Honda, Mercedes, Volvo, Mitsubishi Challenger

So, on arrival in NZ, the first car I bought was a twelve year old, 1.6 litre Honda Accord(6.8K) followed soon by a Mercedes 280SE (7.8K)and then a Volvo 760GLE (9K)! These had been my dream cars for far too long. I cannot tahan any more. The only problem now is, what do I drive next?! (answer? my next car) Luxury cars tend to spoil their owner’s taste for ordinary cars like Toyota!

Recently, when I had some visitors from home, we drove 4000 Km around the north island in my Volvo. I was showing my in-laws: - Napier/Hastings, Wellington, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Bay of Islands and Auckland. All I could hear in the Volvo was just the wind on the outside mirrors! In my Isuzu jeep, I could not even hear myself thinking, not to mention the stereo!

The public transport system in New Zealand is rather poor. A car here is not a luxury at all. It is a necessity, for use to get to work and for going on weekend breaks away from the cities and on holidays. A few years ago, the NZ government decided to remove the 12.5% import tax on used cars. For 8 to 10K one can now buy quite a reasonable car, say a 6 year old Japanese import, 1.6 to 2 litres. Prices of used cars have dropped considerably since I came here in 1995.

However, one must be prepared to write off about 3K a year on a car's value due to depreciation, depending on the model and age. All repairs, running, maintenance and other associated costs are not recoverable! A top over-haul to replace the head gasket cost 1,200 dollars. I know, because I had to do that for both the Honda and the Mercedes! So far so good, the Volvo was less costly to maintain than the previous cars which were all around 12 years old when I first bought them. The old Honda was given away for 500 dollars, the Merc traded for 4K after maintenance cost of 12K over two years! It was a very expensive experience for me indeed!

The moral of this story is: Don’t pretend to be a timber tycoon when you are not! The Volvo was an excellent buy. Besides the usual small electrical problems with sunroof and windows, the engine runs very smoothly except in the morning, when it needed to be warmed up properly for 5 minutes! I was very satisfied with it and was quite reluctant to let it go. It looks like I am stuck with the 4x4 for a while yet. I need its oomph to tow my 22 foot yacht over the Kaimai ranges to Tauranga.