that smarts!

An off topic post for this blog follows.

I have a five year old car. It is a 2008 VW Golf City (for those in places not Canada, that means it is a 2008 Mk IV Golf). I quite like it for a lot of very good reasons, but of late am finding it frustrating.

It has several things going for it which quite appeal to me in a car. There is enough room in it for it to do duty as the main family car for three people. We can fit in it just about all that we need. Seats folded, it becomes a cave on wheels. Bicycles fit on the roof with ease. This is good because my wife drives a very small car.

The body is very tough, and it has the best paint in the business for a car of this class in terms of durability. The car is not inclined to rust and has a very robust anti-corrosion warranty.

It is heavy and ponderous around town, which I like. The steering takes actual effort and the ride is, for lack of a better word, heavy. Mechanically, it feels great to use and it is quite comfortable.

However...

There just had to be a however, didn't there.

However, the car is a gas pig. I tracked the mileage anally for 7 months and it averages about 9.1L/100km. For a car put up against a raft of relatively efficient Japanese and Korean cars which out horsepower this thing and significantly out perform it in fuel economy, this is terrible. The culprit is the very tough, very durable, but very old tech engine - the venerable 2.0L iron block 8 valve engine pumping out a whopping 115hp. Weeeee.

It is also starting to develop electrical gremlins. It ate one light switch and one major engine sensor, thankfully covered by warranty. It ate the right mirror LED signal lamp (which is a good trick). The security system sometimes arms, sometimes doesn't. The locks sometimes work, and sometimes don't. What is next?

It also burns oil. The dealership assures me that this is normal. I beg to differ. If it is normal for this engine design to chew through two litres of synthetic old between oil changes, then there is a serious design flaw in the engine. Wouldn't you think? I maintain it religiously and always fix things (annoying electrical crap aside) on time, so there is no issue of neglect. The car has only 111 000km on it, which for a car run in Canada is nothing.

Add to that the suspension starting to go squishy. and frustration mounts.

Due to my work situation, even though I would like to commute by bicycle, I need to have immediate access to a reliable car. I now work two jobs, one of which is at a fixed location, and the other sees me all over a very large geographical area, sometimes switching spots mid day. Also, we are likely moving later this year to help care for a family member, which will see car use go up, rather than down.

So I started to check out some options just in case the VW dies or suddenly needs to have a pile of work done on it that I cannot afford to do reasonably.

Sadly, the affordable (to me) VW products - the 2014 Jetta - use the same engine as the current car and don't address one of my primary concerns with it. They got rid of the much more powerful and much more efficient 2.5L Audi engine that was in the base car and replaced it with the old iron from before. To get a more efficient engine, I would have to go three models up the lineup which costs more than I am willing to spend on a car. So that is out, even though I like the car overall.

It is then that I stumbled upon a problem. One of the things I really (really) like about the VW is the plain simple conservative interior design. Everything is where it should be. Everything falls easily to hand. Ergonomics are wonderful.

Taking a close look at other cars - Japanese and Korean manufacturers (I don't like American cars) mostly - I noticed that the insides are covered in this faux titanium plastic, are broken up with controls all over the place, and remind me of the worst of the world's tacky science fiction space ship cockpits.

Yuck.

They look like they were designed by a committee that met once. And then didn't listen to each other.

Double Yuck.

So back to the European cars we go. Options here in Canada for inexpensive European cars include the Jetta, the Ford Fiesta (a German Ford, even though it is made in the USA), the Fiat 500, and the Smart fortwo. That is it. We do not get Peugeots, Citreons, or anything else.

The Jetta was eliminated already even though I really like parts of it. The Fiesta has the worst of the "gee wizz" interiors and, while it looks ok from the outside, is appalling on the inside. The Fiat 500 is fairly marvelous, but costs too much by the time I kit it out the way I want it.

Which leaves the Smart Car.

Yep, the Smart Car.

You see, I don't need a bigger car. My wife's car, coming on ten years old, is going to need replacing. She has expressed a wish to have the family car because she has more use for the space in day to day driving than I do. I would then be able to go small and efficient with my wheels.

So, the Smart Car.

Why that? It is very inexpensive to buy, even loaded up. It has enough room in it for what I want to do (supposing I am not driving the family around in it, which I won't be). Operating costs are a joke, particularly for fuel - it goes almost twice as far on a litre of fuel as the Golf does for example. It is quite safe. Cute. And somewhat contrarian (which I also like).

I like the Passion Line, with no added options. Should the Golf need replacing NOW with no warning, the Pure Line, with no options, would be fine as well.

It reminds me of a four wheel bicycle :)