Friday, September 10, 2010

Snappy September - Day Ten - The VW Gulf













I have no idea what happens under the bonnet but do pay attention to cars. Makes, models and styles are unconsciously noted and the 'Drive' section is avidly read with the ratings out of five automatically filed away in the part of my mind where stuff like answers to Spicks and Specks questions, Hollywood gossip circa 2004 and those destined-to-be-useful third year Roman Art and Archaeology essays are stored.

Two makes of cars seem to stand out in terms of the vehicle that might suit we three when our ageing magna dies and our bank account grows - the Nissan Dualis (larger and cheaper) and the VW Golf.

Despite being half the size of the Dualis and requiring Milly to sit in a passenger seat, the VW is around $45,000 retail. Sheesh! And yet it's clearly the 'must have' car for my fellow Flemington residents with one in every three cars parked out the front of single-fronted, fully renovated Victorian cottages with original wood-burning fireplaces, polished floor boards, potential OSP via the ROW from the historic cobbled alleyways; hosting a Golf rarely older than a 2005 model. So the likelihood is that most owners paid full price or very close to full price for their teeny German cars.

And yes, I'm more than a bit jealous, considering we have this:















And yet, overshadowing us all, are four huge housing commission blocks that are twenty floors high and house thousands of people who for various reasons are unable to afford private housing or rentals and are grateful for the two train lines and two tram routes that border our compact suburb.














It particularly spins my kidneys to discover that there are two Porsche Cayennes within a block of my house; so close that, on a good day, I could boot a footy to either of them.




(This aint one of 'em, but I hate the idea of a psychologist thinking that a Porsche Cayenne in their staff car park is a good idea when pursuing a career helping people with their problems)





One belongs to one of the most beautiful houses in Wellington Street, 'the' top spot in Flemington. They have an automatic double garage that backs out into Church Street. Daddy drives the brand new Mercedes Kompressor to whatever Master of the Universe/Old School Tie job he's got in the city and Mummy pops the kiddies into the Cayenne to pootle them far out of Flemington to a private school that requires the pampered little mites to don hats and blazers and never look out of their tinted windows at the poor pillocks walking to the local educational facility.

I tend to fly into a rage any time I see a Mum and kids doing a school run in a Toorak tractor and both Love Chunks and Sapphire know well enough to leave the room when that insultingly stupid advertisement for the Mazda 9 comes on, featuring a vapid mother lolling back in her padded seat listening to 'Heaven' by the Eurogliders (crap in the eighties, even worse now) as she proudly inhales the farts of her own smug self satisfaction and ponders briefly whether she'll bother to unlock the doors and let her kids in....Aarrrrrgh! Even the advertisers know that virtually nobody is buying these petrol guzzling ugly beasts to take anywhere off road....!

Why do they choose to live here? I've rather pointedly left a few 'Join the Flemington Litter Ninjas' flyers in their letter box (situated next to their electronic intercom, heat sensor and surveilance camera) but have had no response. Perhaps they just don't notice the litter at the back of their garages in their haste to whisk themselves out of the area every day?

And then, if the standard model Toyota or Mazda or Nissan 4WD Nit-Wit isn't good enough, you can buy a Porsche Cayenne just to rub it in to everyone else that you have so much money you actually don't know what to do with it.

I swear I'm getting thisclose to buying a bow and arrow that, when, let go, shoots out a sticker missile that unfurls in mid flight, only to accurately splat itself to the back window of the offending vehicle and thus display this message:
I am a selfish and ugly person who has too much money and should have bought a much cheaper car and donated the rest to charity.

15 comments:

drb said...

Pardon my ignorant, how much does a Porsche Cayenne or WV golf cost?

You can certainly tag cars!
Rob's car (1990 Ford Laser) got tagged - a graffity sticker neatly stucked at the lower left of the back windscreen. He was furious but I thought the sticker design was quite cool. A good hobby to sport these fancy cars parked outside supermarkets, casually walk past... and snigger when you spot your own tag dirving past...

Kath Lockett said...

drb the standard Cayenne is around $150,000..... and I'm loving the idea of tagging cars with a sticker..... (cue 'evil laugh' here)

franzy said...

Great news everyone!

A new Golf might retail at $45,000, but a quick perusal of this "drive" website you mention has turned up a lovely 2003 Cayenne S for just $49,999!

http://www.drive.com.au/used-cars/PORSCHE/CAYENNE/Sydney/detail.aspx?id=14775177&lid=14775177&pg=1&pp=2&d=0&SG=912535436&pt=1

Go on, Kath. What's an extra $5K for a Porsche?

And while I greatly approve of defacing 4WDs, remember that the more money you have to throw around on obscene cars, the more likely it is you will have some left over for Litter Ninja-Eating lawyers ...

Be swift grasshopper ...

franzy said...

I know I shouldn't be encouraging this, but, just in case ...

http://www.cafepress.com.au/+anti-suv+bumper-stickers

http://www.stopurban4x4s.org.uk/shop.htm

Kath Lockett said...

Franzy, even $45,000 for a Golf is about twenty grand more than we could even look at, including on-road costs.

But hey, isn't it nice that fifty thousand smackers sees you in a seven year old car?

LOVE the bumper stickers and my little mind is thinking about a smaller version done more locally.... (cue another round of evil cackling here)

River said...

Kath, Kath, Kath; there ARE people who take their 4WD's off road. My T, for instance. lives in the hills here, brings the kids to school if they need to be earlier than the bus can get them there, then the car is used for the business as well.
But I understand what you're saying. There's lots of 4WD's that never make it out of the city.

I think you should test drive both the Nissan and the Golf, just so you can see which handles best on the roads, which is more able to hold all your gear for holidays, then report back to us on which would be the better deal.
Just for fun, because $45,000 is a little steep, unless you've just won lotto.

Pandora Behr said...

Oh Kath, I hear you. She of Andrew the Echo fame feels your pain. I'd love one of those little Mercedes - hell, I'd just love to upgrade to a newer model Yaris.

But send it out to the universe - you never know what might come your way.

And the Magna, especially at that age, has character. Don't sweat it.

w/v cingsmo - The snappy European car you drive even though the electrics will always go dodgy in the wet.

Ashleigh said...

Late last year the Dis-Astra had finally driven me bats. I bought an 18 month old Toyota Corolla for $16K, and got $5K for the Dis-astra.

The corolla is cheap, nippy, fairly good on the fuel guzzling stakes, air-con, power steering, ABS, poewr windows at the front. And its really nice to drive.

Why buy a $5K golf? Madness I tells you! Look at a 2 yr old 2nd hand one, or the car that has sold more than any other in the whole world - the Corolla. Toyota make so many of them they have a rough idea of how to do it by now. And cheap is good too. (And I'll never buy another brand new car ever ever again. They lose so much value when you drive out of the dealers yard that its silly. My new old car is noice!

Ashleigh said...

Erk. Bad typing. Few typos there but you know what I mean :)

drb said...

oh kath, promise me you won't tell your big bro that I planted the car ttagging idea....

HE will NOT be impressed!

Kath Lockett said...

Thanks Pandora - our car 'oozes' character - the coffee and chocolate stained passenger seat inside is testament to that!

Ashleigh, the likelihood of us ever buying a brand new car is nil, and even a two year old VW is next to nil. The Corolla has always appealed to me but we have a dog and at Christmas time, also a rabbit to transport across state lines so it's likely to be a bigger hatch or another station wagon. One day in the far flung future.....

No worries drb, whatever I end up doing will be my own little (slightly insane) secret.

River said...

Corollas come in station wagons and I've never yet seen one broken down on the side of the road.

NUTTYNOTON said...

when young miss NN was talking to me the other day she asked me why I catch the train to work after cycling to the station and also using my second bike to get around for work. I said apart from the fact it costs more and not good for the planet how would I be able to relax and people watch!.Your cars seem very expensive in OZ, BUT DEPRECIATION WORKS THE SAME AS IN THE UK AS SOON AS A NEW ONE LEAVES THE FORECOURT BUY ONE ABOUT 2 YEARS OLD. I AM A BIG fORD FAN!!

deepkickgirl said...

First thing, dear Kath you are sounding just a tad Commie there. I sort of know how you feel but you just don't know what each person's story is (maybe they won that really ugly 4WD in a competition...). [I'm trying to be more "understanding" of things I don't understand in my old age.]

Anyway, we have recently bought two Nissan Dualis at work for our service technicians and they are lovely cars. Both of the guys are very happy with them. Since they are around $30,000 they would seem much better value than the VW (which is quite small inside).

Ashleigh said...

The Corolla these days is pretty roomy inside. I think its a bit of a Tardis - looks small outside but takes 4 quite easily (and these days the chaps are quite a lot taller than they were). The dog + rabbit might be a bit of a stretch though.

These days its quite hard to find a mid-size wagon. Unless you want some Nissan thing. They come with one big drawback: being a Nissan. That lot just don't know how to make cars.