One week I struggled with the daunting
task of finding a cheap, yet somewhat reliable car. I needed fuel efficiency
and space for two people and gear. I stared for hours at trademe.co.nz website
and ran into backpacker hostiles for car sale postings. I’d repeatedly go
through cars to compare specs, trying to balance how much it would cost to buy
the car now with what it might cost to keep it going down the road. Sometimes I
picked up the phone to call the owners for more details and even made the
effort to go see 5 different cars.
First, there was the Turkish man selling
a 1996 Toyota Corolla manual station wagon for $2300. In a heavy Turkish accent
he would insist, “I tell you this like you were my own daughter. This is a
reliable car. I pay for any inspection because it will pass. I know it will.
You are like my daughter; this is a good car for you. Very good for its age.”
Wilma and I struggled with getting
it to engage in first gear. Both of us had to make several attempts to put the
shifter in first, playing with the clutch to catch the gear only to find
ourselves rolling backward. I think third time was the charm for both of us. I
then began thinking about how I would be driving a car through cities on the
left side of the road with the shifter on my left. It suddenly seemed like too
much multi-tasking; a recipe for disaster.
Then
there was the Honda Orthia[1]
man, who was trying to quickly sell his sister’s car since she just moved to
Jordan.
“Do all the electronics work?”
“Oh, yes. Well, the back windows
just jammed up last week.”
“They just stopped working? Sounds
like it might just be a blown fuse. I’ll just check, since that would be an
easy fix for me.” I pulled out the plastic panel in front of the fuses, turned
it around to check the fuse map…ah, right. Japanese imported car. Unfamiliar
characters filled in the boxes indicating what fuse controlled which electronic
system.
“How is it on petrol? Do you know
how many liters is in a tank?”
“Uhh, $80-90 to fill the tank. Get’s
about 600 km per tank. Very good on petrol.”
…
“Ah, would this tape over the hole
in the back window pass a WOF [Warrant of Fitness]?”
“What? Ooh, ha…Ah, just the back
door supporter popped out. Now it’s attached here. Hole was built in. The
window isn’t damaged. It’ll be no problem.”
Next was the old Mazda two house painters
were in a rush to sell for a $1000. As Wilma and I did a quick test drive of
the car, Wilma saw a puff of blue smoke come out of the exhaust. She insisted I
shouldn’t get the car because of that. I looked up online to find that it’s a
sign the engine is burning oil.
Saturday morning Wilma and I
visited a father trying to sell his yellow Toyota Corolla that his uncle had
given him three years earlier.
“When was it last serviced?”
“I think I had the oil changed once
since I got it…The tires are good. You might have to replace one for the next
warrant of fitness.”
“It’s a 5 cylinder engine? How is
it on petrol?”
“Yes it is. Ah, I don’t know
exactly. I just use about half a tank though every week commuting around the
area. Definitely doesn’t drink petrol quickly…”
“Guess it’s the extra cylinder that
makes it so grunty and gives it that extra power.”
…
“It’s sell as is. I’m not looking
to do any work on it before handing over the keys.”
“Sweet, well I’m really interested
if it’s around $1600. I’ll probably place a bid on it this evening on Trademe.”
I called up a couple Toyota dealers
upon arriving home. “Hi, I’m just looking into buying a Toyota corolla, and I
can’t find anything online about the type of engine it has. Do you know
anything about Toyota building a 1.5 L engine that’s 5 cylinders?”
“Ooh, that’s an odd one. I would
probably just stick to the four cylinder engines just because 5 cylinder is really
unusual.”
”What’s the registration number of
the car...The yellow corolla? Ha, it doesn’t say here on the VIR, but that
should be a 4 cylinder engine.”
I
think the father was honest and up front. He just didn’t know a whole lot about
the car’s real history. Though I should have taken up on his offer for taking
home free foam bedding while I was there.
That
afternoon, I went with Wilma to check out a Nissan station wagon. A young Asian
man greeted us at his family home and began to show me the car and explained
most of the car’s history. Imported from Japan eleven years earlier, owned by
his family since it arrived. Serviced every 6 months. After a test drive I said
I’d be keen to buy it for the “buy now” price of $1400 after it passes a
mechanical inspection. He said that was fine, but since it’s on trademe, if
someone else clicks the “buy me now” button he is obligated by law to sell it
to them if I haven’t closed the deal. I couldn’t get an inspection until
Monday. After ten minutes of contemplation, I decided to be done with it all
and to just risk it. I shook hands, signed the papers, and put down a deposit.
In the end I covered cheap, I think
reliable (let me put on a couple thousand kilometers before I can confirm it),
and decently spacious (as far as station wagons go). It’s very similar to my Subaru
but with a bit more power. Because of the power and the four-wheel drive
however, I did not succeed in having great fuel economy. Here, when it’s $2.21
a liter for petrol and you’re driving from the North to the South Island, every
extra kilometer your get per liter counts. If it doesn’t reach my expectations
of 26 mpg, I may need to sell it down the road. After winter of course, since I
need the 4-wheel drive now.
Monday (August 4th) I
registered the car, changed the ownership to me, finished shopping for car
camping supplies, and handed over the rest of the cash in exchange for the car.
With the car in my possession and my money from the States finally in my New
Zealand account, I was antsy to hit the road. I spent way too much time in the city
while the mountains taunted me with the adventures they hold. The plan was to
have the car mechanically inspected Tuesday morning, then set it up to live in,
and leave first thing Wednesday morning for Ruapehu. I couldn’t wait. I cancelled
the mechanical inspection (figured I could always stop at a mechanic as soon as
an issue popped up), set up the car, said my goodbyes, and headed straight for
Ruapehu.
I would like to take a moment here
to thank Wilma and Tim so much for their hospitality. Wilma especially went
above and beyond the hospitality I would expect even from a Kiwi. She kind of
became my NZ Mum. She drove me around to see cars and helped me test-drive
them. She insisted I not buy any food until my money situation with the States
was all sorted and helped me with getting my money transferred with the joint
account. Then to top it off, she (and sometimes Tim) took me around to shop for
car camping supplies, outfitting me with some of their old stuff when I couldn’t
find it at a reasonable price. Come summer, I will probably have to help them
with some work on their beach house in Coromandel to make up for all they have
done for me.
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