I've let my blogging slip a bit recently. There was a time when I'd post one or two blog posts per day y'know. Now it's a little more difficult, especially when there's always so much to do. Reviews, news items and forum posts here on the site keep me busy, but there's also a full-time job and my baby boy to consider along with my lovely wife, home and household upkeep and maintenance. A holiday is definitely out of the question this year, so there's no time to stop. I'll be taking a week or two off soon just to put the brakes on things a bit and chill out, plus I need time to sort the cars out...
You may have heard about my car accident. It's the second Lexus I've written off. The insurance company call it "beyond economical repair" and it's left me completely without wheels for several weeks now. Getting your insurance through one of these price comparison websites is all well and good, but when you ring them up after an accident and say, "Hey, I've had a crash, help me", you don't expect to be told, "Oh sorry, if the guys can't fix it at the side of the road you'll be charged for getting back home". Still, they've paid out. Apparently the "cost of Lexus parts is very expensive" and this made my "not terrible damage" turn into "not terrible but still ruddy expensive to fix damage". End result? It's going to get crushed.
Having your car crushed isn't fun, especially when you like what you drive. I'm not one of those people who just says, "Yeah, that'll do - I'll have that economical box on wheels". It has to look nice and have a bit of performance. I'm having to bite the bullet and buy a Diesel this time, mainly due to the new road tax laws which require several thousand pounds per day if you've got a car with a co2 output. Diesel is more suited to my driving too, which is all motorway based. The Lexus did about 30-35mpg, whereas a Diesel should give me 50-55 mpg or more, which is much better. Diesel cars have surprised me recently. They're quieter and more refined, plus their quicker than before and have bags of torque. A Diesel VW Golf we saw the other day had 170BHP and really bombed around the streets during a test drive.
But, to get the car we've got to sell the Mini Cooper S. As much as we'd hate to admit it the Mini doesn't "do" families that well. It worked OK when the little guy (my son) was tiny, but now he's a little bigger and heavier it's a different story - especially when you consider the bags, toys and feeds you need to take everywhere.
So we're car shopping, big style. Combine this with juggling the one remaining car so I can get to work and Emily can go out and about. It's tricky and time consuming, and the last thing we want to do is make a rash decision. How do you choose a car properly when you're more worried about getting to work on Monday? I'll be back to full blogging action soon enough though, and hopefully we'll have got a good deal on a motor or two! :)
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