The Mirth Mobile

We all woke up early again and finally gave in and got out of bed at about 6AM. The plan of attack for today was to wander back to Turners and have a go at buying a car at auction. Diane had her heart set on a Toyota Rav4, but I was more interested in a Subaru Forester, or the Honda CRV, especially when I spotted the number plate! It was a rather grey morning, and we caught the 33 bay hopper to Turners. By the time we'd spotted our stop we were a quarter mile past where we wanted to be. To add insult to injury it was raining quite hard.

Checking out the Rav4, it was no go since the thing only had 4 seats. A Honda Odyssey was next on the list since this is supposed to be an MPV, but the back two seats didn't seem to be there. The Forester was very clean and tidy. It turned out to be an ex government vehicle so the service history was beyond reproach. We had a quick test drive and all seemed well. It was a manual transmission which met with Di's approval. By contrast the CRV was automatic and apparently had its shift in the "wrong" place, according to Di. Expected price for the Forester was $6000-$7000. We bid on it, but it went to $9300 in the end and that was a little more than I was wanting to pay for a cheap runaround. I bid on the CRV (OK, on the numberplate ;-)) but Di dragged my hand down forcibly. I also got side tracked into a frenetic text message exchange with Rog back in the UK, where of course it was Friday night in the Waverley. The accuracy of the Rog's text gradually deteriorated - no prizes for guessing why.

The last but one lot was a 1999 Honda Accord VTi-L. This is a "Sedan" body, i.e. a car with a boot in plain english. It had a warrant of fitness (WOF, like the UK MOT) and registration until December, and being a 3 litre V6 the 200,000 KM on the clock didn't really matter. We didn't fancy walking home in the rain, so we bid on it and managed to get it for $2,900 plus fees. The beast
was duly named the Mirth Mobile and driven back towards Papamoa, with a few interesting detours due to some slightly dodgy map reading and general directional challenges courtesy of Di (although she blames me). It's barely off tickover at 50KM/H and pulls a piddly 1,700 RPM at 70. I doubt it's ever been thrashed hard - it would be challenging to do so with the low speed limits and such a lump of an engine. Craig thinks it's an old man's car, but strangely the AA refused to quote for insurance with him on the policy. Clearly the AA know something he doesn't.

The Mirth Mobile is an automatic, which is a shame, but lots of cars over here are. Manual transmissions are the exception. It comes fully laden with leather interior, air con, cruise control, remote central locking, all round electric windows and CD player.

We do need to get some motor insurance though. I got a quote off the AA for $113 TPFT. In NZ insurance is not compulsory, which is rather scary. As far as I can work out, personal injury is covered by the ACC scheme, but damage to property is your problem, hence the need for insurance. If you manage to drive into something expensive, you have to cough up if it's your fault and writing off a $30,000 plus vehicle that's not even yours isn't to be taken lightly. For that piddly sum of money (about £50) it seems stupid not to get covered.

Instead of driving straight home, we drove a little further along Papamoa Beach Road to look at a house that was coming on the market next Monday. It was loads better than the other one we looked at, only 4 beds, but it was on the beach, had a pool, fully furnished (a bonus since otherwise we have to rush out and buy beds, white goods etc) and just looked the business despite being a bit further out of town. But that should not be a problem as there's a bus stop outside and we've now got the Mirth Mobile, right? It's also a mere $30 more than the other one, at $480 a week (£200 in real money which is less than we were paying for our poxy shoebox back in the UK!)

Unfortunately Caroline wasn't well and to cancel on us, so *I* cooked tea (spagbol) while Di surfed for houses to rent. Everyone sloped off to bed at about 7ish, leaving me to watch the Rugby on my own with a few Sassy Reds for company. Perhaps I shouldn't have watched. The AllBlacks lost by 3 points, but then again they gave 3 points away with a naughty after the whistle totally unnecessary shoulder barge. Tsk.