Car Trouble

We decided to sell our car. There are many reasons for it, don't wanna get into explaining, the point is we wanna sell it. In the middle of October, we are planning to drive back home to Hungary, and advertise it for sale.

The big question was and still IS, what type of car should we buy here?

Browsing through hundreds of cars on websites, we have reduced our list to the following:

1. Audi A4

2. Audi A3

3. BMW 3 Series

3. VW Passat

4. Mazda 6

5. Vauxhall Astra / Vectra

6. Volvo S40

7. Chrysler 300C - This is just a joke, Mrs. Smith would kill me buying this :)

This is quite a list, but this gets more complicated. We want maximum 4 year old car, with low mileage, and cheap insurance / roadtax, and low fuel consumption.

Before you start throwing bricks to me, I have to tell, England is the land of the cheap second hand cars. Ridiculously cheap the second hand market, comparing to the European one. So, looking to buy some high range cars, does not mean you are filthy rich :)

I remember a story, when we were living in Manchester, and a very good friend of mine had a Volvo S80. (5 Cylinder, 2.5L engine). Two new Hungarians came to the UK to get a job and some experience, and we were helping them out at the beginning (and they became good friends of us). Anyway, we were having a discussion, and somehow we talked about cars. As we were organizing a trip or something, they asked my friend what type of car he has. When he said the type, these two blokes became silent for a sec, than one of them asked: - Hmmm, and tell me, how can I get a job like yours? :))))))

So, the point is, in the UK, it does not matter what sort of car you have, people just don't care. They are not gonna be jelaous of you, they just don't care. I really like this approach, because these thing really should not matter at all.

At the weekend, we visited the nearest Audi salon to look around. We finally could sit in an A3, and A4, then popping into another salon, we could compare them with BMW 3 series.

Let me tell you how disappointed I was with these cars.

• Audi A3 is small. Tiny from inside. Very very small. Hate it.
• Audi A4. Bigger a little bit. But if I adjust the seat to my height and size (185cm/95kg), no single person can at the back behind me. It is ridiculously small inside for the people on the back seat. (I had a friend who had a LADA 1500, with all of the shiny equipments on it, sports wheel, "sport everything". He removed the complete back seat, to allow the car to be lighter hence more powerful. When I asked how people will travel at the back, he told me: This is not a bus motherfucker!) Even if I don't wanna follow this lovely friend's advise, this is still too small. Obviously most of the time we would be travelling together, without a third or fourth person, but I do not wanna buy a car, when you can not transport friends easily. I would buy a coupe If I were to use it only for us.
• BMW 3 Series: Interior was quite cheap, and simple. And also, same issue with the backseat places. (Before you start, I know, I know, that 3 Series size is limited, if I want bigger, buy 5 Series, or 7 Series. (Sorry Craig and Lucian if you read me, I know BMW means a lot to you ;))

So, so far Audi A3-A4, and BMW Series 3 are off the table. I hate to say it, but I do not want to buy a car which looks perfect from outside, but from inside you have to compromise to like it. And also, don't wanna spend a couple "K" more to buy bigger size like, Audi A6, or BMW 5 Series.

So far I can say, the priority is the VW Passat, as I already seen/tried Astra, and Mazda 6.

The last one is the Volvo S40 which is a decent car, I am gonna have to ask my manager what she thinks about that, as she have one.

The funny thing in the whole thing is, this is only in planning stage, as until my job does not settle, I can only dream about buying a new car.