Discoveries

After three months, I finally figured out how to turn on the fog lights. It's a kind of reverse corkscrew pull of a nob, a nob that threatens to break if pulled in the wrong direction. That's the kind of car it is sometimes. Willfully quirky and obscure. I do love driving it though.

On the way home yesterday I drove with the radio off and appreciated the sound of the engine once again, something I hadn't heard in a few months since installing the Pioneer head unit. The Pioneer has been the focus of much of my blog posts and much of my frustrations with this car. I managed to get the album artwork to load properly by wiping my iPhone and restoring it. Yes, I wanted it that much. The current issue is how it requires such a long time before you can plug in the iPhone before it will authorize. Since the cables are in the glove box, this means you really can't move until the Pioneer is settled.

The big discovery with the car is iTunes. Yes, iTunes has been around forever now, but I never had a conduit to my car, the only place I listen to music. So I did cut back on eating out last month to cover my new car expenses, but oh my god did my iTunes bill add up. Around $40 later and I had learned a love for new music, including some new favorites like Johnny Cash and Amy Winehouse. This meshed well with classics like Led Zeppelin and Love and Rockets. My son got in the car the other day and said, "Can we listen to some legendary music daddy?" Why yes, yes we can.

Finally, giving up the VAG-COM cable seems almost painful now. The control I have over the car and the 14,000 items checked by the computer is immense. It now seems like a pretty good investment, rather than a temporary expense. I'm torn on whether I should keep it. I may have to wait until it gathers some more dust. One of my fears is the dealer futzes with the computer in a way I don't like. In fact, I'm of a mind to never let any Volkswagen dealer near the car again. It has free maintenance, but that's really only three visits when you get 10,000 mile oil changes.