So I blogged about three weeks ago that our car was having troubles. We had to decide whether to fix the radiator or not to find out if there was more problems. We did fix the radiator and $800 we found that the head gasket was also stuffed and it would cost us between $1000 and $2000 to fix that. The mechanic really didn’t think it was worth it. Thankfully, he said we are still able to drive it for probably a few more months before it completely dies, we just have to fill it it up with water every couple of days. This means that we have a little bit of time to try and find a new car and that when we find one we can give it to the neighbours, who don’t have a car at the moment, and they can drive it until it dies. Makes me feel like we didn’t completely waste our money.

So we have spent the last week or so looking for a new car. I don’t like shopping in general but I think car shopping is the worst kind of shopping. Alice Springs is also an especially bad place to look as the range is so limited compared to the big cities and everything is slightly more expensive too. It’s so stressfull because cars are expensive and it always feels like such a risk in that you never know what is going to happen. Not to mention used car sales people can be so off putting. Most of them were fine but when bargaining down the price of one car the woman assured us that we would get the best deal she could give us as her company aimed to take care of young families.

In the end we found a toyota carolla that we are going to buy. I have to say neither of us love it, it certainly isn’t the most attractive car, but I didn’t like Giles that much in the beginning either so hopefully it will grow on me. I think it’s the right decision though, it isn’t too expensive, has really low kilometres, our mechanic friend confirmed it was in good condition and you don’t get more reliable than a toyota carolla. It’s also a bit bigger than Giles so we can drive it comfortably to Sydney and back not to mention it’s the perfect size for prams and baby capsules and all that jazz. I have to say it’s probably the perfect family car which makes sense given we are about to become a family but there is something kind of depressing about buying a family car. It feels so conservative.

So Thursday is good bye Giles and hello family car day. I feel a bit sad. Giles has been such a good car to us and I have become rather attached to it but a new car is exciting too I suppose.