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Remember, you are unique. Just like everyone else. The first time I read this was on one of those so-called DeMotivational posters. You know the kind that take the piss out of the posters with uplifting messages about Success and Teamwork and all the other nonsense, “Work will set you free…blah, blah, blah.”

I remember sitting in Lygon Street Carlton a while back having dinner. We were sitting at an outside table and I happened to look up and see a black Lamborghini Gallardo coming towards me. The way that this car moved over the road had my mouth agape; the only way I could really describe it would be that this vehicle was making love to the road, softly and passionately.

I turned to beloved and made mention of the Gallardo essentially being sex on wheels. She turned and watched it for a bit before saying that she found a lot of other things sexier than cars. Not everyone has the same view of all things automotive that I do and I understand that. It’s the reason why we all find different cars appealing and how we make the final decision as to what car we purchase. After all, besides a house this is the biggest purchase many of us will ever make.

For instance, the moment I saw the Commodore Sportwagon I was smitten. I’ve always had a thing for station wagons (or estates in Euro speak). I don’t know why this is but it is and that’s that. I had a dilemma though and that was in 1999 I swore black and blue that I would never buy another Holden.

As far as Australian cars go my preference has always been the Lion over Ford. My dad sold cars for a living for about thirty years and in that time he sold Subaru, Ford and Holden. He always said that the worst time of his car selling days was when he was selling Fords; as the cars generally came back with faults and after awhile it just got hard to sell a product he didn’t believe in. When I was growing up he had his own Holden dealership in the country town of Rochester.

So it came to pass when it was time to buy my first car I bought a Holden Commodore, a 1980 VC Commodore to be precise. It wasn’t the best car in the world, there were things that didn’t work and switches on the dash which didn’t do anything, but I loved it. You had to drive it a certain way. When you selected second gear you pulled the gear lever back while at the same time pushing it away from you otherwise it was never going in. Steering was a fun way to pass the time as sometimes it appeared to be completely random and not connected to the front wheels. The speedo didn’t work properly and the pin holding the throttle cable to the throttle assembly on the carburettor broke and that took all sorts of fixes before we finally stumbled across the correct one, a three inch bolt and two nuts. But once you had all this sorted it was great and did me for about five years before I traded it in.

The new car I selected was a 1997 VS Commodore. It had new things like cruise control, air conditioning, anti-lock brakes and two air bags. It was the worst car I’ve owned. It had faults, oh yes, it had faults. There was a leak in the roof, dash board rattles and faulty electrics which meant that I kept blowing globes in my lights. There were faults in my first car but for some reason that gave it a personality. The faults in my new car just made it annoying and at the end of my ownership I decided that never would I buy an Australian car again

Since then I have owned a Subaru and a Mazda; the Mazda will forever hold a special place in my heart as it was my first car that I ever bought new and proof for me that Mazda clearly had the Zoom-Zoom philosophy well and truly under control. It wasn’t the most powerful car but it had the tightest chassis and sweetest gearbox. The engine made up for its lack of power by demanding to have its socks revved off every time you turned the key. If you pitched it into a corner, you knew that by throwing the gear lever back into second and mashing the loud pedal into the carpet that it would get you through without the slightest grumble. It was a new car but it had personality.

Due to a growing family and the need to tow horse floats, the time came for us to buy another car. Decisions, decisions. We looked at the Subaru Liberty wagon, the Peugeot 307 HDi wagon, Subaru Forester and Nissan X-Trail. We also looked at several commercial vehicles such as the Toyota HiLux and Nissan Navarra. But then the Sportwagon came onto the market and, best of all the SS wagon was back; a 6.0 litre V8 engine, leather seats and sports suspension. The only thing was the vow that I had made ten years prior.

It was with some trepidation I approached the local Holden dealer for a test drive. From the moment I sat in and looked around the car I realised that Holden have come a long way in ten years. Whether it’s because of the larger role Holden are playing in General Motor’s global strategy or steroids in the canteen food, Holden have learned how to build a car. Happily I have owned this car for over a year now and can report only minor niggles, which all have been dealt with by my Holden dealer with minimum fuss. It doesn’t really have a personality yet; it just does what you want it to.

What does all this waffle really mean? Well, this, buying a car should be done using just as much heart as head. I will never begrudge any person buying any type of car; unless of course you buy Toyota because that just shows you don’t care and shouldn’t be driving. For example, you buy an Alfa knowing things will break but who cares when they look like they do and, generally speaking, you will still look cool pushing an Alfa. I mean have you seen the 159, Brera and 8C Competizione, pornography all of them.

When browsing car yards find the car that speaks to you the most. It will be the one you keep coming back to even though you don’t know why. It might be beat up or painted with purple house paint. It might be brand new and beautiful or as ugly as a hatful of arseholes but there will be a connection between you and it. Love is funny like that and car love is funnier than most.

 

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