Don't make fun of me.

I have always had a strong sense of empathy for quality machinery.

That being said, today I picked up my rental while the Mazda is in the body shop, (no, I wasn't at fault) and was pleasantly surprised to be offered a brand new Jetta 2.5. By brand new I mean 400 miles new.

Here's my problem: This car doesn't deserve this! that's what domestics are for. I'm the first person to actually drive this car for any period of time. I now feel a bond with her ... Ugh!

What, if anything would you do special for a neat little car that is going to be abhorrently abused for a good portion of her life?

BEAT ON IT.

You want to prepare it for what's coming.

Someone's got to pop her cherry, you can be gentle and set expectations all the guys she has the rest of her life will never meet, setting her up for a lifetime of disappointment, or you can give it to her rough and ready - treat the throttle as an on/off switch, make sure those brake pads are thoroughly bedded with repeated hard stops, use the manual shift feature (if it has one) to keep the motor screaming at redline, slam the doors, and be sure to spill a huge drink all over it, inside and out - so that she'll know how her short hard life will be led. The most sympathetic thing would be the latter IMO.

new FWD 4-door, auto = appliance. It haz no soul. Bond with something else.

Although good points, other than bedding brakes (good call),I can't, in good conscience, bring myself to abuse undeserving equipment anymore than I could stomp a kitten to death.

Call it karma, call it silly, I simply can't.

In reply to Gearheadotaku: I wouldn't let a fridge run all day with the door open either.

We had exactly the same experience with a 2000 Taurus that we were the very first people to rent at an airport. I felt ridiculous, but I spent the next week parking on the fringes of lots and doing all kinds of "It's a brand new car" stuff.

If you've not run a rental car at your local rallycross, you're not trying hard enough.

Funny, I just returned a 2011 2.5 Jetta that was the loaner while they were doing the control arm recall on my moms Impreza. This one had 8k on it though.

The TCS button is in the glovebox...

Has a good amount of power, but at tip-in it acts funny. No power, no power, WOOSSHHH!! I think it was the TCS system, never did get around to turning that off on it. Cornering wise, I didnt like it.. too much understeer on the cloverleafs.

Things I will kinda miss. Radio controls on the steering wheel are kinda nice. Heated seats were bun-toasty.

I embarrassed myself at the gas station with it today. Couldnt find the button to pop the gas filler door. I was looking all over with a flashlight when a friendly Mercedes owner came over and told me that you just push in on the door and it comes open.

Glad to have the Impreza back though.

I don't treat rentals any worse than I would treat my own stuff. Pretty much drive the crap out of everything.

I'll put some real miles on her over the next two days. Don't confuse hard driving with abuse. She will be pushed but not kicked.

How do you spell GM in german : VW. Treat it like you would any rental. If you're worried about bonding with it find out what out of warranty repairs cost, or what it would take to maintain it yourself.

autocross it

We got bumped from a midsize to a luxury once. 2011 Caddy STS. I took it offroading. I poked a hole in the oil pan, they towed it home, and sent me an SLS in its place. Thank goodness for supplemental insurance.

Last July we arrived in Madrid to find that the BMW 128tdi I'd thought was reserved, wasn't. Much discussion ensued - largely via pointing at pictures of vehicles and hand gestures. Eventually, the very helpful counter attendant was offering a VW Tiguan "automatico" and I was exhausting my lexicon of Euro sh1tboxes fishing for ANY alternative; "Polo? Punto? Multipla? Fiesta?...

Then she said "Au....di, but ees more costs"...

"More costs quanto?"

"Ehhh...(writes) "€7.65"

"€7.65 el dia?"

"Si"

"A4"

"Si, but ees manuale!"

"OK!!"

30 minutes later we're on the A road in a 14km old A4 tdi manual in anthracite grey, cloth interior, manual seats, no sun roof.

I took it easy the first couple hundred kilometers, then caned the car mercilessly over twisting mountain passes. I aired the front tires up to 36 psi which helped turn in.

When we returned it 2000k later it was decidedly faster feeling than when we picked it up. It was too nice to abuse - I save that for when I've been handed a PT Cruiser or Prius. Those get the red-headed stepchild treatment.