I've said goodbye to my very first car. After ten years of some good times & not so good times, I signed a contract for a brand new car which now resides outside the window where I currently sit.

A weekend was spent doing up the little 1996 Daihatsu Charade until it looked all shiny, just like when I first picked it up from the dealership.



Daihatsu has never been a prestigious brand. In fact, the Charade has more than once been referred to as "white goods on wheels", which is harsh but then it is a basic car... but that's not a bad thing. In the ten years, it has never broken down or left me stranded & returns 6.7 litres/100kms (42.2 MPG) no matter the conditions, city or country driving!.

In the early days, it had a couple of fuel injectors replaced under warranty which was a worry so early on & only recently did it suffer its first flat tyre. Servicing has always been an sore point though. Every time I pulled out of the service centre, the idle would be set too low, causing me to stall while simply sitting at stop lights. I actually got to the point of scheduling the day after servicing just in case I had to return it so they can fix what they buggered!



When I bought the car, a three door version called the F2 existed with all sorts of extra body work, fancy wheels & go fast stripes. They always looked down on my generic five door version until the 1.5L thrashed the pants off their 1.3L model. Why they put a smaller engine in the car with two less doors is anyone's guess but with those 66kw of the 1.5L pulling what was a very light body, I never had any trouble when a heavy foot was required.





So why the change in automobiles when I still had an affection for my Neptune Blue Charade? Well, for all the things it had going for it, times have changed! Cassette tapes are certainly outdated & small cars get somewhat bullied on the roads with all those bloody four-wheel drives around.

My choice for my new ride became clear in late 2006 when I read an article of a new car model which was to come to Australia featuring all sorts of new technology whilst still providing similar fuel economy to what I was driving. I placed my order a week after the car was released back at the start of June & had to wait nearly another two months for the boat to arrive with a brand spanking new Volkswagen Golf GT in Candy White.



Part of the contract was that the deal was subject to a test drive of a manual version when one was available. Since all the manuals came in the same shipment, my car arrived at the dealer during the twenty minutes I was out test driving the demo which only had 26kms on the clock. I picked mine up two days later & I haven't stopped smiling since.





It was hard leaving my little Charade behind with the Volkswagen dealer, especially after getting a trade in of only $2,750. I think it proves that taking good care of a car means nothing when it comes to it's value. I probably could have sold it for more privately, but after a long night thinking about it the crappy offer, I really did get my money's worth over the years & the hassle of trying to get maybe a few hundred more just wasn't worth it. Now I can only hope it gets a good home & gets a similar owner.



The new Golf GT has only a 1.4L engine which is smaller than the Charade. However, when you strap both a supercharger & turbocharger to it, the power gets up to 125kw & seriously gets moving when given a bit of throttle. In the specs, they give it a 0-100kph time of 7.5 secs & it certainly feels that quick & is quite comparable with the Ford Focus XR5 Turbo & Mini Cooper S. The GT's older brother, the GTI is marginally quicker with it's 2.0L turbo but you save $5,000 on the GT with nearly all the same equipment inside & out.



Everyone looked at me sideways when I said I ordered a white car. Sure, white cars do look rather bland, but with the Golf's clean skin & some decent 17 inch mags, it comes up a treat. The only thing not standard on the car is a bit of window tinting to make it stand out further. No one has criticised me after they've seen it, so I must have made the right decision!

After a week of driving, the economy is better than expected even when getting pushed in the hills & I'm yet to find something which isn't perfect. In another ten years & another 130,000+ kms, I suspect I'll be upgrading to some swanky levitating machine. Of course, once all the oil has run out from all the countries invaded by America it will most likely run on a fuel mixture of broccoli & urine. I just hope it goes as hard & looks as good as this one!