Saturday, November 19, 2005

Car Trouble

It's car changing time again. And again I find myself worse than useless at deciding what I want. It would help if I could better identify what cars are out there so that when some well meaning soul says to me: The Toyota such and such is very economical, or that the BMW whatsitsface has great panache, or that the Skoda is no longer the ugly runted disaster it used to be, I have some idea what it is they are saying. Or at least some idea as to what to look out for to either confirm praise or justify denunciation.

I am shamefully useless at car recognition - I know men who can identify aircraft and tanks quicker and more accurately, despite having a limited interest in them. When asked, they seen to suggest it's part general knowledge part masculine instinct. Why do they care what a Vulcan bomber looks like, or what this year's must have refinements on the Challenger tank are if they're not modern warfare hobbyists? They're never going to buy one of these things, never going to brag about their latest whirlybird acquisition, never going to land their Sea king helicopters on the greens in between the wooden picnic tables of the Stunted Stoat, or rumble their Sherman tanks on a destructive school run, fighting for parking by means of flattening the opposition.

I suppose, despite the fact that I should be interested in cars because I own them and drive them, I'm not. A little bit of interest would, I think. go a long way.

The first thing I'm going to do to rectify this problem, this deficiency of understanding, is to undertake a short course of study into the emblems of cars so that I can at least recognise through pictures and diagrams, the difference between, I don't know, a Mondeo and an Audi. My knowledge is so limited I'm struggling for realistic examples. Years ago I was good at it. I could recognise all the old Morrises and Austins, the Triumphs, old Fords and Vauxhalls. They all looked so very different from each other. So particular. Now I'm wincing every time I try a little amateurish identification: that's a ...doh! At that's one of those...doh!!

Emblems. It starts soon.

Comments:
As a girlie, I don't worry about what car is cool etc. I start with waht I need my car to do/be/have, then add in what I'd quite like. It soon gets whittled down to a choice of two or three, then I go test drive them & see which is good. Simple.

Oh, and if that doesn't work, just pick the red one:-)
 
Hope you always whittle them down to cars smaller than those monstrous 4x4s Mrs A. Even the red ones are too brutish for the school run.
 
Depends on what you are going to use it for....

Off roading hobbies need a 4 by 4

Lots of kids needs a MPV

A job requiring you lug half the contents of a shed around the countryside needs a big estate.

A family doing all of the above requires some dodgy Mitsibishi import thing that has 8 seats, big boot, 2 & 4 wheel drive, but only comes in blue:-(
 
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