Since both kids got their drivers licenses while I was away (that in itself was a head spin, I was teaching them how to drive when I left!!), and since Amy’s job seemed to have picked up a lot more hours (yeah!) the pressure was on even before I got home to get another car for the family.
So, what to buy…. Well, here the usual thing happen, when you don’t know what to look for, you look for everything. Hours and hours and hours and hours was spent on Craigslist looking for cars.
We had been toying with the idea of getting a camper van that I could drive to work and back every day, giving the Rangie to Freddy to drive as needed and Amy the Passat, but the price you have to pay to get something half nice is just astounding, and way out of our budget, so we moved on from the whole mini RV thing.
Wagons were pretty much out since we already had the Rangie, Freddy talked about getting a ute since we have needed one a few times since we have arrived…. Anyway, you get the idea, round and round it went.
Finally I got frustrated and started to look for a car for me…. what would I like to drive…. since we already had the Rangie, it was pretty simple. A sports car. Convertible. Thanks.
So, thats what I started to look for.
Amazing how it all came together as soon as one of us started to look with purpose!
Before long I made my mind up on an Audi TT.
Craigslist turned up a few, one was well in my budget, it was at a car yard, so it was all set then, go and take it for a test drive and it was a done deal……
We get to the dealers and Freddy likes it, sort of. Its a manual. She makes her mind up, before we even sit in it, that she is not driving a manual…. Ok, well, it just so happens that parked next to it is a Nissan 350Z.
So, we do the logical thing, we put the top down and take it for a spin. Yeah! Loving this!
Right, so we go home to get the kids and run it past them (and give us some more time to think about it).
They want to see it…. So, back to the car yard we all go……
What did they think of it… well, take a look at this photo and see if you can tell…….
You can clearly see the sexy grey TT, and the super nice black 350Z… so what is the rest of the family gathered around…. yeah, a SmartCar.
Blah.
So they made their mind up, Smart Car it was.
Back to Craigslist and we find one as a private sale with only 13,000 miles (~20,000 kms), i.e., Pretty much brand new, it still had that new car smell to it, and at a price we could afford, so we put a deposit on and picked it up the next day. Tuesday, 2 days after I got back at work.
Here it is;
Amy seems thus far to like it the most (she can park it)… We are not rushing her, she can take a few months to chose between it and the Passat, either way, she owes us half of what it cost.
For now, everyone is happy. I still have the Rangie and Freddy and Amy pick and chose which car they drive (no offense, they are woman who don’t care what they drive, so hence the convertible thing).
Everyone gets to work and back and can run around doing what they need to do.
Terry? I still still drop him at school on the way to work, and Freddy picks him up, so for now, he’s all good.
When he gets to working, or if Freddy gets a job, we will look at the whole car thing all over again.
Yeehar.
Or not.
