I am very much into simplifying life, which usually means getting rid of possessions, but occasionally it means acquiring one judiciously. Last night, I vowed that I was going to buy my own car.
The situation with ‘our’ current cars is as follows: both of them are relatively small SUV’s which they make up for by running on LPG. Well, sort of running. The first one is a good 14 years old, and has done quite well considering. It is still on the road, and if we can find out why it drives as if the engine was about to drop out any moment we may even have a buyer for it. The second one was a lemon when Mike bought it at least 8 years ago. Both of these cars spend a lot of time in the shop. When I say a lot of time, I mean that at least one of them is there almost always, and the lemon has now been undrivable and unfixable since September. It frequently has spent six months at a time off the road. One of the reasons for this situation is that Mike has a ‘deal’ with the man who installed the LPG systems. Mike works on his computers for free and the man works on our cars for free. The long and the short of it is that Mike has been getting screwed over for well over 8 years, but he’s declined to do anything about it so far. Furthermore, the cars are of a make the LPG man doesn’t specialise in… in fact there are only 2 garages in the area that can work on them, and neither want to because the cars have been modified and the other guys are not real car mechanics, they just carry out routine procedures on their particular car brand. Their most routine procedure is sending off to Japan for expensive spare parts. Both the cars technically belong to Mike and are insured in Mike’s name for a large sum of money annually, most of which is going to waste. Of course, Mike would say that they are the family’s cars, but I know damn well they’re not mine really, because if they were, this situation would not exist.
In the midst of all this, Mike has spent most of the last several months trying to convince me that ‘we’ want a Suburu Forester. He says this is the ecological choice for us, since we simply must have a 4-wheel drive, because there is thick snow on the driveway for about 5 days a year. He has not specified any details of how we’re going to get rid of two currently unsellable cars and where we’re going to get the money to buy his dream machine. Last night, I reached the peak of frustration and decided that having my own car was the only way forward. It’s a very empowering thought and I spent most of the day learning about cars and calculating.
I wanted one that was ecologically friendly and frugal. Fortunately the two often go hand in hand. I was already pretty sure that I wanted a Peugeot or a Renault, like about 75% of my fellow citizens. I’m absolutely not going to try to argue about whether they’re the best cars in the world, though my family have been happy Peugeot drivers since forever. Nope, the reason everyone has them here is that there are at least 483 mechanics in any area who can work on them and the parts are ubiquitous and cheap. It’s a case of there being safety in herds. If one mechanic annoys me or is busy, I just pick another.
Lucky for me, when I pulled up the list of most ecologically friendly cars, the tiniest Peugeot, the 107, was near the top. Not because it’s a hybrid or an LPG or anything fancy like that. It’s both frugal and green because it doesn’t use much gas. I reckon to drive it about 10,000 km a year which will cost me about 680 Euros a year at today’s petrol prices. I know from my previous Peugeot experiences that I’m unlikely to have to fill it much more than once a month. Even though LPG is half the price of petrol here, our SUVs cost more than twice that much to run. And probably four times as much to insure. I’m hoping for a pretty good rate, even though I’ve never had insurance in my own name before.
Since it is near the top, ecologically, the government will give me a discount of 700 Euros on a new one. In fact a new one with the discount costs much the same as a secondhand one, and either way, it’s going to be affordable for me. So I will probably get the advantages of a new car, such as they are. This is really the best I can do ecologically at the moment. It’s a case of consume less, not smarter. The hybrids are out of my range, and I don’t trust their complexities and the limited range of people who are qualified to work on them. For similar reasons, I doubt I will try to put LPG in a 107, even if it would fit. I decided to opt for petrol rather than diesel as I get a cheaper and slightly greener car. Many people like diesel here as the fuel is a bit cheaper and they reckon the engine lasts longer. I did the math and worked out that a diesel would pay for itself after 15 years. That’s so long a time frame, I’m not bothering.
Of course a 107 is titchy and puny. It has no boot space to speak of. I think this won’t matter so much, because with just two people in it, the other passenger spaces can double up for carrying stuff. And frankly, there are also such things as trailers and roof racks for emergencies. The puny-ness is going to be the major issue. People seem to say good things about the 107s ability to occasionally make long trips. That’s good, but it’s the day to day issues that really count. I may only drive a couple of kilometres on some days but its all on hills. Can this thing climb well enough? Can it take hairpins? I’m only going to find that out with a test drive. Oh, and about that snow stuff? I’ll just do as the neighbours do – leave the car at the end of the driveway within one metre of the snowploughed road. I’ll just have to walk up and down the driveway 5 times a year. Sheesh….
I know Mike is only using the snow thing as a cover for some testosterone-powered guy car syndrome. When I told him my plans, he said “If you want a small car, what about the Mazda Miata?” I know he was just kidding, he’s always wanted one. I told him I didn’t notice the Miata in the ecologically friendly car list. Did he expect to find it there? I am far too sensible to worry about stuff like that. I have more important things on my mind – like should I pay the extra 350 Euros for a blue one.