Breaking up is hard to do

Alas, the end of an era is upon us. Adrian and I are trading in the BMW. For this little one:

This is the post from back in April 2008 when we first got the BMW. As you can see, it is quite a different car to this new one.

So we're buying from Brendan Foot Motors in Lower Hutt, who apparently have a very good reputation. It is a 2007 Kia Picanto, which will be the newest car either of us have owned. It's done just under 70,000 km, which is just over what the BMW had done when we bought it. But the BMW was 7 years old when we bought it, whereas this one is obviously only 3. It's 4 cylinder, 1.1 litre engine (half the size of the BMW!), has 4 airbags, ABS and all the other modern things.

One thing to mention here, please don't tell me we've made the wrong decision; the contract is signed, and the BMW will be handed over to the dealer on Friday. No turning back!

I have had my doubts about this trade, but I really do think that is more to do with me being a generally afraid kind of person, rather than the health of the trade or the car itself. Sure, the deal might not be the best, but then when you're buying through a dealer, the deal is never that great. That's how they make money, unfortunately.

The things that make me feel a bit better when I find myself being generally afraid:

• when buying from a dealer, certain things are covered under the CGA, unlike buying from a private dealer
• the car still has 2 years manufacturers' warranty on it
• the AA check that we had done was fine, except for the rear tyres, which they are going to replace for us
• it comes with a new 12 month warrant of fitness
• it will save us a lot of money on petrol and maintenance

BUT, the thing I hear you all screaming is:

1.1 litre?! How can it even drive itself?!

But you see the thing is, the car is so small that it honestly doesn't need much more than that. Plus, it is a manual (like a lot of small cars), so you can get the most out of the gears, which helps. And the dealer said it has 4 cylinders unlike most cars of similar engine size which have only 3; this means you get a little more torque - also good. 

Plus, did you see it? It's kind of cute! I don't know, I was TOTALLY against Kias when we first started looking because they are quite pitiful looking sometimes. But this one is a limited edition (apparently 2 in the country), with sports kit, sports suspension (?), racing stripe (tee hee), mags and a sports extended exhaust, which means it looks a little more roadworthy than the base Picanto. 

You might think it's quite obnoxious, but to us it has a bit of 'character'. Really, anything with a bit of character is bound to offend someone. Our BMW probably did too. 

So, the size. Yes, it's rather small. BUT, it has four doors, which to me is important. And the seats aren't utterly useless like in some hatchbacks - Adrian can even fit in there! The worst thing about the size is I won't be able to transfer my sub into the boot. But I think I will keep it for now, until we get a bigger car again. I'm emotionally attached to it, and what I would sell it for on Trade Me would probably not be worth it. I also have my amp, which I will endeavour to fit under the seat of the Picanto, but may have to do without it. Ho-hum. Listening to good music in the car is one of the things I love most about driving... 

So we took the sub and amp out of the BMW today. It was sad, because I heard the sub in the car for the last time for who knows how long last night, but also because of the symbolism of the stripping of the BMW. I'm also emotionally attached to the car. It was a very nice car. 

Time to move on I suppose. Fuel savings here we come.