One of the projects I wanted to accomplish on this sabbatical was to get myself a cool new commuter car.  Not necessarily a mid-life crisis car.  But something a little more sophisticated than the Jeep, and fun to drive.  Having enlisted my oldest son as my automotive advisor, we spent the better part of a month trying to narrow down what the right car for me would be, and would be acceptable to a car snob like him… We finally agreed on the ‘07/’08 Audi RS4.  Sleek yet conservative styling, practical 4 doors but not an “old man sedan”, and most importantly, a manual transmission with 425 horsepower – REAL driving.  And at about the same price as the Jeep.

Only problem is that it’s a car collectors’ car, rarely available in good condition, and if so, it gets snapped up quickly.  A couple were immediately for sale in Calgary but my mechanic had a look and suggested we walk away from both of them. We continued watching the market for a few months, but nothing surfaced and we began slowly losing hope.  Then one popped onto our radar this week. Only problem was it was in Vancouver 1,000km away.  Knowing we had to act quickly, and after a little back and forth with the owner, a car purchase road trip came together the next day.  Fly there, drive it back.

With my trusty car advisor sidekick in tow (happy to ditch school for 2 days…), we met the owner, looked under the hood, nodded our heads and made some comments like we knew what we were talking about (“looks really clean”, “nice new fuel injectors”), advised him that we would take it, and were on our way. We were told the car had some drive shaft issues but took a leap of faith that they weren’t too bad, or at least would survive the trip home. 

Stop #1 was to buy some winter tires on the way out of town, as it was a Vancouver summer car that had to get back to Calgary via the Rocky Mountains.  Stop #2 was when we were pulled over by the police, who saw us driving a little bit fast (425 horsepower remember), ran the license plate and thought the car was stolen because the plate was registered to a Jeep…

Long story short, we made it but it still sits at my mechanic waiting for a front axle replacement.  Its already become a passion project money pit, but glad we got a chance to make this happen.  Definitely wouldn’t have come together without the sabbatical…