Image taken from oneshift.com

Its time for me to purchace my next car. I have been carless for almost 6 months now, and the need has araised for me to get my own set of wheels once again. I have been looking at several brands and makes, and have thrown out a few ideas as its not really practical. I wanted to get the Triton, which is still my dream car, but it wont really be practical as Sara wont be able to drive it. Thats out of the window. My choices are now down to the following two cars. The Toyota Vios S or the Suzuki SX4 Sedan. I am favouring the Suzuki, but I wanted feedback from you guys. I have been reading reviews and blogs, both seem to have its plus points. The vios is proven in Malaysia. There is a high resale value, spare parts and service wont be a problem. The Suzuki is hot! It has great features and I just like it. Help

…is no fun at all! Last night, Sara’s car broke down. The whole day it worked fine, it worked fine when I was in the curve, and I am thankful to God for that. I came back, showered, and then as I was about to go to church, the engine could not start. I got out my jumper cables from my car, and got my brother in laws help to jump the car, then I drove a grand total of 800 meters away, and the car died at an upwards slope near a traffic light. I called my brother in law, and he came over with my sister, and helped me to push the car to the side, where we finally managed to get it to start after about 20 minutes of starting. Then my sister had gone home, and my brother in law, and walked to the machanic, I was left to drive the car back to the mechanic, made a U-Turn at the traffic light, and now, going down hill, my car died again at the traffic light. Its an automatic car, so you can’t push start it, and I had to push the car down hill by myself. There was no power at all, so the power windows could not work. I had to leave the door open, and steer the car while pushing it, and at one point the car gained momentum and I was running to keep up with it, with nobody in the car and the door open!! Finally the slope ended, and i managed to push the car safely to the mechanics. He is fixing me car, and will call me later today with the quote. The item at fault? The Alternator.

If you live in Klang Valley, and you drove yesterday evening, you would know how heavy the rain was. I was driving back from KL back to PJ, and as I was rolling slowly down the highway, I decided to enter the fast lane. The rain was very heavy, and I already had my lights on, and the wipers at full swing. I looked at the rear view mirrow, the side mirror and I turned around, and I didn’t see any cars, so I indicated and slowly entered the fast lane. Then all of the sudden I hear a car horn and when I looked at the rear view mirror, he was flashing his lights. He clearly didn’t have his lights on, even though the rain was very heavy, and he was clearly going very fast despite the rain. Apparently I must have really pissed him off, and so he overtook me and then Jammed on the breaks, wanting me to bang him from the back. I jammed on my breaks, and the car skidded, so I pulled on the handbreaks, and stopped just a few meters shy of his car.  I horned him of course, and then he overtook the car infront of him, and did the same thing again, as if he clearly wanted me to get into an accident. Crazy man! Does he not value anybodies life? Why are they crazy drivers like that on the road? I may not be the best of drivers, I know that for sure, but at least I dont purposely try and get others into accidents. Sigh.

I am torn. I am carless. I wanna buy a new car in the near future. What car should I buy? I want a family car, something that will last us a few years. Something that will carry me, my future bride and our future kid safely and comfortably on long distance trips.

I want something practical, something cost effective, something both Sara and I can drive with ease. Initially I wanted to buy the Mitsubishi Triton, and that is still a choice on the table, but Sara may be hesitant to drive it.

Then I thought of a 4X4 and there are a few players. Toyota Rush, Honda CRV, Nissan X-Trail, Suzuki Vitara Grand. The cheapest of the lot is the Toyota Rush selling at just bellow 90k, but with only a 1.5cc engine, it cannot take the load and weight of such a car. The other players are all 2.0 and the prices are CRV 150k, X-Trail 130k, Vitara Grand 110k.

The best choice is of course the CRV, as Honda’s have the highest resale value of the lot, but I am not buying the car to be sold later right? I donno much about the X-Trail. Is it dependable? I hear good stories about Nissan service. I hear that Suzuki cars have a low resale value, but I do know its dependable, so how? Advice please!!

Yes, I am officially Carless now! I sold babe2, my faithful 1997 Proton Iswara, and now I dependent on public transport and also the goodwill of anybody who wants to give me a ride