The most expensive way to have personal transportation that anyone can adopt is to always be driving as new of a car as someone thinks that they can afford. Your Beetle has (will have) 25,000 miles on it and it will be paid off. That car with service and yes some repairs could easily see twenty years of age and ten times the mileage, although not at the pace you are using it. Yours will only have around 100,000 miles on it, at approximately 20 years. On the day you pay off your Beetle. Take $100 and go open a brand new savings account. When the next payment on your Beetle would have been due if you had not of paid it off, you have to make a deposit to that savings account in the amount that your payment would have been. The only time you can use the money that goes into that savings account is if your Beetle needs a repair that exceeds $1000. Or on the day when it finally does not make any sense to keep your Beetle. Repairs like brakes, tires, fluid changes, etc all have to be budgeted for and paid for through your normal income. You must still make that payment to your car savings account even when you have these other normal automobile expenses, because that's what it would be like if you actually had a car payment. Now "IF" you follow these rules, and you make your Beetle last as long as you can, when the day finally comes where you need to replace it, it will have provided you with enough cash for you to go buy anything that you want, with double (maybe even triple) that amount left over. Trading your car in every time one is paid off lets someone else have all of that money. Yes your car will break once in a while, and you will need a good mechanic/technician to keep fixing it, but that is what we do. One of my regular customers has been practicing this now for well over ten years and her Oldsmobile is getting pretty rough. She is going to put about $1300 into it next week, and we are thinking that she will only go two, maybe three more years with it. It will go over 200,000 miles next year. She is free to replace it any time she desires, but loves the $40K+ that she has in her car bank account too much right now to change cars yet. She wants 50K in there first if she can do it, and then she is planning on spending about $30K on her next car. Her next car, will be the first brand new that car she has ever owned. The Oldsmobile was two years old when she bought it. When she buys her next car, she will keep making the car payment to her savings. She is going to have the dealership give her the new payment amount first, pay cash for the car and then from that time on make the new higher payment to her savings.

Take you car to someone who specializes in car radios and sound systems. Dealerships do not necessarily have personnel versed in radio and electronic repair. In this case, a description of the noise, or better yet, actually hearing it, is diagnostic. Is it intermittent? Steady? A buzz or hum? Only make noise when the car is moving (could be the static buildup static shorting spring is missing in the wheel bearing caps, or loose connection disturbed by road bumps); sputs in time with the engine ignition. Since it happens for both the radio and CR player, suspect the final amplifer section and wiring and ground to the speakers. If you have an upscale sound system, likely, there is an auxiliary output amplifier somewhere that drives the speakers. This amplifier may not be under the dash. Favorite places are under a front or back seat and sometimes in the trunk. You'll need to invest in a good repair manual to chase it down. or buy service from someone who has the manual and knows how to trace problem circuits. Intermittent sputs of noise is often caused by loose connections, loose grounds, or wires broken inside the wire insulation. If the noise is limited to the door speakers, suspect broken wires inside the insulation and where the wire is flexed when the door opens. If the noise appears at all speakers, trace the signal wires from the radio to the amplifier; and check the power supply wires to the amplifier. The shop has replaced the radio. The problem could be in the remote amplifier if present.

And speaking of charger, what do you think is the best one available in the market? Here is a link that might be useful: Keene State Employee Discount Program

I'm also looking for vw beetles patterns - especially a white convertible. Does anyone have a book or source to recommend? Bonnie