Yesterday we bought a new car. And when I say new, I mean brand spanking new. Well, pretty much, it’s the show room demo (which means we didn’t have a choice of colour) so it’s had a load of bums on the seats, but otherwise it’s new.
We decided a while ago that it was time for us to think about getting rid of the WRX. It’s a great car, but it has quite a few disadvantages, and to keep it we were going to have to spend quite a bit of money on it. Andrew set it up for track racing, so it’s very low to the ground. This means that we have to go over speed bumps very slowly, and still they often scrape the bottom of the car. It also means that we can’t really go on rough dirt roads, and so often we wouldn’t be able to go into a National Park that we might have otherwise gone into. It also has very stiff suspension, again because of the track racing, and so we feel every bump on the road. Andrew’s been worried that once I’m heavily pregnant that it would be very uncomfortable for me, and also for the baby once it’s born. Another problem with it is that it only uses high octane fuel, and sometimes when we’re travelling it’s very hard to find, and it can get stressful trying to find fuel (or some octane booster) that we can use. So even though we both love the power of the car and really enjoy driving it, we’ve decided to trade it in for a new car.
We’ve bought a Subaru Outback. It’s a huge wagon, which is a bit of a concern for me because I like small cars and trying to reverse park the new car worries me. But Andrew says I’ll be fine, and that the problems I have reverse parking the WRX is because it has low visibility behind it, but the Outback will be fine. I just hope he’s right. Otherwise, it’s the perfect car for us. It’s high off the ground, it has lots of space for camping gear, there is enough space across the back seat for a baby seat and two adults (gives us the flexibility of being able to go out for the day if Andrew’s parents or my parents come to visit), has high and low range for slightly more difficult terrain though you wouldn’t take it up the side of a mountain or anything, and it’s not too bad on the fuel consumption (about the same as the WRX). We got leather seats and a sunroof too, which just makes it that bit more comfortable and nice for us. We’re also getting a tow bar put on, the front windows tinted (the rear ones have dark privacy glass), an alarm system and carpet mats. The only real disadvantage of this car (besides it’s length but that’s what makes it so comfy really) is that it doesn’t have good acceleration. But then, pretty much anything after the WRX will feel slow. It just means we’ll need a bit more time for overtaking.
So, on Saturday we pick up the new car and will be as poor as poor can be, but we will have a nice car, we also have a nice (though small) place to live, and we both have decent jobs. So we’re pretty well set up, we just need to start saving for some baby stuff now. 🙂
