So back in New York, since 1997 I have always owned a Volkswagen Jetta, here in Australia the mid-model I can't afford. The model Jetta I had before here goes for almost $40,000. Funny, my dream car has always been a BMW 5 series, and in the US that was a price tag with the options I wanted just under $50k, not including tax and all the other bs involved with buying a car. Here a 5 series would cost over $100k, because of the luxury car tax, any car that costs over $57k is hit with another tax, the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Gas prices here are crazy, Americans boo-hoo about the cost of gas, when in actuality they have the cheapest gas prices in the world. Australia has it at about $5.62 a gallon as of yesterday, Europe pays even more, that's why most people own small 4 cylinder cars that are very fuel efficient. But I digress, we looked at a few cars, we looked at the Subaru XV which is gorgeous but out of my price range. The Nissan Dualis (Rogue in the US), I didn't like the feel of it. I liked the look of the Holden (Chevy) Cruze but the deal breaker in any of the cars we looked at was the availability of a sunroof, the Cruze doesn't have one factory installed and the guy suggested they have a guy. I put a stop to that the minute he even hinted at it, if it's not factory installed I don't want it. Honda's a pretty expensive here too, there's no such an Acura, but in actuality it's a Honda. For example, the Acura MDX here is the Honda MDX, go figure. I've always known that the two had the same engine, parts and other things. We even looked at the Ford Territory, but I'm not willing to pay $38k for an SUV, and do I really need one.
So with much thought and consideration, we went for a test drive with a Toyota Corolla Conquest, and I loved driving it, it was fun and smooth even though it's on the other side of the road and I'm sitting in where to me should be the passenger seat. We sat down with the salesperson and we threw numbers around until both parties were satisfied, they asked what color I wanted, I said white, what's your second choice of color, I said white, and third, again white. I would not be happy in any other color. A few days later the salesperson called and said they've found a white one and it would take a few days, I was in no rush as my money was not in my account yet and my personalized plates hadn't arrived. I got nervous about getting the plates as we're going away for our one year anniversary and I wanted the car by then. I did purchase it on the 29th of September. So I called the PPQ (Personalized Plates of Queensland) on Wednesday and the lady said it was sent out today you should get it in day or two. Next day, around 9:30am the delivery dude showed up, I closed the muppet in the bathroom and signed for my plates. I then texted my husband and called the dealership so they could register my car and I could pick it up Friday at 5:15pm.
Friday my husband came home early from work, he parked his car and we hopped on a bus into the city to go collect my car. When we got there I knew which one was mine, and I was very excited. We did the final paperwork and they handed over the keys and off we went for a drive. It's interesting driving on the other side, I still get confused when signaling as the signal is on the right instead of the left so I find myself hitting the windshield wipers by accident. It feels good being able to get up and go whenever I want and not have to rely on my husband to drive me everywhere, not that he minds. I love the fact that if I want to make something for dinner I can just get into my car and buy a few missing ingredients. The car is lovely but truth be told, I wish it was a Volkswagen Jetta, there are so many features I'm used to having and this car, although lovely does not have all the bells and whistles of the Jetta. But I cannot afford a Jetta here in Australia or the servicing costs of one. With my Corolla I have fixed price servicing for a time at $132 max. The things I miss and don't have with the Corolla are: key-less entry into the trunk, locking glove box, locking anything in the interior. I have a valet key, yay it means nothing when everything can be accessed from the interior at any time. I did buy a sun visor, as it does get pretty hot here in Queensland ( The Sunshine State) it's really cool, it's got pretty pink flowers on it.
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