Cars we looked at

There has been a lot of news around the new VF Commodores, and I having read some articles, I often see strange comments too. One such article is this one by Car Advice http://www.caradvice.com.au/236716/holden-commodore-ss-v-hot-hatch-benchmark-2/ They compare a hot hatch with an SS-V Commodore purely due to the price, and although that initially sounds strange, it makes me think about the cars we have looked at before buying. Since we already owned a Ford Mondeo XR5, the starting point was last year, and we looked at the previous model Ford Kuga. The Titanium model had the same 5 cylinder turbo engine that we liked in our car, except in a slightly different tune. We liked the glass roof, leather interior and the high seating position. The kids also liked the fold out tray tables in the rear. I didn't like the small boot, the automatic gearbox, the fact it did not have front sensors, and the changed placement of the start button. After that, we test drove the Ford Focus ST, with the new 2.0L turbo engine. On paper, this is a great looking car, but it wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped. The ride was firmer and harsher than we liked (18 inch wheels with the same profile as the Mondy). I had not read a single review or comment about how hard the suspension was (yet these same "reviewers" made all sorts of noise about the Mondeo suspension). It didn't put a smile on my face, and it didn't sound that great either. Next on the list was Mazda - we looked at their 6 and 3, but they are just uninspiring vehicles. I can't understand why people say it feels premium - I've owned a 1990 Mazda 323 Astina SP, and I think the new interior and layout is cheap plastic. Maybe I'm not understanding the way that advertising budgets and the reviewers have to work together in harmony. Anyway, the Mazda6 was overpriced years ago, and still feels overpriced today. Sure you can have better resale, but why drive something that just doesn't bring any smile to your face? Mazda3 have an MPS, but that's going to be replaced in the near future, The Golf7 GTI isnt due out until late 2013, the Audi S3 is late 2013, and so both are too late for our timeframe, so I gave up looking at warmed up hatches. Since I live near a BMW dealership, I had a quick look at the BMW M135i 5 door hatch, except that dealerships don't order manual cars - apparently the automatic is faster and you need to special order the manual. That means no discounts, and I'm not going to pay full sticker for a BMW... Nice interior, tiny boot, just enough room for young children, but not much metal for the money. I also drove the Mini Countryman - both the base model that has the naturally aspirated (gutless) engine, as well as the Chilli version with a few extra herbs. The options list was ridiculously long and pricey, so we left feeling that it was not very good value for money. Thanks BMW & Mini, but I don't think I am your type of buyer. In some sort of frustration, I went back to Ford and test drove a MC Mondeo Titanium (2L ecoboost turbo engine), but although it is packed with all the features I wanted, on the test drive, it felt terribly unresponsive. It is pretty gutless really, not much oomph on tap, and you have to wait for the boost to come on, not like our old XR5, so it felt going backwards significantly. So then we thought, why don't we look at some SUVs? Test drove a Subaru Forester and found that to be a bit of a waste of time (CVT is like ???). I nearly choked when the salesman said the Forester XT was going to be $58k drive away! So we then looked at the Honda CRV, Volkswagen Tiguan, Mazda CX5, Hyundai ix35 and Santa Fe, Skoda Yeti, Mitsubishi ASX and Outlander, Nissan X-trail and Dualis, and lastly it was Kia Sportage and Sorrento. The Mazda salesman didn't know his product (he was adamant the base CX5 had alloys, even pointing to the chunky steel wheels and saying they're alloys), Nissan's salesman was just not able to deal with curious kids in his showroom, the Mitsubishi guy was great, shame the product felt a bit cheap, Hyundai guys were just too full of themselves, telling me from the start they had supply issues and not to expect any discounting! Surprisingly, the VW guy said he could do a great deal for me pre-test drive, and I was really keen on the 132 Pacific model, except it was too small. Honda's guys are just disorganised (couldnt offer a manual for a test drive), Skoda's clearly are built to a price (check out the stupid rear boot strap, they dont have a handle to close the hatch). Seriously, none of these were able to bring any sort of smile, they do the job, and thats about it. Sure you get functionality, but if I really wanted functionality, I would go buy a Toyota. This made me go test drive the latest Toyota RAV4, and it was the manual base model poverty pack. A light truck, with excellent Japanese execution, but still carbage and made me want to puke. I was happy to look at and pay anywhere from $40-$60k, I just needed something that was interesting enough and different from everything else. Hehe - Being a Holden/HSV owner in my suburb is a pretty exclusive club - there are probably ten times more BMWs, Mercs and Audis...

Which car?

Up until that fateful Easter of 2003, I had been a relatively picky car enthusiast and was driving an Audi at the time. 

However, time spent in the SS left an impression that wasn't leaving in a hurry. So with the runout deals going on, we looked at the HSV Clubsport. My original budget was $50k, and there were base model Clubsports being advertised at $54k. The first test drive didn't go so well, with the boy complaining heaps about the smell (plastics and exhaust burning in). But once the salesman showed me the Bimodal exhaust party trick, I knew I wanted the 25th anniversary R8 model which had it standard. 

I had already advertised the Mondy for sale online, but once we signed, I knew I had to make a serious effort to sell it.

Who knew dealerships were so reluctant to allow buyers to pickup their cars on the weekend? I met more resistance than expected which I thought very strange. The only significant disappointment was the blatant failure of the tyre pressure monitoring system. 

I was very disappointed they had supposedly done their predelivery checks and gave me a car with faulty TPM sensors. 

As a result of this failure, the dealer let a lot of air out of the tyre when I picked it up. I only saw this when I got home. 

I notified the sales manager, so if there are future issues with the sidewall, they will need to sort it out. 

The new car

I've been waiting over 10 years to buy a car like the one we have recently purchased. Back in Easter 2003, Norma and Robert let us borrow a VY Commodore SS overnight. It was a manual V8, in black. We looked at the runout VX Series 2, and although we were offered a great price, we didn't end up buying as the car simply did not fit into the garage (we had a very old small garage/shed). That car was a lot of fun, and the memory of it stayed with me for a long time. My wife even remembered the goofy grin on my face when I was driving it.

Upgrade to Road Trip

Looks much better with the $5.49 version 

Final fuel summary pic

Okay, so the final fuel economy figures after almost 5 years of ownership. We actually drove just over 31,000kms but we didn't do a final "full fill". The last fill was at 30,459km on 23 Apr 2013 Overall average fuel usage was 12.81L / 100km - which is pretty good for a five cylinder 2.5L Turbo car! Average price was $1.373 per litre Total of 3,896.28 litres of fuel consumed. The thunder mondeo XR5 was a nice drive and very comfortable. In the end, I just had to go satisfy my v8 itch. I've been waiting 10 years for a v8, and that's a fantastic replacement for a 5 cylinder with great character.

Bye Bye Ford Mondeo...

A great deal has happened since the last post... The new tyres were great, but then the car started making a squeaky/whining noise (the alternator was starting to go). There was about 4 months wait for the alternator to come from the other side of the planet (apparently Ford Australia didn't have a genuine one in the country!!) At the same time they changed the alternator, they found the power steering reservoir was starting to go, so that got replaced as well. Coming up to late 2012, we started thinking of getting a new car to replace it. We looked at the Kuga (The kids absolutely loved the Titanium with the full glass roof, back seat trays and higher seating position). Unfortunately, there was none at a reasonable price, and with the new model Kuga coming out, it didn't make economic sense to consider buying one. For me, it ticked most of the boxes with the exception of the automatic gearbox. I want a manual and I simply didn't want to compromise on that. Ford lost a customer when they decided that they were not interested in bringing in a top-spec new generation Kuga in manual. Ford did not want me as a repeat customer when they decided not to bring in another Mondeo with a manual gearbox. The Focus ST is nice, but too small for my needs. Sorry Ford (Australia) - your marketing department scores a big fat fail. Going to fully importer status won't change much. I've now sold the Mondeo and moved on. Thanks Ford, but you don't show that you know how to look after your existing customers by providing an upgrade path....