A car for the beach

So, I have decided to buy another car. We bought a Toyota Kluger SUV when we arrived in Australia and it was been really good. It has plenty of space and grunt to boot. I know it’s not very politically correct (read: not very green) but I will merely say what I heard from a friend some time back when he asked why someone had such a big car. Its because its such a big country.

Anyway, although the public transport is great when you want to go longer distances, it is a bit tricky to pop down to the beach or down to the store when we are all busy doing different things. So despite having got by for four months with the one car, I am going to get another.

That raises a whole bunch of other questions: How much do you want to spend? What do you want to use the car for? What condition are you prepared to accept? How new should the car be? The list goes on and on.

I have settled on a small runabout in the form of a 20 year old Suzuki 4 wheel drive (the mini jeep lookalike if you know it). The ride is very rough and the finish is probably rougher still, but it will get me to the beach with the kids and the surfboards, it is light on fuel (something green at last), parts are cheap (although I wont be doing any mechanical work myself), it comes with a set of roof racks and most importantly the price is right.

Moving to a new country for us has meant that to a large extent we need to practice a new type of fiscal discipline. With only one person earning cash for now, we don’t want to overextend ourselves with more debt. For this reason, the price of the new car is most important. I want to be able to pay cash for it. I guess that gives my price range away. The next question is whether the lady who currently owns it will accept my offer.

I wanted to stress a couple of points here: 1) Try as you might it will probably be difficult to get away with one car for a big family, especially if you are used to the freedom of movement that having a car brings; 2) Sticking to a budget is pretty difficult at the best of times. When you move countries it becomes imperative to be as prudent as possible or you will quickly sink yourself. Watch that debt.

I hope that my offer is accepted, that way I can further expand my new found freedom. Its really a small price to pay.