My Mark IV Jetta, YAH, parked at a pumpkin patch across the James river in Surry, VA.
The sky was overcast -- it would later spit rain -- but my son really enjoyed tromping around the fields, occasionally examining a pumpkin but often more interested in the gestalt of the field. (I quite enjoyed it, too.)

Good memories are imprecise; details fade into the blur of an event.

(Sometimes, one must throw Realism out for Impressionism.)

In this case, she was going in for her 90k mile service and a headlight upgrade. Apparently a breather hose failed, causing a variable-speed fan to stay on max until it burned out, and several other parts of her engine need fixing. I am admittedly hazy on the details.

I just know that the repair bill will have four digits left of the decimal.

With that in mind, I am somewhat less excited about the headlight upgrade that I decided to treat myself and my car to. See, the Mark IV Jettas have headlights that scratch and cloud over, rendering them less bright than one might like. I watch the new cars pass me on I64 and wonder if that many people really drive with their brights on.

There is also this unshakeable guilt that we might have seen that deer coming last year with brighter lights in a wider dispersal pattern.

So when the headlight polishing had worn off, instead of dropping in the same OEM lamps for the GL/GLS model, I opted for the very cool GLX/GLI style, with integrated fog lights for better peripheral vision.

Yes. I pimped my ride, and all I did was add fogs. No smoked glass, no Angel Eye reflectors, no HID/Xenon upgrade kit.

I think I’d rather have an engine that runs instead of 19” wheels, anyway.

YAHzie turned 90k this past Monday.

(I have the actual 90k shot, but it's very blurry. My carsickness returns just looking at it.)

I am really quite pleased to have YAH back from the shop.

This time, I took her to Ebby's Auto Painting & Collision Repair (757-220-0695) and they did a great job with her. Their good reputation in town is justly deserved.

Best of all? She was clean when I picked her up.

It's the little things that matter.

I was driving south in the middle lane of I-95 on the evening of February 26th in moderately heavy traffic when I hit an object in the road. This time, instead of deer flesh and bone, it was a sizable hunk of metal, bouncing from where it had fallen off a truck.

There was no swerving, no where to move; I plowed straight over it with a sickening THUNK and a tremendous jolt which nearly wrenched the wheel out of my hand.

It looked like the center part of a truck axle, but that couldn’t be possible, could it? A semi pulled over ahead of us, so perhaps it was. I pulled over and tried to see if there was any damage, but cell phones do not make good flashlights. Merrystar suggested that we go to a gas station and check for fluid leaks, which was a very good idea. We didn’t find anything, so we nervously resumed our journey home.

Here’s what I didn’t see that night:

• The front bumper valence took a direct hit from whatever the hunk was, tearing it up.
• It then slammed into the engine sling, seriously denting it.
• Bouncing right along, it mangled the exhaust heat shield and gashed a hole straight through the floor, exposing carpet.
• Back up into the exhaust system, denting the muffler and gouging a support strut.
• Then it went for the kill, gashing a hole 2cm to the right of the gas tank.
• Foiled, it contented itself with poking a hole through the floor of YAH’s trunk.

The sad thing is that it took two visits to the dealer (Casey Volkswagen, Newport News) to find this out. On the first visit I was assured that everything was fine under there, some scratches, nothing more. It was only after the mangled heat shield started rattling that I took it back and was shown some of the problem, though they omitted the fuel tank and holes in the floor.

It was only by taking it to the local body shop (Ebby’s) and filing a claim did I see the whole extent of the damage. YAH was declared undrivable (fumes from the exhaust could enter the cabin) so I’m now in a rental car.

I’m really disappointed in Casey Volkswagen right now. They had an opportunity to gain my trust, and instead they blew it in the worst way possible.

Because, you know, I love my car. Love keeps her flyin’.

(Well, love … and dead dinosaur. Mmmm, tasty dead dinosaur.)

Two of the three family Jettas parked for a picnic. JML ('jay'mull') is on the left, YAH ('yaah') is on the right.

These are fourth generation Jettas. The black one is mine, with the 1.8T turbocharged engine and 17" Long Beach wheels. The silver TDI (my parents in-law's) is a late model Mark IV diesel.

You can see some of the subtle styling cues introduced at the end of the model run by VW in this picture; note the different trunk lip and rear light clusters. A chrome strip was also added around the newer model to make it look more upscale, though it's difficult to see in bright sunlight.

The major redesign of the fifth (current) generation Jettas left me cold. I don't like it at all. Even without the move to the Audi A5 platform, I would not purchase one based solely on the looks alone. It's now too big, visibility is reduced, and it looks like every other car on the road. I'll stick with the Mark IVs as the car for me.

(Yeah, I like my car. You're just now noticing that?)

VW’s cleanest, greenest model - the Polo BlueMotion - will be launched in Britain in the middle of this year. The BlueMotion model is a special variant of the mini Polo model that has a range of over 700 miles from a mere 11.9 gallon fuel tank thanks to fuel economy of 60 mpg. The 1.4L three cylinder diesel cranks out only 78 hp but still manages a 0-62 mph run of 12.8 sec. The five seater has been tweaked with goodies like low rolling resistance tires, taller gear rations and smaller rear-view mirrors. The down stream side of the engine is equipped with exhaust gas recirculation, a particulate filter and oxidation catalyst. Most impressively it has lower CO2 emissions than a Toyota Prius at only 102g/km, 2g less than the Japanese hybrid.

Looks good, too:

Glad we’re not alone in this, then.

Every car is good at something. The body roll and loosey-goosey suspension of the massive Hoopty Country Squire is so striking that all but the most brazen opponents will concede the line in every turn. My Mazda pickup truck was so stiff and predictable, you could dump if completely sideways and that little four cylinder would really roar as you powered out of a slide in 1st gear at 6000 RPM. A champion, that little truck.

• Mileage log is updated. I’ll count these as spa days for now, even though they’re really not her fault. (Spa days are really a reliability indicator, not an accident one. Hmmm. Will have to consider a different metric next time.)

• Calamity has been discussed on the ‘tex.

• Pictures have been tagged, reviewed, and discussed, leaving me glad that both of us walked away.

However, I need to stop brooding over my car.

In the light of day, the damage isn’t as bad as we feared.

I mean, every body piece on the driver’s side will need to be either replaced or repainted, and the hood, windshield and roof too, but YAH is structurally just fine. State Farm has been good to deal with so far, and everything looks to be covered under Comprehensive.

Full picture sets are available on Flickr or Zooomr. The neat thing about these newfangled photo sites is that you can show where things happen.

Now, on to the important matter of the evening. I have to find a deer kill sticker for my car. Four more, and she’s an ace. Any ideas where I can get them?

• Two weeks ago Monday, Merrystar had a backup accident that erased 4 years of data. Poof.

• Last Monday, I was pulled over for violating certain state traffic laws.

• Today, I thought we’d escaped with nothing more than some bad days at work. Foolish me! Troubles come in threes!

• Tonight Merrystar hit a deer on the way home this evening on US Rt. 60. We are both okay, and very, very lucky.

My car? Well…

Let’s just say that YAH was carried off on the wrecker yelling “I got him!”

(Merrystar’s only comment was, “what will I tell Trip? I killed Bambi?”)

Anyone know a good traffic lawyer in Spotsylvania county, VA? I’ve got a traffic summons I need to fight.

(And I may have a turbo VW to sell shortly.)