Our Car

We are now happy owners of a 1995 Toyota Camry station wagon.

We had really hoped to be able to live without a car for a few years and only rely on public transport, but due to public transport costs and scarcity here in NSW, that just wasn't realistic. It was inevitable that we would eventually reach the point where we could no longer tolerate not having a car.

That time has finally come, and this past Friday I went into Sydney and bought a car. We had already settled on the type of car we wanted -- a station wagon. It's about the closest we could get to an SUV for the money, and station wagons are not unsexy cars here, like in the States. We also wanted the car to be reliable, in decent shape, and to get reasonable fuel economy. The Toyota Camry wagon was the only car fitting all those details. There are Holden, Ford, Subaru, and Hyundai wagons here, too, but those were either too expensive, too unreliable, or guzzled petrol (some even all three).

The journey on the train began at 5:26 a.m. (ugh -- had to wake up at 4:30!), putting me in Sydney around 7:00 a.m. I walked to a Gloria Jean's for coffee, then came back to Central Station and bought a one-way ticket on the Blue Mountain line for a station along "auto alley."

I went up to the city for one particular Camry wagon I found online, but when I inspected it, I found it was a complete turd. It had lots of rust; the interior smelled, was stained, and falling apart; the engine was dirty; more smoke came out of the exhaust than expected for a Toyota, combined with an unusual amount of water. There were even some parts of the car that looked like someone had done a bit of a homeade repair job. The sales lady could clearly see from my reactions what I thought of the car, and while she weakly attempted to comment on some of the items ("All the Camrys have that problem with age," etc.), it was obvious to me she didn't believe a word of what she said. That car was listed at A$4999, but I wouldn't have even paid A$1500 for it. I walked straight away from that one.

While I was waiting for the first dealer to open, I had a look up and down the street. Just a short walk down I noticed another Camry wagon that was two years newer, at a comparable price to the first one, and noted that it appeared to be in great shape (this would have been a bargaining chip if the first car got to the negotiation stage). Since the first car wasn't even worth considering, I went immediately for the newer one. (I had an additional two ads printed from the websites, but since this next one was so close by, I didn't have anything to lose.) The dealer was a friendly guy, but the car really sold itself. The price was listed at A$5999. When I looked the car over, it was very obvious it had been taken care of. The logbook showed regular service at a Toyota dealership (the last included replacing the timing belt in 2006, so that was one expensive piece of maintenance not needed for awhile). The engine was clean all over; there was no obvious rust anywhere; the upholstery was in great shape; the oil, transmission fluid, and coolant were all normal; and the car performed well in the test drive. The only things I could find to haggle on were the fact that the rego (registration) expires in a week, which will cost around A$500, and the 200000 Kms maintenance will be due in 5000 Kms. The dealer voluntarily lowered the price down to A$5500 when I asked about those things. Beyond that, he wasn't budging, and from the first experience that morning, I knew I would be hard pressed to find a better deal. I found that A$5000 is generally the cutoff between a car in decent shape and a quality grab-bag (and Lemon Laws don't exist here for used cars). The best deals go quickly here.

So the deal was essentially done by me at that point, and I contacted the insurance company to get all that set up, then called Michelle for final approval before signing away. It took about an hour to wrap up all the details before I drove off the lot. Then I think I missed the exit I was supposed to take, got lost and drove around some neighborhoods before stumbling onto another highway, which took me to a different suburb area... Anyways, I eventually saw signs noting "South Coast" and followed them, ending up on the Princes Highway southbound, which I was familiar with. The car drove great on the highway, and the automatic transmission shifted cleanly. The fuel economy on this car should be perfect for us, as it has a 2.2L 4-cylinder engine, and a button inside to allow for switching between optimized fuel economy and a little more power. I expect to get about 400 Kms (city driving) - 700 Kms (highway driving) per tank, since I drove about 100 Kms from Sydney and used less than a quarter tank. Filling up will cost around A$65.

Overall, we are real happy with the car, and particularly excited that now we don't have to ride our bikes or walk 8 Kms for grocery shopping, carrying the entire purchase in backpacks over four large hills. This means we can do grocery shopping in one hour instead of three, and now we don't have to base our purchasing decisions on how much we can carry. We will also be able to get out for weekend excursions or longer road trips (with room for friends, bikes, luggage) -- and we are very excited by that prospect!