Shiny pipes

A while ago I decided I should really clean my exhaust tips--they were getting pretty black. You can check here for more details. I also made some minor updates to my dedicated R32 site on the weekend.

Luongo is a Canuck!

Wowee! This news was a complete and utter surprise for me. Today Nonis acquired Luongo, Krajicek, and a 6th round pick with Bertuzzi, Allen and Auld going to the Florida Panthers. I'd been assuming the Canucks were going to stick with Cloutier for better and for worse, but this makes me a happy camper. This brings a question immediately to mind: are we going to keep both Luongo and Cloutier for a strong 1-2 (or 2-1, depending on how you feel about Cloutier) in net, or will Cloutier be going?

I'm also glad Bertuzzi is gone. He has too much baggage in Vancouver and deserves a fresh start somewhere else.

You can read more details, here.

You snooze, you lose

For the past eighteen months or so I've been enjoying the peace of mind that comes with being able to park, every day, in my favourite parking spot at work. The width is acceptable, it's in a corner so that by angling the R the chances of getting dinged by even the biggest of trucks is severely limited, and it's covered--providing some degree of protection versus the elements and inconsiderate avians. I've been a daily occupant due to the relatively early nature of my arrival--at that time there are normally only 2-3 other vehicles parked on that level, and they're parked much closer to the elevators/stairs.

Recently, however, another car--a Kia, no less--has been occupying *my* spot. Of all the brazen nerve! Shame! Unforgiveable! :op At least I've been able to beat the Kia to that spot about half of the time. It's a matter of when I start my commute and how bad traffic is on any particular day--but honestly, there's a limit even for me as to to how much I'm willing to sacrifice sleep for my R.

Seriously, though, this has reminded me that the world is much bigger than a world soley made of dubluv. I was aware of enthusiasts of other makes, in no particular order, like Audi, BMW, Honda, Subaru et cetera. The list goes on and on. But truthfully I never thought Kia?!

Anywhoo, I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was, and the Kia driver might not be a "Kia enthusiast", but someone who simply takes care of their ride--irrespective of what they drive--which is a sentiment I certainly share and respect. It looks stock, and it's looks clean whenever I see it.

I did a quick google (and when exactly did that become a verb?) and came up with this Kia forum.

Oh well. I guess I'm back to deciding how much sleep I really need....

Before and After

For my own amusement :o)

Before...


...and after....

It's official: 2008 VW Golf V R32 (U.S.)

According to an Autoweek article published 19 June 2006:

Now that Volkswagen’s GTI is here and the return of the Rabbit (formerly known as Golf) is imminent, VW is confirming the next piece of the product picture: R32, the performance variant of the Golf that went on sale in Europe last fall (News, Aug. 15, 2005) will arrive in the States in June 2007 as a 2008 model.

I made a previous post on this subject if you're interested in further details.

Personal fuel consumption data

With the rise in gasoline prices it gets kind of depressing whenever I update my R32 fuel consumption information. A couple years ago I could fill up my tank for about $26, now it's more than $40. Oh well. If I had been looking to save money on gasoline I wouldn't have bought a R32 ;o)

My personal R32 fuel consumption data: Year 2006

Data for previous years, click here.

Time for a change

I decided it was past time I gave my R32 Gallery a new look. It actually took less time than I feared to update all the pages. I also finally figured out how to solve a tables-with-borders problem I'd been dealing with. Originally I wanted to keep my website simple--nothing fancy that would slow down loading times--but that ended up making it look pretty amateurish, and soon it began to annoy me. Anywhoo, I prefer the new look, at least for now, and hopefully I'll be satisfied with it for longer than the previous design... though I'm still trying to decide if there's too much purple.