Buying Cars
By PG Jonker
Some people buy cars regularly. They say if they don’t they fall behind too much in how much a new car will set them back. I also buy cars regularly. I trade my cars when they are 18 years old.
I also read the CAR magazine regularly. OK, this is now more regularly than buying a vehicle; more like in once a month. Well, actually a few times in that month. At some stage I lost interest and suspended my subscription; the prices of new cars were (still are) simply too much to generate much enthusiasm for a new car. However, it was a bit like trying to stop drinking coffee. I get enormous headaches that force me back to the black stuff soon. It was a bit of the same with my CAR magazine. So I decided to surprise my wife with a fresh subscription to CAR-magazine for her. Just as a token of appreciation for that tea set she bought me for my previous birthday (that was after I bought her an electric drill for hers).
In any event, I found that if I hold on to my CARS (the magazine, that is) long enough, it becomes more and more relevant. For instance, I still revisit my 1984 CARs for the road test of the Range Rover of yore. Or more recently when we had to start shopping for wheels. This was somewhat out of sync with my usual pattern, as my bakkie is now only 12 years old and still has at least 6 years to go. But then again, I did not sell my bakkie. The newly acquired wheels were to become an ad on to the existing fleet of two vehicles. That’s what happens when (a) your son finishes school; (b) enrol at the Tek; (c) passes his driver’s license after the third attempt, and most importantly (d) your wife tell’s you to go out and buy a car.
Now this is actually great fun. I really enjoy searching for a car. I just don’t like going out to actually buy one. The thing is it stretches my nerves and my budget to the utmost (the two seems to have an umbilical cord connecting them), resulting in panic attacks that last for a few weeks. So I need to safeguard myself by, amongst other things, not doing a private deal.
Top of the list, Plan A, was a first generation Kia Sportage (1999 – 2003). A leisure vehicle that can carry 5 plus luggage, and can serve as a back-up to tow the caravan. Yes, I do realise that speed would not have even entered the equation. However, the Sportages I could find that were in close enough proximity to warrant to go and have a look were all hugely overpriced. And those that I could find at dealers touched the 200 000km’s.
So I scaled down to plan B. Daihatsu Terios, first generation. There are very few of these around. I found two at one dealer, but by the time I showed some interest, they were both sold. At the same time I also started looking at a Fiat Panda, but discarded this option as being too small (although the Panda is wider than the Terios).
By this time a few weeks have passed, and my wife was beginning to suspect that I was just playing around to rather not buy the car. She was not entirely wrong. Eventually we fell back to plan C: A non-SUV, hatchback, that can sort-of serve as a back-up family car, but not required to tow the caravan. I also eventually found an online data basis that seemed to cater more for dealers than private sellers.
Now, used car sales people are very often the butt of ugly jokes. Just like people always seem to think that lawyers are a bunch of skelms, which, of course, is absolutely not true. Trust me, I know.
Anyway, it reached the point where I reminded my wife of that Mercedes we started saving for in 2002. I told her I think we can now buy a Mercedes. She was very excited about the idea of a new Mercedes, but I had to break the news to her that I meant that we can now buy the 2002 Mercedes that we started saving for in 2002.
Enter Concorde Cars’ Angie and Gavin Alford and a sexy 2002 Mercedes A160 with 87000 km’s on the clock. And believe you me; all three of them were very nice. As a result we now have a brand new second hand A160 (of which I incidentally still have the CAR road test because of me hanging on to my old CAR magazines.)
Now I do have a bit of a resistance to bling. However, I overcame that by deciding that this particular three-pointed star cannot count for bling. Amongst other things for the following reasons: (a) it is shorter than a Fiat Uno (I kid you not); (b) it is 8 years old; and (c) it costs less than a late model CitiGolf.
After a week the A160 went back for a lube service and the niggles list that I put together. I don’t usually consider myself to be a demanding customer, but I thought it incumbent upon me to be as critical and thorough in my estimation of the car so that all problems might be sorted out. I must admit, I was somewhat embarrassed handing over the list to Gavin & Angie. In my defence I should ad that I was at pains to differentiate between repairs I considered that had to be done, and the rest of the list, which I preferred to call “observations”, with the innuendo that those niggles are not expected to be repaired.
Well, lo and behold, the car came back with even the “observations” attended to. Gavin clearly did more than just walk the extra mile.
I’m telling you, used car sales people are just misunderstood. Just like lawyers.
PGJ
I have only dealt with a hand full of used car dealers in my life, but I share a lot of PG’s sentiment…
Although I love cars, I loathe buying them. I guess it’s because it is so similar to marriage – you can either go with your heart and keep trading them in, or you can go with your head and get a keeper. With the first scenario, your life remains exciting, but you can never call it your own. With the second comes predictability and security, but you will eventually have to start dealing with all the draw backs that presents itself with old age. As far as marriage and cars goes, I have decided on the latter. Now, deciding with your head is never an easy past time…
Before I get to that, let me start by telling you my life story (unfortunately it is not as interesting as it is long). When I was born, my dad had a gray 1978 Audi 100 GLS. I remember dreaming that, one day, when I am big, I will drive one just like that. When I was four, my dad traded the gray Audi in for a red 1979 Audi 100 GLS. This pattern then kept on going: White 1980 Audi 100 5E automatic ; white 1981 Audi 200. Just as soon as the new one started growing on me, it was gone… But then,in 1983, something amazing happened. My dad’s business started struggling and one of the first things that had to go was the Audi’s. I must say, at first the replacement of new car smell with the oily smell of the borrowed rear-engined VW variant seamed like a curse, but then, when all hope seemed lost, salvation came. Not in the form of a new Audi, but in the form of the VW Passat – the Audi for the average man. Even though my dad had to buy a second hand one (1983 model) with only four cylinders and an engine capacity of 1600cc, it was sensational! It was unbelievable that a car that heavy with a 1600 four cylinder carburetor engine could reach a top speed of 180km per hour, do 0 to 100 in 12 seconds and used only 10 liters of dinosaur juice per 100 kilometers. I made a pledge to myself that, one day, I will have one just like that. Unfortunately, VW South Africa discontinued the Passat in 1987 and my dream of owning one in the distant future was smashed. I then started preserving that car of my dad’s like it was Nastassja Kinski. Every weekend it received a new coat of Lux for cars (aka Rally Wax)and the interior was brushed and vacuumed back to showroom condition…
At last, in 1998, I had saved up the R8000.00 that was required to buy it from my dad after years and years of working during holidays and doing my in-service training at Techinicon. The frantic preservation, however continued.
Finally, in 2002, The Passat was heading for the big two zero and even though it was still in mint condition and had never had any mechanical problems up to that point, I decided that it was time to let it go. Saddest day of my life, but it was the start of smaller and and almost as good things…
Being an early ’78 model myself, I still fancied cars that were amongst us during the reign of ABBA and bell bottoms. Unfortunately, most of those cars predate electronic ignition and were now inhabited by chickens. Be that as it may, with my Passat now gone and me now being in a financial position to by any car my heart desired as long as it was for less than R40 000.00, I started the search. I did complicated calculus: What equals the spirit of the Passat plus more compact than the passat plus 70’s design? The answer was obvious – Citi Golf!
The lucky contestant was collected at Top Wheels, Bellville (Now Car Mall) on a sunny Friday afternoon in 2002. A white 1998 model Citi Blues. With the exact same 1600 carburetor engine as the Passat’s, but having to lug but half the weight around, it went like stink! Even though it was the flag ship Citi of the time, one of it’s featured extras was a rev counter – which gives you a rough idea of it’s spec level. But that was fine, for it meant no electronic nonsense that could make you use the Lord’s name in vain in the future. And so it came to pass. It just kept on going and quite literally cost less to maintain than a face brick wall. It eventually became my wife’s car and a mom’s taxi after I met and ran off with a Hilux bakkie (which is a whole story on it’s own).
Then, a couple of months ago, a few days short of the Citi’s 13th birthday, the wife started complaining about the hardships of raising children without the age old aid of central locking. Decisions had to be made – should I buy her a new car or invest in a set of ear muffs. It was obvious. The second choice would be cheaper, but may prove fatal. It was time to dust off the old thinking cap and do some advanced calculus yet again. What equals the same spirit and cost effectiveness as the Citi plus 70’s styling plus great resale value plus central locking plus fuel injection for less than R100 000.00? VW Polo… is wrong! VW Citi is the correct answer. WV Citi Rox to be exact. To find one is easy – you just kick a bush at your nearest dealer and watch them jump out – the only problem was: I wanted one with less than 40000k’s on the clock, with air conditioning and in white. My search took me on a virtual journey across South Africa, with dealers phoning me from as far a field as Polokwane with worthy suitors, but, sadly, none in white. Eventually, they all grew weary of my obsession with skin color and gave up on me. Discouraged and heart broken, I called off the search. Then, a couple of days later, I was browsing through Gum Tree looking for some blunt, rusty razor blades with which I could put myself out of my misery. And then, all of a sudden, an advert from a car dealer in Parklands popped up, bearing a photograph of a Tosca Blue Citi Rox. A late 2008 model, 1.4i (same power and torque as the 1.6 carburetor engine) with air conditioning and central locking, 37000k’s on the clock with remainder of warranty and maintenance plan. All this for less than R75 000.00. I was immediately sold (despite the dangerous, but breathtaking metallic blue). The dealer even offered me the same amount on trade in for the old Citi which I had payed 8 years ago and 110 000 km ago! So, to come to the point I originally tried to make – you are right PG – used car daelers aren’t all crooked.