Got my first car in 2005, Here’s everything since

(Recently owned first)

1st. here’s the current daily, my new to me 2019 ATLAS SE

Large, VR6, American made, and 4Moton .

• • Exterior: Overall, the looks of the ATLAS are on brand with VW and makes it feel like it’s not just another SUV grocery getter.
  •  Interior: Not a bad place to spend your time. Just like driving a Jetta but sitting up higher.
    • Seats: These aren’t the same seats that are in the MK7 Jetta even though they look the similar. These have more robust side bolsters and what feel like thicker cushions.
    • Wheel: Same as in every other VW product, decent flat bottom style, but no paddle shifters!
    • Audio: So far, sounds good. I’ll count speakers later. Door speakers have nice bass.
    • Shifter: After many upgrades, the sloppy VW stock shifter was gone and a notchy feel was attained. The stock clutch was gone at 80k miles and replaced with a vr6 clutch.
  • Handling: The stock suspension is comfortable and boat like. The steering however, comes out of the MQB Golf underpinnings so it turns like a small car.
  • Performance: 276 hp & 266 lbs. ft  feels slow in something that weighs 4,500lbs.  That said, it’s sufficient for what this really is.
  • MPG: I averaged around 18 MPG so far with the way I drive.
  • How Long: Bought in December 30, 2021 at 28K miles
  • Why sold?  N/A – Current daily.

2014 AUDI A4 Quattro – 2.0T – 6 spd Manual

Overall: Quick, comfortable, classy, but not perfect.

• • Exterior: Not a huge fan of white cars, this was an impulse purchase because of how hard it was to find cars at the time. I still very much like the look of the B8.5 A4/S4’s, especially with the lighting package (that I didn’t have)
  •  Interior: Overall a nice place to be, the typical Audi ergonomics, soft touch appointments, and smells that we have come to love.
    • Seats: These regular seats are fine for getting from A to B. That said, I prefer side bolster support of which this has none. I also really appreciate thigh support as a tall person and again this left a 5″ gap from where the seat ended and where my knee bends.
    • Wheel: Not as thick as a BMW steering wheel and didn’t have heat!
    • Infotainment: Typical Audi MMI from this generation, but was basically useless since I do everything from my phone and bluetooth. The system showed it’s age on startup and would sometimes take a while to boot up.
    • Audio: The open air subwoofer was a nice try, but basically worthless, the center channel speaker is a nice touch, but overall audio experience was subpar.
    • Shifter: The shifter ergonomics are nice, but the throws are long, a little spongy and for some reason it squeaked when going in reverse.
  • Handling: The stock suspension gives you a boat like feeling over highway bumps when cruising, but somehow when pushing it around a circular roundabout, it feels balanced and capable as you rip through the turn as fast as your nerves will allow.
  • Performance: Pulls hard for a little 2.0T, but it was when a BMW 335i walked away from me at a light that I realized I had chosen the wrong platform or at least the wrong version (i.e the S4)
  • MPG: I averaged 24.5 MPG with the way I drive (which is hard and mostly in lower gears) 70% Highway
  • How Long: Bought 8/19/21 at 66K miles and traded in 12/30/21 @ 73k miles
  • Why sold? Wanted something bigger for home renovation projects and to potentially tow a track car.

2015 Toyota Prius III – 1.8L – CVT

Functional, efficient, humble, cheap and slow.

• • Exterior: After a while it starts to win you over. I didn’t think I would like this car as much as I did. The styling is sharp and the black accents create sleek contrasts with the silver body.
  •  Interior: Overall a cheap place to be, besides the infotainment system, it’s just like any other Toyota interior from this generation. The plastics feel cheap, but it’s quiet and reliable.
    • Seats: These regular seats are fine for getting from A to B. I’d rate the side bolsters a 4. There was no lumbar support in the cloth version which was the most sold package.
    • Wheel: Once swapped with a leather steering wheel, the cushion was soft and comfortable. The stock rubber wheel feels gross no matter how much you clean it and it has the added benefit of peeling and disintegrating over time.
    • Infotainment: I do everything from my phone and bluetooth which worked smooth with bluetooth audio for music. The system showed it’s age on startup and would sometimes take a while to boot up.
    • Audio: This has a very basic system with front and rear door speakers alone. Nothing impressive, so I used the extra space to plug in a 12″ Alpine Type R and the bass definitely overpowered the stock speakers.
    • Shifter: The shifter ergonomics are weird at first, but you get used to the whole shift to park and drive situation. It would automatically put itself in park when you stop and just turn it off, so that was nice.
  • Handling: The stock suspension was less boat like than the Audi A4, this is where this car started to win me over. The unique weight distribution due to the hybrid battery being right in between the rear wheels makes it handle almost like a mid-engine car. Within a few days I was tossing this thing into turns with ease.
  • Performance: Don’t get me wrong, my first car had like 140 hp and that’s totally fine for getting around, but it is Painstakingly slow!
  • MPG: I averaged 35-40 MPG with the way I drive (which was basically foot to the floor everywhere) 70% Highway
  • How Long: Bought July 2020 at 130K miles and sold June 2021 at 138K miles
  • Why sold? Sold it to use the capital as a downpayment for a house.

2015 MINI Cooper S – 2.0T – 6 spd Manual

Quirky, quick, race pedigree, cute, easy to drive, and memorable.

• • Exterior: Looks weird to some, others see it and smile, many have pointed and yelled to their friends, hey it’s a MINI, and even little kids point and say, “That’s a cool car!”
  •  Interior: The cockpit is outfitted with similar switches found in older jets and planes. It’s comfortable and nice like a BMW, but creaks like an Audi/VW product.
    • Seats: The sport seats are very good. they have nice side bolstering for those under 250 lbs and the thigh support extends for those of us who need it.
    • Wheel: Doesn’t have heat, but it has nice leather and feels like a BMW wheel.
    • Infotainment: This one didn’t have a screen, just a regular radio, since everything I do is on the phone anyway.
    • Audio: This had a decent HK basic system with BMW’s typical mid-bass under seat woofers (genius if you ask me).
    • Shifter: The shifter is awesome, almost notches into each gear and the auto rev matching makes it so easy to commute many miles in.
  • Handling: The stock suspension was actually very good considering it wasn’t the sport or JCW suspension. This thing really is a street legal go kart! I haven’t gotten around town faster than when I was rolling around in the MINI. (BMW is a close 2nd, but the Twin Scroll Turbo provides a lot of torque throughout the rev band and gets you places quick)
  • Performance: Quick and definitely fun, the engine can do so much more, but there is no LSD so there is a LOT of wheel spin and without AWD more power just means more spin.
  • MPG: I averaged 28 MPG with the way I drive (which was basically foot to the floor everywhere) 50% Highway
  • How Long:Bought February 2019 at 27K miles and sold10/19/20  at 44K miles
  • Why sold? Sold it to get rid of a payment, but would have kept it if I had the money.

2012 Toyota Tacoma – 2.7L – 5 Spd Manual

Reliable, comfortable, rugged, but a small cabin.

• • Exterior: Did you know that geniuses pick green. (Meet the Fockers) Love the color and the truck, just wish it had 4 doors.
  •  Interior: Rugged and manual everything interior wasn’t a bad place to be, except for the 90 degree bench seating.
    • Seats: Honestly, it did wonders for my posture (I think), but sitting straight up in a 90 degree angle gets old quick. On long drives, you really wish you had the option to recline.
    • Wheel: Typical Toyota rubber wheel, it is similar to the Prius stock wheel, but it’s a little thicker.
    • Infotainment: This one didn’t have a screen, just a regular radio, since everything I do is on the phone anyway.
    • Audio: This had just a couple of door speakers, which makes for a very rudimentary audio experience.
    • Shifter: A manual truck has it’s advantages and disadvantages. You have to drive it a certain way, but If I had to do it again, I would get the V6.
  • Handling: The stock suspension was amazing off-road, I could just go over anything almost at speed. On pavement, it wasn’t a racecar and the tires made a little nose.
  • Performance: Not fast at all, definitely like a 9/10 sec 0-6o
  • MPG: I averaged 18 MPG with the way I drive (which was basically foot to the floor everywhere) 70% Highway
  • How Long: Bought in August 2018 and sold in April 2020
  • Why sold? Sold it because it would just sit and it wasn’t fun to drive on pavement.

2008 BMW 528i – 3.0L – 6 Spd Manual

Reliable, balanced, race-car handling, executive comfort, but underpowered.

• • Exterior: Wish I could have added the M-sport package, but the E60 is one of my favorite designs!
  •  Interior: Luxurious, comfortable and driver oriented.
    • Seats: Honestly, the best seats I have ever sat in. I had the 22 way adjustable comfort seats and omg have these spoiled me for future cars.
    • Wheel: Taken from the BMW M5, the wheel has nice leather and it’s heated! (another thing to spoil me for future cars)
    • Infotainment: This one had BMW’s first iDrive CCC System. It worked well until the unit died and cost $650 to remanufacture. At this point, these can have apple car play retrofitted, if I get another iDrive, that’s the first thing I’m doing.
    • Audio: This had the Hi-Fi system, not the Logic-7 fiberoptic system, but it still was far superior to many other systems. It included 4 front door speakers, 2 rear deck 6×9’s and 2 under-seat mid-bass woofers which combined for a really nice audio experience for both music and voice.
    • Shifter: A manual transmission BMW is the culmination of many years of driving focused engineering. While in stock form, the dual clutch was easy to use and had strong gripping power all the way to 135k miles when it finally disintegrated.
  • Handling: The stock sport suspension was tuned to perfection, combined with the hydraulic sway-bar this thing defied gravity. You could take a turn at a moments notice, avoid obstacles, and out-turn many sports cars.
  • Performance: 228HP and 199 lb⋅ft just feels slow in a 3,600 lb car. That said, I do miss having a 7K rpm Red Line.
  • MPG: When it had 50K miles I was averaging 24mpg. Towards the end, I lost some of the under car panels due to oil soak and then only averaged 18 MPG with the way I drive (which was basically foot to the floor everywhere) 40% Highway
  • How Long: Bought in June 2012 at 50K miles and sold in May 2020 at 140k miles.
  • Why sold? Sold it then used the funds to buy the Prius to drive Uber Eats.

2000 VW Jetta – 2.0L – 5 Spd Manual

Reliable, slow, small, crayon smell, low, but cheap.

• • Exterior: Something about the MkIV Jetta still looks good to me after all these years.
  •  Interior: Not a bad place to spend your time. Didn’t have a lot of storage, but just enough for one person.
    • Seats: The stock seats were ok, but after swapping in the GLI black leather seats what a difference. I really miss how well bolstered those seats were.
    • Wheel: Nothing to brag about, but it did hold up without issues.
    • Audio: This had 4 front door speakers, 2 rear door speakers and I installed a center channel speaker along with 2 x 12″ Alpine Type R’s. Really loved driving around blasting the BASS.
    • Shifter: After many upgrades, the sloppy VW stock shifter was gone and a notchy feel was attained. The stock clutch was gone at 80k miles and replaced with a vr6 clutch.
  • Handling: The stock suspension was an economy setup that honestly sucked. I installed two sets of coilovers in my ownership. The first were blue Streeline coils which I snapped from being too low and then I replaced them with Raceland Coilovers which were a bit rougher and didn’t handle as well, but went lower!
  • Performance: 140HP was slow but the car didn’t weigh much so that helped. Eventually I added a Unitronic tune, CAI and GLI exhaust which helped a ton!
  • MPG: I averaged around 24 MPG pre-mods and 26/27 MPG Post-mods 60% highway
  • How Long: Bought in June 2007 at 48K miles and sold in May 2012 at 144k miles.
  • Why sold? Sold it then used the funds to buy the BMW.

2001 AUDI A4 Quattro – 1.8T – Automatic (No pictures )

Quick, comfortable, small, audi smell, but cheap.

• • Exterior:
  •  Interior: 
    • Seats:
    • Wheel:
    • Audio:
    • Shifter:
  • Handling:
  • Performance:
  • MPG:
  • How Long: Bought in June 2005 at 48K miles
  • Why sold? I unfortunately totaled this one.