Travel Magazine

Cars …. Past, Present, and Future

By Kenin Bassart @Constantramble

We love road tripping. Weekend road trips was pretty much how Kenin and I started traveling before we could afford to do it by plane or ship. Cars …. Past, Present, and FutureWe have had a few cars in the 10+ years that we have been together and we believe, truly believe in buying a car to drive it.

Cars are not just a mode of transportation for us. Our vehicles have personality. They take us places, yes they do, but they are also a mode of fun and relaxation. We buy our cars and we drive the heck out of ‘em! Here’s some of the cars we’ve owned in the past including our most current ride.

Dottie - Volkswagen Golf

Say Hello to Dottie

This is Dottie. She was our first new car and is a 2004 Volkswagen Golf. She was the entry level model and was a great starter car for our family. We left her stock but did add an Amp and 12″ discreet sub to get our groove on. We owned her for a few years and drove her all over Florida and the south. The two longest trips she has ever taken was to New Orleans, and our first snow hunting trip to the Smokies. When we sold her we’d racked up about 100K miles in 5 years.

Volkswagen limited edition 2005 beetle

Roxie- 2005 Volkswagen Beetle convertible.

A few years down the road, Kenin bought me my first brand-new car. I was the proud owner of a 2005 Volkswagen Beetle convertible. This was the limited Dark Flint edition car and less than 4000 were made. We decided with all her red-light district bling, we would name her Roxanne.

 

2005 Volkswagen Beetle convertible

Volume Up Top Down

Roxie was my daily driver and because we couldn’t fit the dogs in this car, sadly, she didn’t get to road trip much. Living in Florida however, she was our primary beach cruiser and day tripper. She was a 4 Cylinder 2WD Automatic and when we sold her she had about 30k miles on her.

 
For our next car we decided to step up into a luxury vehicle and chose Audi because we had been so happy with VW and also because the A5 is one sexy machine! When Kenin started working for a new company, I decided to get him a new toy. I bought him Beatrix (I called her BB and Kenin called her Trixie). At this point I began working from home so we became a one-car family.

2009 Audi A5

Trixie- 2009 Audi A5

Trixie was a 2009 Audi A5 AWD. She had a 3.2 L V6 engine and the Premium Plus package which included Bang and Olufsen Audio and built in Nav (which is a Rambler essential!). In addition to this, 20″ Wheels, a Stasis Exhaust package, and an HR Spring kit were installed.  Needless to say this kitty purrrred and drove like it was on rails!

Cars …. Past, Present, and Future

 

We drove her all the way from Tampa to  NE Pennsylvania when we relocated. It was our first winter in the north and she handled the snowy and icy roads superbly with her all-wheel drive. This car made many mini road trips all over the Northeast and when we traded her in 18 months later, she clocked about 38k miles!

When we traded in the Audi, we decided to scale down and get a car that could take some serious wear and tear and also fit the dogs a bit more comfortably.

Cars …. Past, Present, and Future
We bought Britney, our 2011 GTI Autobahn. It’s running a 2.0L Turbo and 6-speed manual transmission. I must say it’s fun to be back in a smaller and lighter car and it’s great on gas mileage. She’s bone stock for now, but I suspect she may be getting tuned soon.  We bought this car in September of 2011 and currently have already put 24k on her. We took our last 35 day road trip to Seattle from Miami and back. She is a spunky little thing and when you fold down the back seats, you can fit almost anything in the car, while the front seats have enough leg and head room to comfortably accomodate Ken’s 6’4″ frame.
Cars …. Past, Present, and Future

Hopefully our next vehicle can be one of these. I have big dreams of owning a VW bus and one day i will make it a reality. This seems like the ultimate road trip vehicle!

VW bus

Future vehicle

 


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