Yay!! After 2 years of meaning to do this, I’m finally making it happen!! This weekend I’m flying to Seattle to buy the TDI I’ve been looking for: VW Golf TDI, 4DR, GLS (power windows/keyless entry/etc), Automatic and… RED!!! woohooo! Here’s a pic of my soon-to-be new ride:

UPDATE: Here’s photos from my roadtrip going to get my new car!! And here’s some more current photos of SMOO!

What’s a TDI? TDI stands for Turbodiesel, which means it the car can run on any combination of diesel and biodiesel! Biodiesel is essentially “veggie oil” and I’m super stoked to be a part of the green movement with my car, and paying less & less into the mad gas racket that’s going on.

Whoa, you’re flying all the way to Seattle? YES! These TDI’s are actually becoming harder & harder to find. You can’t buy one brand new here in CA, and buying used you quickly find yourself limited to the selection here in the Bay Area. Mostly because they get purchased very fast, and even then to find the features I was looking for, it was clear I would have to look nationally. I spoke with a couple people who have had theirs shipped all the way from the East Coast, so I’m actually way down for a west coast road trip than having to pay for shipping from so far away!

In addition to my TDI being red, automatic, 4 door, etc – the price is right, too. I don’t have any debt and I don’t want any. So it was important for me to find a car that would be priced as close to how much I think I can get for my Trooper. Plus, the girl I’m buying it from sounds awesome. She’s selling it because she’s about to take a round the world trip! My friend, Kevin, is doing that right now and he’s having a blast.

If you want more info on biodiesel, here are some cool resources:

• Biodiesel Blog - my friend Eric maintains this blog & has been an awesome resource & inspiration for me in my quest. He has a silver VW Golf TDI :)
• SFBiofuel.com – San Francisco’s Biodiesel Co-op!
• BioFuelOasis -Berkeley fuel station
• Berkeley Biodiesel Collective

If you are looking to buy a TDI, you can do individual searches in every city’s Craigslist, or you can also do an advanced National search on carsdirect.com, using the keywords “diesel” or “tdi”.

Biodiesel is a little more per gallon right now, but the more people sign on to this (which is happening right now at a rapid rate) then hopefully the price can continue to come down. Eric & I might also look into setting up something in my garage/basement for filtering our own… but we’ll see. The best news is that I will go from getting 17 MPG in my Trooper, to getting 42-49 MPG in this TDI! And I’m thinking my insurance will even go down. wooohooo!

Hello road trip #2 in 30 days! First LA, now this! I read (err, listened) to the book Pattern Recognition on my way to/from LA a couple weeks ago, which was fun. It was like every time I got back in my car, I could dive back into the world of the book. I’ve got a big list of audio books, so I’ll let you know what I end up listening to. I’ll have plenty of time, that’s for sure! I’ve heard this scenery on this trip is really pretty, too. I’m excited!