It’s interesting to see how much the car buying process has evolved since purchasing our first vehicle in August 2020. What once was simply a basic evaluation of the vehicle, and checking whether or not the tires had tread or not, has come a long way. There’s many factors involving negotiation, coordination with the team, balance, and trusting the benefits of business relationships, all while finding the best suitable unit for which a budget was established.
The new additions are below:
Compact SUVs:
The “Current State” highlighted our confidence behind the Audi Q3 and how they make such a decent Compact SUV, especially in the harsh Greater Philadelphia area.
This led to the acquisition of a Silver Metallic Audi Q3. Different than the Monsoon Grey, yet within the neutral greyscale color options that we prefer to keep throughout the fleet. Possessing all of the Premium features as most of the other Q3s, this Silver Metallic received many compliments earlier in September, which in one way or another started a trend.
Luxury Sedans:
Just when I thought our love for the A5 Sportback couldn’t run any deeper, it did. Compliments from the Silver Metallic Q3 led to the search of the same exterior color for the luxury sedan.
When considering the A5 Sportback’s performance, paired with great fuel economy, all while addressing the issues other models have not yet acknowledged, it makes it difficult to choose the field when selecting a sedan model.
Fortunately, with the market volatility mentioned in “So Yesterday”, the exact same budget this time around was able to allow for more premium features including your virtual cockpit, heating steering wheel, gloss black roof, both heating and cooling seats, along with the paddle shifters option.
Premium SUVs:
Often times I’ll think about the “The Butterfly effect”, which is a property of chaotic systems (such as the atmosphere) by which small changes in initial conditions can lead to large-scale and unpredictable variation in the future state of the system.
Or in layman’s terms, how one thing leads to another..
Many people don’t know but my personal vehicle was hit by a truck in 2020. Parked fortunately. No injury to myself nor the driver at fault. Complete accident, which happens! Yet, Geico at the time placed me in a Black Audi Q5 rental. The vehicle was tasteful. (Cinnamon interior, virtual cockpit, navigation, heated steering wheel, etc.) All of which were new to me at the time. Yet, that event inevitably brought us to where we are two years later, just having purchased our 16th unit.
It being the exact Q5 that I had rented at the start.
SUVs (Additional Options):
Despite the Audi Q7 undergoing extensive maintenance, we didn't want that to have a lasting impact on the fleet and create a reputation where renters feel that Stealth doesn’t tailor toward larger families. Yes, the Audi Q3 appear to be the perfect fit for most! Yet, that fondness starts to dissipate as four adults are in the vehicle or when the second child’s car seat leaves space limited.
Staying within The Volkswagen Group, that’s where the search of Atlas began.
I had actually never heard of an VW atlas until picked up in one on an Uber ride home from the PHL Airport one evening. The driver had went on about the reliability of the vehicle and how the furthest extent he’s paid in maintenance has been tires and oil changes.
Little did Robert know, he had just sold me that vehicle. We purchased it the following week.
New Additions Not Highlighted:
Black Audi Q3 Premium Plus Quattro
Silver Audi Q3 Premium Plus Quattro (Arriving November 5th, 2022)
Last week I came across Rebecca Kaden, an investor at Union Square Ventures, who shared a twitter thread about “What Sets Series A companies up for board meeting success.” No, Stealth is not as series A company. Nor is there a board of directors, or physical location at this point in time. Yet, I think this will be a beneficial exercise for our next newsletter to highlight what’s gone well, what we are mid-figuring out, and simply what’s not working as well begin to scale this entity.
Training
Week 5 Training Block completed as below:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: V02 Max 10 Miles with 6 x 1,000m at 5K race pace
Wednesday: Med-Long Run 15 Miles
Thursday: Recovery AM 6 Miles, PM 4 Miles
Friday: Med-Long Run 12 Miles
Saturday: Recovery 5 Miles
Sunday: Marathon-Pace Run 18 Miles (21 Miles)
The most difficult part about this training has become the length of the training itself. Legs have adapted. Strength fluctuates along with eating habits. It’s just the realization that on a random Wednesday in October, I’m really lacing up sneakers to run 15 miles. I’m sure the motivation will return within the consistency, and the progress is certainly there! Just this past Sunday, 21 Miles at 6:31 pace was completed per the below, so we’re feeling confident.
The original goal was a sub 3 Hour at 6:50 Pace. Though apparently tapering will cut off nearly 20-30 seconds per mile for race day. I don’t know though. A 6 minute pace just seems so much faster than 6:31.
Personally, I feel like a 2:48 is achievable at 6:25. It just boils down to the diligence over these next few weeks.