Buying a Car

I need a new car! My dear little red old Punto which listens to the name of 'Muhkuefchen' - what is a very weird German family produced nickname for a ladybird - has come to age. I very much got used to sitting at the wrong side of the car and thus not being able to take over farm machinery creeping along at 10 miles per hour; it takes the stress out of the driving - well, out of my driving! The guys in the big Mercs and BMWs behind me usually go bonkers, probably swearing a 'Typical! Woman!' towards my old little rolling sardine can.

But now it is leaking oil and smelling like fuel and the indicator switch has the hiccup... The poor little thing is terminally ill, and although I feel a certain guilt for abandoning it, I have to admit that the comfort of driving Detlef's big Volvo for a week during his Hong Kong trip made me feel very grown up.

Apparently 'Car makes Women!' what throws me into a dilemma:

Which car would suit me?

I conducted a brief survey which delivered as only sound information: Not my old car. Apart from that, people see me in a red Porsche Targa, a stripy Mini or a Jeep. Well, the Jeep was my own suggestion in accordance to the cow girl picture which quite a few of the guys liked. However the same guys suggested the Porsche. Gentlemen! You are supposed to know stuff about cars and have opinions, these contradictions are not helping! You can't drive a Porsche on a ranch. So I moved on to the 'Be Reasonable' approach. We have a big car already, so get a small car. Small car means hatchback. These are all those which look like normal cars from the front and have a chopped off rear.

To tap into the sexist 'ah women' talk a guy might explain it that way: Give a decent car to a woman and let her park backwards against a wall - then you get something that looks like a hatchback.

Given that most of the cars are designed by guys...

However, my Punto is a hatchback, so I shouldn't have a problem to buy what I am used to. Although they are small, one can load an incredible amount of stuff into the trunk when the back seats are folded away and they fit into any parking slot. They are like good, all day handbags which patiently swallow all the stuff women needs throughout the day, while still being good to carry.

As lazy as we are, we only looked at three brands which are all located around our gym. Turns out: I don't want a hatchback. I love driving! Hatchbacks are no fun cars. The doors don't have a nice and subtle sound on closing. They don't have buttons - I like buttons!

I want a car with buttons!

And I want a car that is big and a bit voluptuous. I might have to give a lift to ladies when we are up to mischief...

These cars are called saloon!

And now I'm in a dilemma again! They obviously are much more expensive, but it's more car that one gets. So hubby is basically happy with this idea, the more he can borrow it for family trips without having to tidy up the golf equipment cluttered Volvo. How smart am I to come up with that?

However!

The car that introduced this 'saloon' idea into my brain and made me find thousand good reasons not to be reasonable was a pre-registered Vauxhall Vectra. This means that thing is only registered by the dealer, driven as show car with almost no milage and not older than a year - for £10.000.

The car that made me think REALLY 'unreasonable' is the 2007 Ford Mondeo. Which is a really cool car for ...well,... a wee bit more money....

And now I'm stuck. I'm running out of good reasons for my dream car. Next Saturday we will go and test drive and I hope it is crap - but I don't think so....

In two years time the cool car would be reasonable, but Punto is not going to pull through for that long. So it's now or never...

I want it now, now, now!

... and I didn't even talk about colour yet!