I gotta say. Keeping in mind it’s now been over 6 months since I last had a car I think I’ve done pretty well considering.

So we bought a car for the missus back in January but since then I’ve been using Perths Public Transport system to get me to and from the Perth CBD.

This normally consists of a me running around like a madman at about 7:20am in the hope that the bus that picks me up about 100 yards from our front door actually arrives on time.

The 7:32 bus has a tendency to arrive at any time between 7:22 and 7:40 but hey, who am I to complain. After all the bus timetable does clearly state that the times should be used as as a guide only!

Once on the bus, I take the short 8 minute hop to the train station where I hang around for about 5 minutes before taking one of regular trains down into the CBD (journey time approx 30 – 40 mins).

When traveling home, the process is reversed however it gets a little more complicated.

I can catch the 5:45pm train which will get me to the station for 6:15. I then run from the station about 250 metres to the bus stop in the hope that the 6:20 bus is on time.

Option 2 is I catch the 6:30 train and hope that the 7:10 bus is on time. During the evening the busses are only every 30 mins so if I miss the bus I walk.

Walking during the summer is great and I used to love the 20 minute walk home in the sun. Now its officially winter the walk home isn’t really a preferred option.

Firstly the missus worries that I’m going to get mugged (although the streets are always quiet and at time of typing I’ve still to come across any unsavory characters).

Secondly its now getting a little chilly in the evening time and the chances of rain are getting a little more frequent.

So. The result was about three weeks ago I decided to buy a ‘wreck’ that will get me to the train station.

My expectation was that I would buy a pretty old car that I can drive the two miles to the station and back. After all we already had a family car right?

Once I started to look though, the cars just weren’t doing it for me. I’ve driven company cars for the last 7 years so its been a long time since I’ve owned a car that meant I had to cross my fingers in the hope that it would start in the morning.

So, I decided to look at something in between. Not new but something that would still be reliable.

Then I saw the car in the picture above (click image for bigger pic) at the Holden dealership.

Well actually, junior saw the car and brought it to my attention (we were doing that four year old father and son car shopping bonding thing ) The Salesman was like a great white following the scent of blood when he saw me looking at this car.

So. Twenty Five Minutes, one test drive and a $500 deposit later I’d bought a 6 month old car and spent 15 times more then I was planning to!

In my defense I did manage to barter $3000 off the asking price (going to a dealership a couple of days before the end of their financial year helps).

The thing has a 3.6 Litre V6 Engine and goes like a rocket and I’ll probably be driving the thing about 20 miles a week to the train station and back. There goes my carbon footprint!

Sigh!

Well, the missus likes shoes and I like cars.

Ironically the colour of the car is Impulse Blue and even though it is a Holden (read Vauxhall) It’s one of the best cars I have ever driven.