Take it away Mr. Brown…

My first car was a Honda Accord LXi with manual transmission and flip-up headlights.  It was nothing special, but I loved it.  It was my first ticket to freedom growing up, and I drove it across country and back with my friend in college.  When  I moved to Brooklyn after college, I rode more subways than cars for seven years.   So when we moved to Ithaca, and began a more domesticated life, one of the things I was most excited about was getting a new car.

When it came time to research I was pretty out of the loop on the choices available today.  We’ve come a long way from a black on black Ford Model-T.   Not only do you now have a choice of color, but you also have a choice of manufacturing country, accessories and environmentally conscious technology.  So when we looked at our needs, in no particular order, they were:  enough room to fit a growing family of at least one child and a 75 pound dog, limits on environmental impact and fun to drive.  Within a few hours of researching options, I realized those three factors really limit your options.  Most cars that claim to be environmentally concious are either too small, or pretty boring to drive.

But then I came across an article about clean-diesel technology from Volkswagon.  Diesel?  Isn’t that the same engine that fell out of favor years ago because of the noise, smoke and pollution?  Well, it’s making a comeback due to improved production and emission control.  The noise has been reduced and the pollution has been cut down.  Yet, it still has the same power and efficiency that made them popular from the start…

And after much reading and test-driving, we’re now the proud owners of a Volkswagon TDI Sportswagon.  We got ours with stick shift and a “moon roof” which is basically a sunroof that runs from the front seat to the trunk.  (Bringing some much needed light into the car during grey Ithaca winters).

To sum up my review of the car, it rocks.  We’re averaging over 45 miles per gallon on the highway and more than 35 in town.  I’m having as much fun driving this as I did my old Honda Accord and I can sleep better at night knowing that when the world runs out of oil, we can fill our tank with excess vegetable oil from McDonalds.