Darn Deer!!!!!! John in Plainwell

[johnw]

I knew it would happen again but we have been doing so good. This morning mom was taking Emily to daycare and just north of Plainwell a deer didnt look both ways before crossing and took out the front corner of our van. The deer kept going. The van still does run and thank goodness the hood stayed latched when they hit. Friday we will get a estimate. See everyone Sat.

John and Julie and Emily in Plainwell

[Ruffuss]

Glad everyone is alright(except for the van). You can fix/replace a vehicle!

[VDub63 ( Steven )]

Glad to hear that you are all ok!! We are looking forward to seeing you guys this Saturday!!

[ghiastein]

OUCH

I am too glad that everyone is ok

[johnw]

:)Today I took the van in to get fixed. I went to Enterprise Rent a car here in Plainwell to get a car for the week. The 2 choices I had were a Sebring or a VW Bug. Hmmmm. Guess which one I got? Ok...it was a no brainer. I never have driven the new bug yet so I thought I would have fun for the week.

John in Plainwell

[revho]

How does the new Bug drive out?

[johnw]

I am 6ft and theres alot of room for me. It would be hard to put an adult in the back but I have enough room. I like how the headlights are bright and aim down the road instead of a few feet in front like our old van does. One issue I have is it does have traction control but even with it on I feel like I am in a road rally going around corners. You can feel the bug slide all around to the left and right. I dont know if its the tires but even on dry pavement I start to go again and the front tires will spin like I was on ice. Then it grabs and starts picking up again. I do like when you stomp on the gas it takes off. Yes...this little Vw bug does get up and go if needed. Tuesday night I was a mile from our house with the bug and our friend the deer decided to make an appearance again. I had enough time to see him and slow down this time. Overall I like the bug..Just dont like how much it slides all around. But again that might be the tires it has. The body shop has not even started work on our van yet so we will keep this bug until atleast next week. Another option this bug has is you can put the gears in "S" for sport and shift thru the gears instead of using the automatic. I have not tried that yet.

Thanks for asking. John in Plainwell

[dansam]

Glad everyone was ok. Our 99 NB was useless in bad weather till we put on the goodyear triple treds; now its a beastie in all weather. I really like it and even though it has 178,000 miles its still a nice little car that is just starting to show some age. The daughter gets it next summer.

[ghiastein]

Yes the front seat room is what I liked about my 99 NB. I have never owned or sat is a car with that much front seat room. Yep the back seat is some what useless for a full grown adult.

[johnw]

Another thing I do not like about this bug is the gas milege. When I got the car on Monday night it had 3/4's of a tank of gas. I just pulled in today and its just above the red dashes which means its close to empty. I only went to work and back these past days. No where else. How can a little car like this get bad gas milege?

John in Plainwell.

[dansam]

Ours gets horrible mileage as well. Id say it averages (with the wife driving) between 18 in town to 25 on the hwy. If Im driving its 25-30.

[strelnik]

Glad everyone is ok. I had a similar problem a couple years ago where 6 deer ran behind my car biut one crashed into the car dolly I was towing, tripped and got hit by a car behind me.

Sorry to see it happen, but they don't watch and it's hard to scare them.

In my property near Fenton, there are always a half dozen goofing around because no one shoots them.

I chased them away once from the road by smacking a baseball in their direction.

[mikegatch]

Yeah I hit one a month or two ago. Someone else hit it first and then oncoming traffic was kind enough to blind me with their brights so I didn't see the deer untill it was inches from my driver's side headlight. I hit it going 60 and the steering wheel did a burn out in my hand shooting me across the other lane and into a ditch. Luckily a friend had texted me a warning about said deer as he was in front of me a few cars unbeknownst to me..I replied to that text with a tow request. So we went and got the tow bar. tied the fender on that was only being held by 2 bolts...the rest pulled out of the body.

Here's the car after I towed it home.


and here's the beam bent pretty badly.


I hit the deer friday and had a photoshoot in indianapolis monday so I spent the weekend putting it back together myself.

[teamafx]

Must have hit you low to bend the beam like that and only mess up the front fender. Glad you are OK.

[mikegatch]

Yeah it had already been hit and looked up at my car like...maybe this one won't hurt so bad...buuut I definitely finished that deer off.