A dream come true for a german car guy

[Wireclimer]

Back in late 2011 my company asked if I could help them out by moving to Germany for a few years to help grow the business. After I said yes I moved in early 2012 out to Aachen Germany to work.

It took a few months to process all of the paper work and get settled in but one of the requirements of my job is lots of travel, and that necessitates me having a car...

As a kid who's first car was an old VW fox wagon from my older brother and favorite daily driver ever was a 98 TDI jetta I have never owned a "new" car in my life. For me the chance to get a German car in Germany was kind of a dream come true. As the process followed thru I was able to pick and choose between a ton of options and make my very own VW built in Wolfsburg. Ill spare the details for now but I was able to build in my range a 4 door TDI golf with quite a few goodies in it. Basicaly a GTD without the plaid seats.

Last week the deal got even more unbelievable for me when I got this letter in the mail:


So i have been basically hopping up and down for a week because i get to go to VW AutoStadt and get my car out of the pez dispenser thing like a real German!

Today I went out and got my package of plates and paperwork to bring it home, So i actually HAVE euro plates. And they are SUPPOSED to go on my car!


Tomorrow morning early I will get on a train to go to Autostadt and pick up my first new VW. So... I'm excited...

[JUSTION337]

Awesome!



Also, +1000 scene points

[Digital K]

oh man, exciting! happy for ya!

[likes2party]

Who do you work for, and are they hiring?

[Stumanbmx]

Super rad. Keep us updated!

[Wireclimer]

I feel a fight club quote coming on here...

"What car company did you say you work for?" - Lady

"A major one." - Jack

I work for a paint, chemicals, and coatings company called Valspar. We are always hiring (-= Ill make sure I post picks tomorrow of the whole deal!

[isonic]

That is pretty sweet. Of course we will want all of the details about the car once you get it and have been driving it for a while.

[tattoo-freak]

sweet deal man happy for ya

[Aladinsane07]

Awesome. In for pics.

[derp]

awesome dude.

[Wireclimer]

I had a long day.

got on the train at 4 am after waking up at 315. Slept and ate on train, that was nice. took the ICE (fast train) to Wolfsburg to get the car. It was raining heavy all morning.

I arrived at 920 am and walked from the train station to the plant and Autostadt (VW has the plant, pick up area, and the car disney land called autostadt in the area)
Registered I was there and was lead up a crazy escalator to the room where a group of people help figure out the last paperwork, check in your license plates to be put on your car etc. My paperwork was messed up so they told me to go play in Autostadt while they fixed it. Every person was good looking and tall, they all wore suites that matched or business power dresses. they all had the same glasses on and all used identical wooden desks with Imacs at each one of them and an ipad on the desk as well. (sorry no pics of this) Also walked past people running Touaregs (however you spell that damn cars name) running some offroad courses.



I walked thru the autostadt museums and display areas and tried to notice what was new, They just opened the Porsche building so i spent some time in there, here are a few of those pics.

[Aladinsane07]

Sounds like an awesome visit. But no update on the TDI?

[9jetta6]

sweet, really liking that quote too.

[Wireclimer]

Wolfsburg part 2:

Sorry for the delay, I was unable to say and post all I wanted at one time due to an early appointment today that required me to get my sleep on.

I was called back to the room of VW guys that looked suspiciously like an Apple store and received my ticket for getting my car, I was told that my paperwork had been approved finaly ! yay! They gave me this:

So i was basically holding a ticket to my car in my hand. I immediately started wondering what would happen if I lost it , Like when I had the check for the down payment on my house, it was kind of freaky to hold this kind of thing in my hand and worry over it until my 12:15 appointment. I don't think I let go of it the whole time.
I then ran off to the dealership building to eat a quick free lunch from VW (thanks VW!) and wait to get my car. The building on the map behind the ticket with the black writing on it was the dealership building.
After I handed them my ticket they lead me to a waiting area on the top of the building where you sat in very nice chairs in a very well appointed open air room and were waited on with cookies and coffee and drinks of whatever you wanted while your turn with a car guy to set up your car came up.
I met my car guy who later informed me VW actually sent out to a dealership in wolfsburg city to get him for me since they could tell I had an American accent and wanted to be sure I could talk and ask any question I wanted during the process. They were going WAY above and beyond. It was very cool. He then walked me down to "meet" my car. Germans use a different work for knowing a person vs knowing a fact or a city or something. They all used the term for knowing a person when talking about the cars here... My first view of my car

They took pictures too. And yes Eurowerks was in the house. They made it a big deal for everyone, and although I know hyping the car is in the end good for them, They did things for people that was far more special than it seemed self serving. I think they truly believe they are making cars for people knowing, that for some, it is far more than a car. It was wonderful to see. They brought out Champagne and helped organize a wedding proposal for this couple's guy. They also had a real photographer show up and take some pictures. They guy was more than misty eyed over the fact they had done that for him, just because he bought a car from VW.


I was waled thru every feature of my car, Told stories about the engine and development stuff, when I asked questions that were complicated a tech guy came over and told me more, They showed me my build sheet, asked if everything was good and told me I could stay in the place all day long and hotels were available at reduced rates for me and my family if I was interested.

The car is silver, has LED running lights, HID headlights, HID full fog, LED tails. The high end navi ( Germany is hard to drive around so that was a must) The GTD breaks and suspension same as GTI i believe and the 2.0 140 HP TDI engine with the lower 6th gear transmission. You can option this from the factory and forgo the Bluemotion body kit and subsequently badging if your companies purchasing guy asks for the best configuration for tax in Germany. I was not that smart. I was told 1000km no over 3K RPM 1000-2000RPM no over 4K RPM, the car will let you know when to change the oil based on driving history and re gen cycles. Go fourth and drive.

Then I finally got to drive the thing. Out onto the A2 Autobahn that goes from Berlin to Oberhausen and I was on my way home. The car was great. After 2 months in a Ford C-Max 1.6 Liter it was a dream. A Golf is nothing special but a golf is special. Everything was intuitive and well put together, easy to remember from American Mk 5's but the fit and finish was better. Things felt better in hand and were quieter by a ton from the Mk 5. IT could still do 185 KPH with a 3K redline and was solid on the Bahn. I ran back towards Aachen between 130-180KPH traffic allowing. Properly fast and smooth enough to ENJOY the Bahn. I spent the trip switching from 5th to 6th and back remembering what I felt was good sounding info from TDI club about ring sealing on the pistons. never the same RPM for more than 20 KM's or so during the first phase of break in.

I was tired but I was all smiles.

[3L3M3NT]

Sounds like an awesome experience

Yeah, you definitely wanna vary the rpms and a few full throttle blurps wouldn't hurt imo.

Now only if we could get that car stateside Better yet just bring it back with you when you return stateside.