Introduction: What car should I buy?

“What car should I buy next?”

That, right there, is the question that occupies about 99% of my idle time.

It’s perhaps not the most crucial question in the world. Probably not worthy of too much cognitive energy. People out there must surely have more pressing, more essential concerns: “Where is my next meal coming from?” or “How am I going to keep a roof over my family’s heads?” or “Why is this tiger chasing me, and what can I do to make it go away?”

Sure, fine, they have real problems. Fortunately, at the moment I am unaffected by such troubles. Perhaps as a result of as much, in combination with the fact I am a hopeless car nut beyond reprieve or redemption, the title of this blog is what I mull upon, minute to minute, hour to hour, day week and month.

The purpose of this blog? To put my whirring, buzzing, overlapping and intertwining automotive musings down in some semblance of order, all the better for making some sense out of it – and possibly, to rouse some comment and discussion from other like-minded auto-tragics on my various choices, opinions and musings.

So here’s my situation. I’m late-twenties-to-early-thirties, married with three children, and the kids are all still in car-seats. We own a 2006 Holden Commodore Omega sedan, which I bought last September for $14,250 at 51,000kms – pretty good buy, even though it had just fallen out of rego, and it came in burgundy – my least-favourite colour on a car. Burgundy, people? Really?

In addition, my boss has furnished me with a 2005 Ford Falcon XT, petrol not LPG, which is getting on at around 170,000kms but is still a nice drive and – most importantly – comes with free petrol, servicing and consumables. Nothing like a free set of wheels, eh?

I was quite surprised by how nice the Falcon is. It’s nothing special compared to others of its like: standard suspension, usual tyres on steel wheels with plastics covers, nothing different under the bonnet. But the thing comes together into something quite fun: it has enough lazy bottom-end to waft it to speed quicker than is necessary, it grips like billy-o with a surprising lack of roll, it turns in and steers with deftness and confidence, and what I like best about it: it talks to me. At all times, by the feel of the controls, by the sound of the tyres and the sensations transmitted via the seat of my pants (quell your scoffing, those in the back rows), I know at all times what the car is about to do should I turn it in tighter, or goose the gas, or dab the brakes – all whether the road is wet or dry, be it day or night, whether the pace is hot or not. That’s what a good car does, and Ford have my respect for being able to serve it up in a fleet-pack baseline car. Well done, chaps.

The Commodore, meanwhile, was not what I really wanted to buy. In fact, I sold a very nice 2007 Ford Focus XR5 Turbo to get the Commodore – an awesome car, but unable to fit three baby seats plus prams and other domestic what-have-yous, which became a factor with our third child on the way. Basically I had a budget of approx. $15k and I needed a car with space, relative frugality and easy servicing, a high number of airbags and electronic stability control as standard – which really only boiled down to one possible choice, the Commodore. The Ford Falcons of that era and price range did not come with stability control, plus its back seat is unaccountably narrow in comparison to the Commodore; and the Ford Territory, which the missus was dead keen on getting, cost several thousand dollars more for even a high-mileage beater, plus its listed consumption is worse than some V8s.

I didn’t have to get a Commodore, not strictly, anyways. I had toyed with the idea of maybe getting a 2001 Calais International with a V8, big wheels and lowered suspension, but honestly: the missus drives the car 90% of the time, and 90% of that is driven round town. The advantages of owning a nice big V8 were outweighed by the gallons it would drink, and the fact that I’d rarely get to drive it; and anyway, the 2006 VE body is significantly stronger and safer than the 2001 Commodore, which itself is really a 1994 Vauxhall Omega with a badly-done stretch job. When the car’s got the loved-ones in it more often than not, a snarly V8 takes a back seat to safety, so to speak (though the image of a Commodore with its engine relocated to the back seat is quite entertaining. Mid-engined Commodore for the win!). Thus: bog-stock burgundy Dunnydoor it was.

So, yes, we’ve already got a perfectly adequate family car which will do us good for a few years to come. And, yes, I’ve already got a work car which is a plenty sweet steer and, better yet, costs me nothing. So why should I be burning so much of my precious time on thoughts of acquiring yet another set of wheels?

Well: because I want another set of wheels.

And not just any set of wheels. With a nice, safe, responsible family car and a nice, safe, responsible and cost-free work car, I am suddenly freed of many constraints.

Does it have to be big and sturdy, to fit a young and growing family? Nope.

Does it have to be rough and tough, able to withstand the rigours of my weekly commute and dirty highway-construction job site? Nope.

Can it be small, fun, light and fast – to the point of being irresponsibly and unnecessarily so? Yes, yes it can.

Or: can it be big, bad, beastly and blokey – to the point of being needlessly and recklessly so? Yes, yes it can.

Can it be all of the above? Well that would be nice…

And therein lays the rub. Constrained only by budget – which, hovering at or around $20k may seem restrictive, until we consider that I won’t be ready to buy for approximately eighteen to twenty-four months or so – the list of possibilities is long, varied, and growing. The list is obviously what forms the backbone of this blog; you’ll find links to each ‘automotive musing’ on the side of this page, presented in no particular order of preference or likeliness-to-buy. Please do check back from time to time, and forever and always: drop a comment, thought or suggestion at any and every opportunity. I am always keen for feedback, and I would love to share in the similar ponderings of a fellow auto-tragic. Surely I’m not the only one…