1658: Automobile

I bought a new car today. Like, an actually new one, not a “new for me” car. I didn’t go out with the intention of purchasing a pretty much brand new (16 miles on the clock) car, but that’s the way things went after being presented with a good deal by our local Toyota garage.

Yes, I am (hopefully) about to be the proud owner of a new Toyota Yaris. Not the most exciting car in the world, for sure, but out of the several cars I took for a test-drive today, it was by far the most comfortable, spacious and pleasant to drive. Also it has a magic computer thing in the centre console that includes a rear-view camera with overlays to assist with reverse-parking. Fortunate, since 1) I am bad at reverse-parking and 2) my new job, which starts at the end of the month, requires me to reverse-park in the staff car park.

To be honest, I’ve been kind of mildly blown away by how much cars have advanced since I last had one of my own. I’ve been driving Andie’s car (I can call it that now, rather than “our car”) off and on and have found it thoroughly pleasant to drive, and thus had some familiarity with what was now “standard” in cars, but looking around today really drove the point home: I used to drive some shit vehicles.

Actually, that’s not altogether true; most of the cars I’ve driven over the years were perfectly acceptable at the time, but various bits of automotive technology and engineering have moved on considerably since then. To put this in context, the cars I’ve driven to date have included a G-reg Rover Metro that belonged to my mother; an L-reg no-frills Fiesta which blew up on the way to work one morning; a slightly-but-not-by-much-younger Escort that was actually pretty awesome due to the fact it had a fairly powerful engine, a “sports” exhaust and a spoiler, but which I knocked one of the mirrors off by dropping a bookshelf on it (don’t ask); and a 2001 Peugeot 106 that used to belong to my mother and which was subsequently donated to me, shortly before it decided that the Right Thing to Do would be to occasionally, inexplicably, fill up one or both of the front seat footwells with water, despite there being no visible place from which a leak had sprung.

None of these cars were awful per se (aside from when they broke) but, compared to the stuff I looked at today, all were pretty primitive. All of them had simple tape decks, for example — though I replaced the stereos in both the Fiesta and the Escort with something a bit more badass — and none of them had anything that could reasonably be described as a “computer”. Contrast with the Yaris, then, which has a touchscreen console from which you can access the radio, frighteningly detailed trip data (with graphs and everything), a Bluetooth connection to my phone for hands-free phone calls (not that I ever make or answer any) and music playing (much more “useful”) and some other bits and pieces besides. Plus the aforementioned camera, which is pretty awesome.

The car itself isn’t a particularly speedy little number, but it’s economical — important, since I’ll be commuting a reasonable distance to work each day — plus comfortable and pleasant to drive. There’s a nice view through the windscreen from the driver’s seat, and the brief test drive suggested that it would be a pleasure to drive, although I will have to adjust to the bizarreness that is having six gears. Six! What am I supposed to do with all those? At least it has a handy “shift up” indicator to remind me!

Anyway, assuming all the credit and whatnot goes through, I should have it by next weekend. Expect further enthusing then.