Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Want vs Need



Want: Subura Forester or Mitsubishi Outlander

Need: Corolla or Honda City

Price: $30-32k (want) vs $21-23k (Need)

Engine: 2.4L vs 1.5-1.8L

Fuel/100km: 9-9.5L vs 6.5-7.5L


I probably only need the 'want' car 20% of the time, if folks visit or I'm going biking/camping.

The 'need' car would probably suffice for 80% of my time.

I'm a logical person but when I pose the Qs to my hsemate, the reply was:

" you only live once.."

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Its a write off

Here's a Christmas Lunch that the whole office is not gonna forget anytime soon.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/14/2770593.htm

Cyclone Lawrance was just passing through the gulf of Darwin but it brought along with it 250+mm of rain in 1 day (which is what we might have gotten in a month). Iwas having Christmas Lunch at the Vibe Hotel at the waterfront but next thing I know, the cars flash flooded.
I'm insured with AAMi but unfortunately, people down South just have no clues.
Me: I'd like to put in a claim for my vehicle that got flooded in a storm
AAMI: Oh, thats no good, was it raining
Me: Yes, it was (We've just got a freaking cyclone pass through)
AAMI: Were you trying to drive through it?
The hardest thing about the episode was that whenever a big 4WD decides to drive past, the wakes it creates from the water was just bobbing and hitting the semi floating cars against the kerb.
A friends Hyundai (parked behind me) and another driving a Mitsubishi Magna was written off straight away as the engine could not even start. But I was able to start and actually drive it off. So if you want a reliable car, I cannot recommend Toyota more than enough.
The Airbags electronics are located near the central console so even if I was able to drive off, the airbag circuit had actually been short-circuited. Most insurance will write it off as its too hard to repair electronics and its a safety issue. If I was to be involved in a accident, there is always the likelyhood that it will not deploy.
So here I am off to look for another car...