX. Dad did not do FWD. But now cars vary wildly in quality. So your choices are largely:
- Powerful and unreliable.
- Ok power and reliable.
My last attempt at really powerful did not end well. But an ok power classic did just fine before it. My Dad ended up with this Dadmobile below once I realized he liked it and after my Dad passed away it became my Mom’s daily driver.
That old school beast is still running like a champ. No issues. The issues arose when I took a chance on real HP numbers.
It was fun… but needed constant care and feeding and eventually the infamous HEMI tick took it out. That is when I pivoted to handling and reliability over raw HP numbers with the added benefit of great fuel efficiency.
But we still had one car that sort of kept my Dad’s power and mid level trim criteria alive.
A great car while it lasted. It packed the rare VR6 with the DSG automated manual shared with Audi. Great power. Handling? Not as great as the Passats I have owned before, but not bad. It served us well. But in the end it showed its VW-ness reliability wise. What do I mean? I am glad I imagined you asked.
Thought this was a robust engine that would allow us to drive the wheels off of it. Nope. Out of nowhere a cracked head. Thought this was odd at first, but not really. Every VW I have owned pretty much told me when it was over rather it being my choice.
My first Passat suffered… hold on… failed head cover gasket. Well before 100k miles. Got it fixed, but it took a bit of luster off of its shine for me. It was a death by a thousand tiny maintenance cuts, like a power window that packed it in for no reason and a door lock knob that broke off in my hand for example, that turned it from beloved into a glad to see it go at the end.
Our second Passat suffered a failure of the entire A/C system which basically mechanically totaled that car.
I had two cars on my “If we need to buy a car quick.” list.
2022-2023 VW Arteon.
High points:
- These two years use the robust drivetrain from the Golf R.
- Styling similar to the Audi A7.
- Depreciates like a brick, which is great for a used car shopper.
- Hatchback with a massive trunk.
2023+ Honda Accord Hybrid Sport
High points:
- Similar to the MAZDA6 above enough HP.
- Hybrid efficiency
- I like the looks of it.
- Does not depreciate, but is reasonably priced new or used.
- Honda reliability.
That last bullet won the day. I have owned a few Hondas also.
Had a Honda Accord years ago that was running just fine… until it was stolen in NYC.
Had an older Oddysey that ran just fine… until one of my wonderful offspring totaled it.
Had a not as old Oddysey that we drove the wheels off of and it still lives on since we donated it to charity by our choice.
My daughter currently drives an older manual Accord that runs just fine.
In all cases, we were the decider-er.
This is why just days before the VW VR6 packed it in I said to my wife that if we needed a car in a pinch I would be shopping for a used 2023 Accord Hybrid Sport. Welp…
Up to this point we had never spent $20k for a car. Times have changed. While this is the most expensive car we have ever purchased I am not mad at $24K. And now that we have it I am staggered at the features family cars are coming with now. Especially this car.
But I realized something. I have now completely transitioned to my Mom’s way of shopping. Fun=reliability for me now.
Anyhoo.
That car shopping ramble fest done here are the pics. The camera is not a surprise. My new friend.
From the VW shop that delivered the bad news to the local car joint where I immediately sold that VW to the place we bought the Honda from and all spaces in between here are scenes seen.
That is a wrap for now.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 
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