Buying a car
The public transportation is excellent here in Holland — with the exception of occasional tram/train breakdown routines (that’s at least once a month), which we do not mind too much about. Yet, Holland is unforgiving if you don’t own a car.
The winter is ruthless on hapless Asians like us, who are yet to see the worst1. You don’t want to know what the school bus service charges us, not to mention the availability. And taxis are only for the royals2.
The need to have one’s own transport hit a nail on our heads when we all fell sick with flu a couple of weeks ago. With a blizzard outside, we couldn’t even go to a doctor. Can you picture it? We neither have a neighbor, who is friendly enough to do the favor yet, nor we would ask for one anyway. We have one primary transport vehicle — our bicycle fitted with a baby seat, but it would have been a circus with all four of us riding it. Yes, the joke was really on us.
Luckily, the illness passed without troubling us too much, and thanks to our common medicine kit, which we always carry as a ration per year, it helped. But, it was a wake-up call.
Get a bloody damn car.
Buying a car is much like buying a house or an apartment. Only in this case, the amount of tech jargon, that’s coming out of the pits these days, is sure to put a potential new buyer on a headspin. Sneha and I are experiencing such a thing now.
The makes and models — where to start? For someone who fancied tweaking IC engines, having a fantasy is one thing, and seeing it fulfilled is another.
For nearly a year, I’ve been discreetly eying the Volkswagen Golf GTI MkV. It is perhaps the greatest (practical) car ever made, especially for a car enthusiast. They don’t call it the pocket rocket for nothing. The 4-cylinder, 16-valve, 2.0ltr turbo-charged FSI engine produces a whopping 200 horses at a mere 5100 rpm. Automobile Mag deservedly rates it the car of the year. If that doesn’t ring a bell, Top Gear’s should.
So what is stopping us from buying this greatest piece of machinery? Well, the damn tax. Holland is the most expensive country in, perhaps, all of Europe, if you’re looking to buy a new car. In the US, this rocket sells for $22k, whereas here, it is an out-of-reach €39k, of which, €14k is tax!
Also, Holland is a country obsessed with anything second hand. Like my colleague said, people here have a nose for things. They’d probably sniff a deal and it would be gone before even you’d get the wind of it. Despite suggestions, we are receiving from everyone around us, about how buying a used car would be more sensible, we are thinking new3.
And, we are looking for one that fits us. Pocket first, rocket later. With the brand VW painfully out of the way (Passat is lovely, but its price makes us pass-out easily), it’s time to turn to the japs: the Nissans, the Toyotas and the Hondas.
You must be thinking, surely we could find one among those three great brands — with so many models between them. Yes, but like ordering a piece of furniture, all new cars have a blissful waiting list of at least 3-months. More walking days ahead.
Yes, we are still looking, dealer hopping and hoping that there’s a car for us, tucked-away in a showroom somewhere within this country, that we like, and one that we can drive out immediately.
- Thankfully, this year has been the warmest winter in 300 years — a blessing in disguise [←]
- Seriously, Malaysia was so good, as far as taxis were concerned, and because of which, we never really felt the need to own a car. [←]
- We must really be nuts. We bought a new one and sold it within 18-months in Malaysia. And now, we are doing the same thing again. Honestly, it is the fresh smell of that leather that makes us do this. [←]
Passat is lovely, but its price makes us pass-out easily - Classic!
Mar 19, 07 at 05:39