Monday, March 06, 2006

Going automatic

Later today I'm trading in my trusty old 1991 1300cc Honda Civic sedan for a nifty little Toyota Echo; it's an automatic, with air conditioning, ABS brakes, a decent car stereo and only 35,000 kms on its mileage-o-meter.

The Honda has served me well; it never broke down on me and only needed expensive work ocassionally in its ten years as my "wheels". But I will not miss the crappy stereo, the boot cover which has knocked several unsuspecting passengers (and myself) on the head, its oven-like atmosphere on hot days and its inability to go up those big hills in fourth gear.

But I probably will miss my life savings which will have gone into its purchase.

Still, this will make getting Baby to sleep on those "difficult" afternoons, a little more fun.

4 comments:

Watson Woodworth said...

When I did have two cars at once, both always beaters, both times one was a stick and one an automatic. This was not intentional.
I was forever stepping on that spot where there was no clutch.
The car must have thought I was nuts.

Violet said...

nigel: yeah it's weird when you can't find the clutch, and the gear stick will only go straight up or down ;-)

eb: Red of course, is the best colour for a car. Mine is white, which at least is the car colour least likely to be in an accident.

glomgold said...

Please post regarding your impressions of the Toyota Echo. I am curious.

Violet said...

Glomgold: interestingly enough, the NZ Consumer magazine recommends the Toyota Echo and the Honda Jazz as the two best small cars in terms of safety and reliability. I still get the urge to change gears when I'm driving the Echo, but overall it's easy to drive and steer (it has power steering), the stereo sounds good and I haven't dinged it yet. The only negative thing is that putting on speed from having stopped, seems to take a while.