Change of car

Living in the countryside, we need two cars as public transport is limited. When Seb found a new job, we knew that his company car would have to go. I was growing fond of the BMW 118. It gives a sporty feel and is so easy to drive compare to our family car, the Touran. Don't get me wrong. The Touran is a great family car. It is popular in France as it is value for money. Just that as any family car, it feels like a heavy cow on the road.

In BMW, the cruise control system is easier to use than Volkswagon's. On the highway, Seb was adjusting the speed mainly with his hands and not his legs. The downside of the series 1 was that it was smaller and Seb had less room when the kids were sitting behind him.

In France, for sales related jobs, it is common to get a company car or a car allowance. Initially, Seb was offered a car allowance. We started to look for a second car. A BMW was off our budget. We looked at different options. Like selling our 4 years old Touran and getting two new/second hand cars. But in the end, we decided to keep the family car. It is a 7 seater and proves useful when we have friends and family visiting. For the second car, I looked up on Fiat 500, Peugeot 207 or 208 cc and other similar small cars. I crossed out Fiat 500 when I realised that it did not have a true automatic gear box. Sorry, I can't handle anything else than auto gear. The Peugeot convertible was also off. There was no room space for the boys behind. Seb tried to show me other convertibles with bigger backseats space. Still, I prefer the look of the Peugeot's. I shall wait until the boys grow up and leave home before getting one. In the end, Seb picked up two second hand cars and test drived them. A Toyota RAV4 and a Volvo xc60. He was enchanted by the Volvo xc60 and made an offer to the seller. On the day he did it, he received an email from his future employer asking if he would prefer a company car to a car allowance. He immediately took up the offer of a company car. Sorry to the xc60. We did our maths and though having a company car results in "an advantage by nature" which is taxable, we do not have to worry about other expenses like car insurances, car servicing and even gas.

On his first day of work, I drove him to his office. To our great delight, he came home with a BMW. For Seb, he was happy to find all the familiar buttons and functions in the car. He has more room space as it is a series 5 touring. The boys were excited over the panorama glass roof. For me, I am happy but less excited when behind the wheel. I often associate estate cars as being driven by old fashion owners. This car is too big for me. I can't gauge the size of it and often slow down when passing cars along narrow countryside roads. Also, it is easy to go over the speed limit because even when driving at 100km/h, one feels as though the car is going at 60km/h. It is powerful and silent. For the moment, I only use this car to make short errands. For long journey like going to office on monday, I get behind the wheel of heavy cow, the Touran.

I want to thank God. Throughout the search for the second car, we had been praying to God for the best arrangement. He had answered our prayers in ways we did not expected.