3 Cheers

Tonight we gather to remember and recall a great friend. Our Audi has been with us through the last few years while we lived in Portland and here in Nashville. We put a little over 50k miles on it, took our first child home from the hospital, took trips all over the NW, drove to Bar Harbor, Maine and back last fall, North Carolina a few times and so much more. Its high quality windshield kept us safe (specifically Annie) when a piece of concrete dropped from an overpass and smashed the glass right in front of Annie, it hugged the corners tight at the high legal speeds on Montana's I-90 and always it got us to our destination in comfort and style. We will always have a fond place in our hearts for this car!

Now for the reality. There were some seriously ill noises coming from under the hood and after further inquisition I found that the transmission cooler that is inside the radiator was leaking, the expansion tank for the radiator was falling apart because of the transmission fluid in the radiator fluid, the transmission itself was slipping in reverse and even in forward gears (as I was driving it to the dealer today), the water pump was failing, the air suspension was leaking and to top it all off...the brake light went out today. I had found a local used car dealer that was willing to buy the car from us but found another one today that upped the offer and suffice it to say, we took the offer. So, for now we are a 1 car family and we will start the car shopping process (we are not complaining, we love cars).

So here's to the Audi, to all the good times, the good memories and to the $ we saved by not owning it after today!