The article:An Advert? Or one of us....

[juliemac57 at hotmail.com (Julie Macfarlane)]

  My Life, My Volkswagen GTI
As told to DANA WHITE

Published: August 27, 2004


HO Dylan Commeret, 27, model and bookkeeper, Chicago

WHAT 1998 Volkswagen GTI VR6

There are people who buy a car mainly for the driving experience, and there 
are people who buy a car for what other people think about it. I'm in the 
first camp. I care more about performance than status. My GTI may look 
unassuming, but appearances can be deceiving — there's a lot of power under 
the hood, and it has a smoother ride than many cars twice its price. You 
have to ride in the car to appreciate what it can do. This makes it a great 
way to screen potential girlfriends: if a woman doesn't get my car, she 
won't get me.

Advertisement


The GTI is a sporty, more powerful version of the Golf. It's heavy for its 
size — it's like a little tank — and it's a blast to drive. It's also an 
insider thing. I'll see another owner on the highway or filling up at the 
pump, and he'll give me a knowing nod, like we're in this little club. We 
know the car has amazing handling and pickup, that it's built to be driven 
fast. You put a 2.8-liter V-6 in a tiny car like this, and it really moves. 
Chicago is the Land of 10,000 Stop Signs, and you can't accelerate much 
between them. But it's not about driving fast all the time. I'm not one of 
those racing guys. It's just nice to have the power when you need it; it 
makes you feel secure.

I've always thought the Golf was a nice car, so when I got the chance to buy 
one, I jumped on it. Two years ago I moved to Chicago for a couple of months 
because I needed a break from New York City. In Manhattan you can take the 
subway to jobs, but I'd heard that in Chicago you have to drive, so I knew I 
needed a car. I was at my mom's house in Boston when I saw this GTI with a 
for-sale sign on it across the street. I was considering buying a 1998 BMW 3 
Series at the time, but the GTI blew it out of the water. It had more power, 
better reflexes, and more response and pickup. The owner was asking $12,000, 
but I paid cash and got it for 11. By the end of the day it was mine.

Two days later I drove it to Chicago. The car was wonderful, and the cop who 
pulled me over in Ohio for doing 82 in a 55 was kind enough to let me go.

Modeling is all about the surface, so people assume that a male model would 
have a fancy car — when in fact 80 percent of models don't make enough money 
to afford one. After returning to New York City, I went on a date with 
another model. When she got in the car, I asked her, "Do you like it? I just 
got it." She looked around for a second and said, sort of flippantly, "It's 
a car." For a second I thought, I should have bought an S.U.V. Then I came 
to my senses. I tried to convince her of the car's performance virtues, but 
she didn't have a clue. I never saw her again.

I've found that a woman's attitude about cars is emblematic of her attitude 
toward pretty much everything. If she judges me by how expensive my car is, 
she's not worth my time. If she says, "Wow, this is a really smooth, really 
nice ride," I know she's someone I could spend time with. My dream woman 
would like the fact that I'm passionate about my car, but she'd love the 
fact that there are far more important things in my life. And like my GTI, 
she should be low-maintenance.

About a year ago, I sold everything that wouldn't fit in the back of my car 
and moved to Chicago for good. (Another nice feature about the car is its 
roominess.) It's nice to know the car is paid off because I have a mortgage 
now. Getting paid for the way you look is shallow, but it's lucrative, and 
I've done pretty well. I've modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, Sunglass Hut, 
and Ralph Lauren's Chaps clothing. I've also had a bit part in the movie 
"Zoolander" and appeared in a national TV commercial for Playtex tampons (I 
was the boyfriend).

But modeling is not my life's ambition. I've always had a numbers kind of 
head, so now I do the books at a talent agency and model on the side for 
accounts like Kohl's in Milwaukee and Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis. It gets 
me out of the office and on the road, where I can open it up a bit. I also 
have a lot of relatives and friends in the Midwest, from Michigan's Upper 
Peninsula to Bloomington, Ill., so every weekend I visit somebody. I don't 
have my dream girl yet, but I have my dream driving experience: cruising 
down the highway with XM Cafe on satellite radio and the moon roof open. I 
could drive like that forever.