My fiance, Calvin, and I have three cars between us. He has a 1975 Chevrolet 4100 and a 1983 Toyota Celica Supra, and up until very recently I had a 2004 Daihatsu Charade. Given the fact that the Chevy can’t take all five of us because the wheels are too big for the arches – they scrape if it’s overloaded – and the fact that the Supra has little insulation (from noise and fumes, it has the NVH levels of a Ricoffy can really), the wipers work intermittently (but perfectly in summer) and it leaks when it rains, the Charade took on the role of the family car. Also, the Charade had aircon and the two classics don’t. Summer in Cape Town demands air-conditioning.
But it was getting tight. The boys are growing and they need more space for their long dangly legs. On top of this, Calvin had been using the Supra as his workhorse as well as for photo and video shoots. Once or twice the car died on him, but crucially the another big factor was that he couldn’t leave his expensive photography gear in a 30-odd-year-old car. Plus, I’ve seen him fold two mountain bikes into it on more than one occasion. So, the initial conversation went something like this:
Him: “I think it’s time to sell the Supra and buy a bakkie.”
Me: *gasps* “No! You can’t sell Supey!”
Him: “I need something more reliable for shoots and something I can throw my bike into without having to dismantle it every time.”
Me: “But you can’t sell the Supra! Sell my car. It’s not practical anyway. We need a big family car.”
And then we sold the Charade. It was a hell of a lot more emotional than I anticipated. It was the first car I had ever bought for myself so parting with it was tough. But we knew we needed a bona fide family car so it was time to upgrade. And what an upgrade! I’ve moved from a tiny 2004 Daihatsu Charade into a massive 2010 Nissan X-Trail 2.0 dCi. Here are a few of the things I’ve learnt.
I love turbocharged cars
Or rather, I don’t miss a 1,0-litre three-cylinder naturally aspirated engine. I have to drive up hills every day to and from work - it is sublime having a car that doesn’t lose its breath halfway up.
I’m not that much of a pro at parallel parking
I used to be very cocky about this. I could parallel park anywhere, even in the smallest of spaces and I could do it in two smooth movements. Yeah… that’s not the case anymore. I thought I was the master, but my little Charade had me fooled. I could park that car anywhere. The X-Trail is a different story. I now carefully consider where I park.
Cup holders are underrated
I only had one in the Charade and I thought that was enough for me. But now we have six just in the front of the car and it’s amazing. I never knew I needed so many cup holders until I had them. You get a cup holder, YOU get a cup holder! EVERYONE GETS A CUP HOLDER!
I like big boots and I cannot lie
My Charade had a very tiny boot. I could barely fit four bags of shopping in there. I no longer have that problem so now I do more shopping, pack bigger bags, cart more things around.
I love playing the 'beat your best fuel consumption' game
The Charade didn’t have a fuel consumption read-out so I couldn’t play this game before. The X-Trail has one and now the game is on! We’re currently guzzling 8.4 L/100 km of diesel, but we got the car when the average was 8.9 L/100 km. I’m always trying to beat the number. Definitely trying for a 7.9 L/100 km.
As happy as we are with this purchase, the buying process wasn’t without its hiccups. We spent hours at the dealership doing paperwork and I didn’t realise that my licence had expired two months ago already, so I needed to go get that done before we could take our new X-Trail home. It was actually rather embarrassing but I got over it with thoughts of the leathery drive home later. That was over two weeks ago and we are still very happy with our purchase. We feel rather grown up now. And for those days when we just want to feel like kids and fool around, the Chevy and the Supra are there for us.
