My Current Dilemma
I've been a loyal Volkswagen owner for most of my 11 driving years. I've been the proud owner of:

• '85 Quantum
• '87 Fox
• '95 Jetta
• '99 Passat
• '72 Squareback

No, not all at the same time, just in recent years the Squareback and the Passat. I bought the Passat after 8 grueling hours at the Evil Nissan dealership, where I haggled with a man named Babu, then 4 of his bosses over a Pathfinder. At the last moment, as I was about to sign for it (they'd even filled the gas tank for me) my Jetta winked at me and I lost it, started crying and walked out, grateful that I hadn't signed anything.

The next day I bought my Passat, happy to still have a VW but secretly wishing that it was a sporty SUV. You could say that I got that car under duress.

VW has been working feverishly with Porsche to create an SUV:

which is kinda cool but not really because it's rumored to cost anywhere from $30,000 to $35,000. Hello? It's a Volkswagen, you know, the car for the people. Where do they get off pricing it that high?

So, with all this in mind, I'm preparing to depart from my old friend VW and invest in the sporty yet relatively inexpensive Mazda Tribute.