Goodbye Citi Golf... - Thought Leader

The announcement by VW that they are going to discontinue the iconic Citi Golf range left me all warm and fuzzy inside and took me down memory lane.

Getting my first car, which was a 1.6i indigo blue Citi Life with massive wheels, stunning rims and dropped suspension, was a bit like falling in love for the first time.

I still remember when I first saw her on the shop floor at the Northcliff Lindsay Saker, I knew I was in love.

So we bonded a bit and I took her up one of those Northcliff hills and gave her stick, my car-crazed best friend could only look on like a voyeur but judging by his eye-to-eye smile you could tell he approved.

By the time we got back to the dealership I was ready to sign away my life convinced that this is what they meant by till death do us part and of course later the Citi Life did almost become the death of me.

I can remember it as if it was yesterday coming down the notorious Siemens Hill near the Brixton tower on a rainy night and eager to impress the two girls in the back seat, I gave my baby my all but we ended upside down.

I remember the girls screaming in the back and my buddy, who is now a big shot in government, being tjoep still, almost ready to meet his creator.

To this day he tells me he was merely “watching events unfold” but I got it on good authority that he remarked to another friend, once I was out of sight of course, “Yoyoyo, I almost died”.

That of course only happened much later when I started taking our thing with my Citi Life for granted.

Some of my fondest memories of that time, which are forever rekindled every time I hear certain songs, were of being all alone with my baby and music blaring through the speakers and reflecting on the coolness of it all as I drove through the streets of Soweto.

Races down Chris Hani Road were a common feature then as I rolled up towards The Rock in Rockville.

After more than four incidents such as the Brixton tower one, I guess she had to let me go and I did it with a sore heart but I have been a VW man since.