Car Musings

or

I need help! I'm anthropomorphising cars!

Recently I traded in my 12-year-old Corolla for a brand spanking new Audi A3...

The Corolla was like an old faithful friend, a mongrel dog if you will.  Not the fastest or the most powerful, but did her best and could hold her own.  While others struggled in the mud or snow, she dug the heels in and struggled up those steep hills, leaving some 4-wheel-drives in her wake.

We had a symbiotic relationship.  It was as if I only had to think where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do and she responded.  We were completely in tune and she only let me down the day I traded her in.  She knew her day had come.  Smooth, sleek , responsive, that's what she was and there was many a passenger who commented on it.

Alas, cars do not live as long as people, and after 12 years and over 190,000 miles, it was time to move on.  The new version, the Aurus is fat and ugly and is way too tall.  I had to look elsewhere.

Cars used to be sexy.  Now, overwhelmed by the health and safety, nanny-state brigade, they are unpleasant to behold.  I must confess, I picked my new baby on looks alone and it was the Audi A3 that won the day.  However, a remnant of my sensible outlook on life remained.  I went for the diesel version rather than petrol.  Diesel is far more economical.  I also resisted the urge to succumb to the 2.0L - the 1.6L is sufficient for Irish roads.

Where the Corolla was a soulmate, the A3 is akin to a worthy adversary.  Like all German cars, she's heavy, clunky, awkward.  You don't show her where or how to go, you're forced to assert your will.  No more smoothness, no more absolute trust that she'll do as you ask.  And, lord, does she hate going slowly and braking.  If you don't keep an eye on the speedometer she creeps up to 80, 90, 100 plus miles per hour and there's no gentle squeezing the brakes.  You give a command.

Maybe it's the fact that I had the Corolla from her tender years up to the rip old age of 12 and she has only been gone from me for such a short time.  Maybe in time I will connect with the A3.  I'm not sure that I love her, but she is precious to me.  Maybe it's what I need right now - a worthy adversary as opposed to a faithful friend and soulmate.  Something to challenge me as opposed to reassure me that all is well in the world.