TjRubley.com

First I want to say how much fun I’ve had bringing readers at TjRubley.com the diamonds in the rough over the past 4 years. I have really enjoyed connecting with like minded enthusiasts and I look forward to making that experience even more meaningful moving ahead.

Now it is time to take my career more seriously, and that means making a transition from passive enthusiast to eventual full-time automotive and motorcycling, web and blogging specialist. I’m a bit premature in the announcement of this plan, but I want to keep TjRubley.com readers in the loop!

The most immediate and visible change is that I am splitting the topics that are most popular at TjRubley.com into their own blogs: German Cars For Sale Blog and Rare SportBikes For Sale. If you’re a fan of TjRubley.com, you’ll love these two blogs! They both follow the familiar “best of for sale” listings and resource guides you’re used to at this site, but both have much nicer .rss and email subscription options than I have utilized before. I hope you’ll consider subscribing. If not, don’t worry, I’ll still be highlighting these new blogs on TjRubley.com on a regular basis.

These two blogs are the first to be part of my new automotive blog network, MotoringBlogs. My hope for the network is two fold:

1. Provide greater focus and detail to the automotive and motorcycling niche that the enthusiast searches for. The ability to provide more than a highlight reel or summary of information, and instead cater to the intense and educated enthusiast with detailed and opinionated editorial blog content.
2. Build a network of authors, websites, and enthusiast readers that grow together to gain access and knowledge via an entertaining and informative blogging style to address sports cars, motorcycles, amateur motorsports, and the latest in breaking industry news.

The MotoringBlogs concept is in it’s infancy, but will grow quickly. More details will follow in the coming months. I will of course keep TjRubley.com readers informed first!

I hope you’ll find MotorBlogs to be an even better resource than TjRubley.com has been and I welcome your feedback in the comments below.

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After our second session, the ear-to-ear grin that was covering my face reminded me how much fun track days are. I can’t believe I found excuses for the last 2 years not to go for one reason or another. But I know now that I have to make this happen more often!

In addition to it’s recent tune up, and race gas flowing through her veins, our MK1 Rabbit/Golf track car also saw her first ever action on real racing slicks. This lightly used set of Hoosier slicks were generously provided by the Sports Car Shop, and gave us a whole new level of satisfaction in the Rabbit. It was totally subtle at first. I didn’t notice a sure difference until I was out in the second session by myself after being approved for solo runs. The track was warming up nicely as the sun moved more overhead. Suddenly I was having trouble reaching for gears because I was reaching to downshift from 3rd to 2nd, but kept finding the car in 4th. It immediately dawned on me that I was a full gear higher through corners 4 to 7! And then it was on as we both experienced the never ending grip and predictability that slick tires provide at temperature.

I’ve bragged before about chasing down S4’s in the hands of less skilled drivers, but now, the Rabbit can hang with just about anything with less than 250hp in the tight corners of PIR. That’s no lie as we both enjoyed a day of dicing it up with a Lotus Exige S, 95 BMW e36 M3 (OMFG, there were two there, same year, color and wheels as my old one!), Mazda RX-7 FD3S, and other very respectable company.

I certainly want to thank Sport Car Shop again as the addition of the slicks made a huge difference and made our day. And of course no Track Rabbit post would be complete without a big thank you to Paul for building a budget conscious, bullet-proof-start-every-time-drive-to-and-from-the-track, car that still amazes year after year. Where will the Rabbit lead us next?

Check out the complete gallery slideshow below. Some sweet cars for this event including an e39 M5, multiple Evo’s and STi’s (hi Mike!), a beautiful white s2000, and even a brand new R35 Nissan Skyline GT-R!

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Do you ever pull out the map just to find long stretches of twisting road that you’ve never ridden on before? So do we! Paul and I were planning a day of motorcycling from Eugene to Bandon via some back roads, and then back up the coast via 101. But the weather forecasters suddenly warned of an incoming front that could drop rain as early as 11am at the coast. We decided to go east instead to seek out warmer temperatures and avoid the rain until the last minute on the way back.

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Nothing really that special about this route except that I had never been on Highway 242, which is actually the old pass highway to and from Eugene. The road isn’t really maintained anymore and is actually closed most of the wet season. It starts out very inviting, similar to Highway 199 from Grants Pass into the Redwoods, or Highway 1 in NorCal: a thin strip of asphalt draped in the middle of a dense forest with corners ranging from 15 to 35 for at least 10 miles. It would’ve been pure bliss but nearly every corner had the gravel marbles dragged into the roadway by the oversized RV’s littering our beautiful road. Nonetheless, the scenery was incredible!

After tap dancing through these tight and sometimes treacherous corners, we left the forest and ascended to the 5000ft summit where the road opened up a bit. Suddenly the vegetation was becoming non-existent as we crossed through the lava field. The landscape changes so quickly and completely, it was like being on another planet. Here’s a picture I found on Flickr:

Highway 242 conveniently links right up to Sisters, where we would’ve ended up anyway had we taken 126 to 20. We pushed through the annoyingly crowded main drag (no choice) and headed onto Bend. And gosh, as long as we’re in Bend, we better hit the Deschutes Brewery for lunch. I had the Ham wrapped Halibut, and washed it down with their Sagebrush Classic Pils. A really tasty lunch to say the least!

Not the Pils, but a shot I took of a Deschutes bottle a while back:

Then back to business as we headed home. Except the business of enjoying the 30+ miles of tight corners through the Santiam Pass that was practically ruined by the endless stream of RV’s, dawdling sedans, and small trucks towing boats. It’s a public road and all, but please use the turn-outs folks!

All and all though, another great day trip through western Oregon covering nearly 300 miles. And we beat the storm back home. It’s been raining ever since I got home. Perfect timing!

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We attended the AMA Superbike races at Sears Point 13 years ago when we made a week long trip down to Sonoma to catch Sonomafest. If I recall correctly, we decided on this trip after reading the recent Cycle World magazine, which features our favorite automotive and motorcycle journalist, Peter Egan and his account of the trip the previous year. Sitting on the porch (the tiny concrete pad in front of door) of my duplex, we once again let beer decide, and we were going. Unfortunately we didn’t meet Peter that year, but did pull a great motorcycling and camping trip that we haven’t really duplicated since. Recently our motorcycling trip to the Olympic Peninsula was our chance to relive that trip.

Suddenly it seems like an eternity ago (see, there it is again), but years ago our trip began by suiting up for our 2 day trip to the bay area from Corvallis, Oregon. Looking back, I was hardly prepared for such a trip, but that naive and youthful nature is what makes the trip even more special to remember.

{Note: time stamp on photos is incorrect.}

When we arrived for Thursday evening practice, tent camping inside the racetrack hadn’t opened yet. We were pointed to another track campground called ‘40 acres’. Turns out this was only a mowed field that served as overflow parking for the NASCAR event to accommodate the 100k+ fans that turn out for their biggest weekend of the year at Sears Point. Or in other words, no services, including honey buckets. We were the only fans to show up that early and had the entire field to ourselves in fact. All the other early fans stayed in Sonoma a few minutes away. Needless to say, our budget working pizza jobs didn’t accommodate such luxury. It was actually just us and our tiny tent, and a half rack of Coors Light, whom we later decided had sponsored our camping weekend. Amazing the creativity of 21 year olds with a marker and a stack of beer cans!

Best I can recollect, we made the trip in 1995 when Sears Point legend Miguel Duhamel was still the man to beat at that track. Upcoming stars that year included Ben Bostrom, Nicky Haden, and my favorite, Australian Anthony Gobert. Here’s a pic with Doug Polen, Miguel Duhamel, and a very young Nicky Haden. In the very back it might be Eric Bostrom. Either the Superbike or SuperSport class. Hard to know without notes and help from the internet. I tried though. If you can help, please comment below!

That shot was taken from the campground when campsites were still located in the middle of the track in the carousel complex. You would literally wake to the sound of the street sweeper and then the first run group at 8:00AM every morning. Ready or not, here come 30-50 high strung motorcycles, all screaming around the back of your head. Talk about a wake up call! I distinctly remember wishing I hadn’t smoked so many cigarettes the night before!

Here are some more shots of us that weekend:

There are many more memories from that trip, like the massive Cycle World group ride that rode more like a GP race and resulted in Editor Edwards getting a fat ticket! But really it serves as a reminder that sweet road trips have been few and far between since graduating college. I’m going to have to make some changes to tour more often, on two wheels or four. A great memory awaits that won’t be experienced from the couch.

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I had a fantastic time again this year at the EESCC Larison Rock Hillclimb. This group has to be one of the friendliest in amateur motorsports. I feel so lucky to be able to participate in such a great hillclimb each year, less than 2 hours away, in a really scenic part of Oregon!

This year my buddy Paul joined me for the weekend event. After loading up the Rabbit at the Sports Car Shop after work on Friday, we hustled our way down Highway 58 and pulled into the (now-outrageously-priced $348 for two days!) Best Western in Oakridge. We swallowed the price because the A/C does work, it also serves as race headquarters for the event, and the internet was reliable enough for us to lose all our sit-n-go’s on Pokerstars. After flying through tech that evening, we did a couple of reconnaissance laps up the course and settled in at Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant for a really nice dinner and some cervezas. We were off to a good start already!

The next morning we dragged our asses out to the track by 7AM to be in time for the track walk/school at 7:30. Instructed by Brad Moffit, he reminded us of all the proper lines, areas of concern, and tips for success. As usual he did a great job, though we would be lucky to remember only a few tidbits as we returned to the pits. Realizing we hadn’t used the car at all in a long time (in fact I haven’t driven it all since the last Larison Hillclimb), the butterflies and anxiety started to mount. The forecast for the day was mid 90’s and when standing in the morning sun, you knew it was going to be a hot one. We enjoyed the cool morning shadows knowing the afternoon was going to be a killer.

I was up first in run group 2 of 4 and I made a leisurely run up as I got familiar with the car and the course again. The car was loose and I noted that downshifting to 2nd in tight corners was really working much better than lifting and pressing on uphill in 3rd at low revs and no torque. After Paul’s run, he was in agreement. Our afternoon runs both showed improvement with the hotter temperatures really helping the tires and utilizing the 2nd gear redlining method in tight corners.

Day 1 was concluded with pizza and probably several gallons of Coors Light, going with the “light beer rehydration” theory after the hot afternoon. We drank a few with Derek who was pitted right in front of us on the hill. He campaigns a white 4 door 72 Datsun 510 out of San Francisco. Great looking car with a lot of cool mods like retrofitted MegaSquirt fuel injection on the L18, full cage, and gun metal grey alloys on both the race and road wheels. Cool Canadian guy with some impressive credentials including two trips to the Targa Newfoundland (!) and track time at Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, and Sears Point to name a few. Nice to meet you Derek, and hope to meet up next time we’re in the Bay Area.

With our times still well short of Ed’s best run last year, Day 2 started with a more serious tone. At least it did for me. While I really wanted to improve over my run the day before, what I really wanted was to beat my personal best time at Larison Rock of 2 minutes 14 seconds (and change). And it would be extra sweet if I could beat Ed’s best time, the best time ever in our Rabbit at Larison, of 2 minutes 11 seconds.

Paul was up first and posted a 2 minute 17 second run to match my best of the previous day. Fueling up on RedBull, I was ready to lay waste to the track feeling confident and juiced. After what felt like a good run, I actually ended up 3 tenths slower than the previous day. And I was bummed out big time. Having been beat by Ed the previous year at his first time at the hill, for my 3rd visit, I still had a bad taste in my mouth. I mean, he’s my close friend and all, but I’ll be damned if that wasn’t still leaving me with a rash!

Then Paul made his afternoon run after lunch, and came back in with a 2 minute 16 second run. I was really stoked for him for a while. Until it dawned on me that I may not have the goods to do any better and be bested two years in a row. As we melted back in the pits on a day that felt even hotter than the day previous, I decided to keep a good attitude at the event I look so forward to each year. I figured why not try a few changes and see how things go. No sunglasses (which had been working well for Paul), and only use 2nd gear for the two most uphill and tight corners, 6 and 8. Having reviewed the video for Ed’s best run last year, this method seemed to work for him.

Ed’s best 2007 run:

After waiting on the grid for what seemed like an eternity (the most overused cliche in all of automotive writing), I made my run. And it was going really well through the first 7 of 14 corners on the track. I knew I was doing well and it really put me at ease. As I entered the long and fast turn 9 from the uphill climb of turn 8, I had just finished a rather bright sun-in-the-face ascent. I entered the darkness of the forest and my eyes took a second to adjust. The narrow road section of the “forever corner” number 9 was a touch scary and I was going faster than I ever had through here. My fastest radar speed out of 9 the day before was 70 miles per hour, and as I blew past the radar complex and slid through the bend towards 10, I knew I was going to post a really good time. I handled the last few corners before the finish and arrived at the top of the course shaking very badly with a huge adrenaline rush. Turning around to park at the top, the upper grid marshal greeted me with my time written on a yellow sticky. I accepted it from him without looking and remarked, “Tell me it’s 136 [seconds] or better”. He grinned and said, “you did alot better than that!” I looked down and saw a new best time ever at the hill for me at 133, nearly 4 seconds better than my best the whole weekend, and I was really, really stoked!

While I’m still really excited and proud of my new time, I need to give props to Ed as his time stands by nearly two seconds! Paul and I both left the hill that day thinking there wasn’t much left with the car we have in the current configuration. But I guess there’s at least two seconds before we make excuses like that. Nice job my man! And as a side note, let me also add congratulations on your wedding this weekend

So before anyone goes thinking that we’re made of the Right Stuff, there were many more notable entries for the weekend. Including Sonny, who is always a top contender for the fastest time of the weekend, who posted a new personal fast time of 1 minute 49 seconds. One of the coolest dudes at the hill and almost always the fastest too. His good friend Dave Kipperman was back as well with a new Z concoction with a 364 all-alluminum v8 and massive flare and body work special (pitcured below). And the hill is dominated with a field of probably 40% A1 and A2 Volkswagens. Hard core one’s like Ty’s Red GTi and Brad’s 300+hp Scirroco. They both made sub 2 minute times look like common place — and they’re not. These guys have balls of steel and the right machinery to match their skills.

After a year out of the car, my first impression was that Paul really did a nice job over the winter freshening up of the car. Hard to believe our project car has seen nothing but basic maintenance over the last 6+ years and some severe beatings in the process. It’s a true testament to Paul’s abilities and decisions in the build. Thanks again for the best “arrive and drive” car I could have ever imagined!

And a big thumbs up to Emerald Empire Sports Car Club for another well run, safe, and really fun event. I can’t wait to go again next year!

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Paul and I hatched this little plan a few weeks before his 33rd birthday to take 3 day road trip over the July 4th weekend. The gist was to actually have no planned agenda for our weekend and to decide as the date got closer. We ended up choosing to go north towards the Olympic Peninsula and would plan our ride as we went.

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Our day 1 was absolutely fantastic! We did our best to avoid interstate and chose a careful route that not only ensured mostly back road twisties-a-plenty, but also happened to be in the opposite direction of most holiday travel. Highway 47 from Forest Grove to Astoria reminded me of the Gran Turismo stage titled ‘Deep Forest‘. Blasting through gentle 35-45mph corners between the dark forest and under train trestles, on many sections of new tarmac, made for one of the most scenic and delicious rides in recent memory. The last third of the road before Astoria turns to total shit, and is even more ‘entertaining’ when wet. But the majority more than made up for it. After lunch, we pushed into Washington and took a bit of a detour on highway 101 ‘alternate’, and this road was also totally devoid of traffic, full of fast sweepers, with perfect road surface, and wide lanes that would make anyone feel like Ben Bostrom.

We ended the day at Lake Quinault. This wasn’t exactly planned, but it was 5:30 and we needed gas. Pretty badly too after our assault on southwest Washington. As my anxiety built, I kept hearing Merlin telling Cougar, “[...] we’ve got to land this thing. We are way low on gas!” After miles and miles of absolutely no civilization in the beautiful Olympic Peninsula rain forest, we spotted a sign stating 2 miles to the Chevron, next right. So we turned in and checked out the lake. After filling up with the best gas I’ve even put in the Ducati at $5.09 a gallon (ouch!), we cruised past the lodge and general store, and found an open tent site. Having setting up camp, we went back over to the lodge for dinner. Little did we know the lodge was actually a really nice place in the middle of nowhere. A fantastic structure built in the 20’s, it was quite opulent compared to the campground.

Walking in, you’re immediately greeted in the main lounge area with a bar, huge fireplace, and lots of leather furniture. Past that to the open doors of the deck features a large manicured lawn leading down a gentle slope to the lake. The lawn is dotted with small groups of Adirondack chairs and small groups of people pouring wine for each other. A wedding had just finished and the photographer was finishing up with the shots with a fantastic backdrop.

We dined that night in the Roosevelt room, named after President Roosevelt who stayed there once. They were able to seat us immediately and after browsing the menu, it was clear we were going to eat very well indeed. $17 for camping, $85 for dinner. Oh yes we did, donning bug splattered leather jackets, helmet hair and insect repellant! I recommend the beef tenderloin, it was waaay better than my pork medallions LOL!

Our Day 1 couldn’t have been more perfect. As we retired to the sounds and sights of a nice fireworks show over the lake, the rain forest began it’s thing. It started to drizzle. And then rain. All night. Every time I woke up, the rain sounded more intense. I can’t believe how dry we actually ended up considering our campsite had turned into a giant mud puddle. I guess that forestry sign that stated the region gets over 148 inches of rain a year was no joke. It was now about 8:30 in the morning and we had finally resigned ourselves to the fact that the 30% chance of showers had turned into a full on 100% downpour.

We suited up and broke camp in the rain. After a decent breakfast at the general store, we decided going around the Peninsula would only lead to an entire day of riding in the rain, and decided to head south, back in search of dry and hopefully warm weather elsewhere in the state. But after a bowl of soup at the Olympic Club in Centralia, and a search of the weather forecasts to the east, west and south via Blackberry, we realized we weren’t going to find anything like that. So we blasted down I-5 to PIR to meet Paul’s bosses, who were racing this weekend. Dodging most of the rain, we arrived just in time to see Bob take the checkered flag for his run group.

We treated ourselves to another fantastic dinner, this time at our one of favorites in Portland: Gustav’s pub at the Rheinlander German Restaurant. Their fondue is fantastic and it’s the only place in Oregon that I know of that serves the wonderful Spaten Helles. I had the prime rib and Paul had the schnitzel. I often consider moving to Portland just to eat here more often!

The last day of our trip, we headed out to our favorite back roads from the Portland area via Sandy, Estacada, Silverton, Mill City, Lyons, and finally back to Albany. We had a celebratory lunch at Calapooia Brewing (try the Pilsner, it’s perfect!) and then parted ways to finish off our weekend.

The Ducati made the trip without any hiccups and is now in need of full detail to clean out all the grime from the rain soaked roads. But it was a great and spontaneous trip with some of the best riding I’ve done since I last rode regularly years ago. Thank you Paul, for insisting we make this trip. I had a great time!

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If you haven’t heard yet, there is an epic thread on VWVortex about the guy who got his Audi booted in his own housing development by Arizona Parking Solutions and took matters into his own hands by moving his car with the boots on into his garage via jacks and dolly’s. Brilliant!

Unfortunately, the original thread was locked and a new forum, The Parking Enforcement Forum, has been created to continue the diary of this victim’s tale. Very entertaining! Best of luck to the original poster!

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Considering this show is in my own town, I had little excuse for not attending the Oregon Vintage Motorcyclists ride for their show this year at the Benton County Fairgrounds. Some really great looking bikes turned out for the ride, probably 60+ strong. And all kinds: restored show bikes, never restored beaten classics, and even some modern classics like my bike and Bob’s RC51. Good group, though there was one down on a great old late 70’s looking BMW. I heard broken shoulder and collar bone… Ouch!

Here are the pics from the Blackberry Curve:

I’m going to miss the show tomorrow so I can hit the Oregon Trail Rally. Don’t you love this time of year?!

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My sister loves her A4 and went to great lengths to make it her own by custom ordering a very unique and striking option package. The pale and slightly custard color leather seats against the black w/ aluminum accent is very sharp. But she wants the grille, another German car status symbol, to stand out a bit more. Naturally, I told her I’d get on the case. I mean, it’s not often I have the opportunity to help her out these days!

She said it has to be OEM to support the manufacturer they supply however. Probably good news actually so she can get her oil changed and have the grille fitted at the same appointment.

Her car is a 2007 Audi A4 Avant, but is not an S-Line. Which turns out is significant because the S-Line, S4, and RS4 models have the more aggressive OEM upgrade grilles, but also a deeper front bumper, and a longer grille opening to match. So if she wants to stay OEM without replacing the bumper as well, her choices are limited:

OEM Audi Anniversary “Black Out” Grill

or the OEM Audi DTM Grill

For under $300US (or about the cost of three beers in Euros after conversion LOL), she has a couple of nice options that would look great on her Black A4.

Here’s a before and after photoshop I did:

You better send updated pics when you’re done Sis!

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Taking a page from TravelEd, I figured there was a place here for my behind-the-wheel review of our rental cars. While I wasn’t able to rent the real good shit like Kent recently did, there are actually a few brief stories with half the cars, stateside and abroad! But like I said, it’s not what you’re thinking…

Disclaimer: This is a long read with 6 feature cars. Only regulars need continue

Rental Car #1: 2007 Mazda 5. Rented from Enterprise as a one way rental from Corvallis to the Portland Airport. OSU employee rate of only $50. By my math, two one ways is actually cheaper than gas and 16 day econo parking at the airport. Not to mention a fairly new rental should be more reliable than our 86 VW Dog Car; our only car at the moment.

Pro’s: Surprisingly nice interior, good visibility, low profile tires on alloys, and more than enough room for our trip to the airport. And I have to say, it’s not a bad looking vehicle for what it is.

Con’s: Buzzy motor in this model and it’s not worth the effort to research the specs. Adequate for freeway use, but made an otherwise nice vehicle feel cheap. Plus the ride height and aggressive front fascia could be an issue…

With an unscheduled stop at the Woodburn Outlets, we were still doing well on time. With only about 10 minutes to the airport on I-205, we were in heavy traffic in the left lane when a huge piece of metal was presented right in front of us. The Sprinter van ahead of us swerved and missed it somehow, but we weren’t so lucky, collecting what looked like a car door skin right under the front of our car. And it was totally stuck there, pinned under the car at 65ish miles per hour, grinding, sparking and really scaring the hell out of us in a period of milliseconds. I realized it wasn’t coming out and of course we weren’t getting any help with people moving out of the way for us. So we moved left into the median, where I hoped I could kind of hop the front end over the dirt and mud median. No luck, still there. So I stop the car and figure I’m going to get dirty and try to pull it out from under the car - and as quickly as possible since I was feeling quite vulnerable on the side of the freeway. But even that plan was soon dashed when I got out and saw coolant gushing out of the front end. Shit!! It was starting to set in that we might not be making our flight that day.

But Enterprise Rent-a-car saved the day, literally. I called our Corvallis office where we had signed for the car a few hours earlier, and explained our situation: “stranded car a few miles from the airport, going to miss international flight. Very bummed!” And the crew sprang into superhero action. They located the nearest rental office to our location and sent out a replacement rental. All within 40 minutes of our dilemma. I knew there was a chance when the agent arrived informed and ready to go explaining that all he needed was a signature and insisted we leave immediately to make our flight.

Rental Car #2: Ford F150 Crew Cab 4×4. Rented from Clackamas Enterprise. No charge rescue vehicle.

I threw our bags into the bed of the truck and looked for an opening from the median, in the dirt and mud, closest to the fast lane. I found an opening and feathered the gas. No discernable engine noise and we weren’t really moving too quickly. More gas. Some noise now and we’ve found pavement. Still not really going anywhere. More gas. Now the back-end steps out, and really surprised me as I realized we were pulling a sweet Dukes of Hazzard maneuver with that huge V8 working two huge rooster tails and spinning the tires onto the freeway! I would’ve been embarrassed normally, but we were back on track, and might even make our flight!!

Meanwhile, my wife hasn’t even noticed my antics because she’s falling in love with our monster truck. “This is really nice. It doesn’t feel like we’re going 55 and I can see really well. It has more room than our Golf and has a truck bed.” Translation: I should get more dogs and carry them around in my truck. “You could tow the race car around.” Even in my imagination she has a sales pitch that includes my interests!

Not actual car, but looked just like this one:

I want to sincerely thank Enterprise for really stepping up and delivering fantastic service. We made our flight and had we been even 5 minutes later, we would’ve missed our flight (no lie). Many thanks Enterprise!!

Rental Car #3: Mercedes C180 Kompressor. Rented for 2 days from Weissenberg Europcar. Ended up being $110US per day, which is pretty damn good and I’d bet you can’t rent a C class in the U.S. for less. And this is thanks to my sister’s outstanding assistant, Claudia. She made sure we scored their corporate rate (15% off) while I was visiting.

Here are a couple of pics from the Weisessenberg Europcar rental office of their Volkswagen Polo G40 race car:

Pro’s: It’s a Merc and I’m on vacation, it has E-code Xenon’s, 17″ summer tires are fitted for spring, heated seats, park distance front and rear, partial leather, a supercharger, great suspension, an a huge pointed star in the grill.

Con’s: It has an incredible gaudy pointed star in the grill and filling it up cost nearly 70 Euros! The conversion rate made it even more difficult to stomach. It was 1=1.64 when we were there and I wasn’t even filling with Premium (though their regular is like 96 octane). Other complaints include stupid rain sensing wipers that have a mind of their own, and a transmission slipping issue that caused no power delivery after being in nearly idle traffic for too long! This caught us a couple of times, including once heading out of Frankfurt just when three lanes off stalled traffic had finally opened up!

Then we crept along for what seemed like forever behind this lovely Porsche 997 Carrera 4S. In metro areas, 997’s were very common and I started referring to them as the German Camaro:

And here are some nice pics of our C180 Kompressor:

German sedans and avants grow on trees in Germany, but our car was nearly brand new and stood amongst the nicer cars in most areas. We were very lucky indeed - Thank you Claudia!!

Guest Ride Report - 2008 Audi A4 2.0TDi Avant, aka my Sister’s totally sweet company car! My sister is a bit of a ‘higher up’ at Alfmeier in Treutchlingen and drives a car that proves it. In the U.S. cars are status symbols. They are in Germany as well, but not in the same way. In the U.S. you can draw easy conclusions with people who drive Firebirds, Honda Accords, Hummer H2’s, and Toyota Prius cars. The car represents the personality of the driver. In Germany, it’s all about the features, badging, and custom order cars. And my Sister’s car is a standout. A custom order A4 Avant, with the uprated 2 liter turbo diesel and Quattro. And badging to match. Many German customers order badge delete because they want the features but don’t want to draw attention. My sister was cautioned against leaving the badges off in fact when she ordered!

Long story short, it’s a sweet car and she knows how to drive on the Autobahn. Nuff said. Check out the pics of her 2008 Black Metallic Audi A4 Avant:

Those pics in the snow were on back roads in the German Alps that led to cross country ski areas. See more on my Flickr stream set Euro Trip 2008. I’ll be adding more as get them post processed.

What a fantastic car. Beautiful color combo, fast, handles great, and enough room for the hounds.

Rental Car #4: Mercedes A150, rented from Europcar. We were intending to take the train from Treutchlingen to Nuerenberg, but discovered that we should’ve considered rail pass because tickets were not nearly as cheap without, which made a rental car, one more befitting our budget, a better choice. We got this car for only 176 for 3 days. Here’s some pics I took on the trip to the Hockenheim Ring, which I’ll feature in another post.

Pro’s: Bigger than it’s awkward shape suggests, great feature set including navi, and very good gas mileage.

Con’s: The 1.5 is just enough to get you to 140kph, but much more than that and it’s short wheelbase makes the car fairly twitchy. But a nice car that will unfortunately never find it’s ways to our shores. Shame.

Rental Car #5: Dodge Avenger, rented from Enterprise from PDX to Corvallis.

It had been a long day. We left for Neurenberg in our A150 at 3:00AM (-9 hours PST). We landed at PDX over 17 hours later, still had a 2 hour drive left, and I had only managed an hour and half of sleep on the plane — though we had the most excellent airport breakfast during our layover in Amsterdam. Incredible coffee, with cream provided by Satan, bacon, sausage, extra creamy scrambled eggs, baked beans, toast, and fresh squeezed O.J. It was about 8:30 local time and the table of 6 headed for a ski vacation next to us all ordered a round of Heinekins. We’ll have to make sure to come back here for a few days sometime soon, these people have their shit together! (Sorry for the long segway, but what the Hell, I’m tipsy and this article is already ten pages too long and you’re still reading!)

So the Dodge Avenger. I’m not going to lie. Compared to the other Daimler Chrysler products I had just enjoyed, this was a piece of shit. The interior sucked, visibility sucked, the transmission hunted around and generally felt cheap… You get the idea. It got us home and without incident; the only Pro I can think of. I was exhausted by the time we got home and the car didn’t inspire picture taking. Here’s someone else’s photo of a similar car on Flickr.

Not all the cars were necessarily note worthy, but I hope you enjoyed the comparo

dc