OUT TO LUNCH
Readers of this column will remember that I flogged my 2005 Porsche Boxster S a year ago and, after much careful consideration, bought a Suzuki Baleno for the princely sum of R310 000 instead. This was the cause of much mockery among friends (or ‘so called’ friends) who had either assumed that I had hit hard times of that I had finally realised that the sight of me rolling out of a low slung sports car and trying to stand upright was causing too much mirth among the ‘yummie mummies’ at the local gym.
I should point out at this stage that I wasn’t visiting the gym in question but was using the same parking space it shares with my local Woollies. I should also point out that most of the ‘yummie mummies’ appear to be driving recently registered Porsche Cayennes, Range Rover Evoques, Jaguar F-Paces or very large Volvos (some with GP number plates so one must assume semigrants) so there is clearly no shortage of disposable income in my immediate neighbourhood. ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
I make no apology for deserting politics for one week in favour of some car talk because I did notice a large response to my comments about the celestial Bentley Continental GT last week. To be brutally honest, the political shenanigans in this country are becoming very depressing and I thought a topic change would be great for my mental health this week as well as yours.
Car wise, I’ve been very fortunate. I never owned a car when I lived in central London because I never needed to but when I emigrated to South Africa that all changed. My first car, supplied by my employer, was a silver Golf GTi circa 1981 with a body shape barely distinguishable from the current Golf Citi. I had a sliding sunroof installed and managed to attract plenty of speeding fines in my hot hatchback.
Before long though my employers decided that my position in the company was elevated enough that I should pass my hardly driven VW to another member of staff and take delivery of a BMW 520i which probably cost around R25000 at the time. I didn’t fight the decision and the Beemer duly arrived,complete with tan leather upholstery.