The Beetle experience

In the morning we went car hunting again. It had been disappointing so far but that turned around today! The first dealer we went to was the Volkswagen dealer. We looked at the Golf and the new Beetle. I could drive the Golf but it was still not too big. And then I entered the Beetle. It was a sensational experience. I can actual stretch my legs almost completely in the passenger seat. In the driver seat I have no real problems either. The sales rep. told us we could take it for a test drive immediately since it wasn't booked for that time. So we took it for a spin and the drive was just really, REALLY good. It's a diesel and it took us up in to the hills in fifth gear (the Hyundai can't use 5th gear when going up in the hill, it would die) and still had enough power left to take over slower cars. It also stuck to the road like glue which made handling very enjoyable.

The inside only has the most common features, which results in a uncluttered design (see above photo). I do like it a lot. I can only say that this car was very enjoyable. And if a Mercedes A180 CDi would not exist I would have already made the choice.

Hence we also went to the Mercedes dealer. We forgot to take pictures there unfortunately. I did sit in the A180 and the driver's position felt even better than in the Beetle as I can totally stretch my legs in it. I was almost perplexed. Also the seat is higher up so getting in, even with its smaller four-door was super easy. Actually it's the only car I know so far that allows me to sit down first and then swing in my legs. In all other cars (including the Beetle) I have to actually step inside with one leg first, sit down and then pull in the other leg.

Today I will make a comparison chart and look up car insurance prices for the Beetle and the A180. One difference is that the Mercedes is $10,000 more expensive. But you can see where that goes.

When we drove home we passed parliament house where protesters were protesting against plans of the Australian Federal Government to install mandatory internet filters to be able to filter 'bad' content. It makes me feel I immigrated to China. I will write letters to members of parliament today and send them out soon. They have currently budgeted $44,000,000 for this and it's a total waste of money to spend it on something that people do not want and need.

When we came home I took Mason for a walk. For one third of the walk I also took Mason's shit for a walk until the first bin.

Some amazing plants are flowering at the moment. Stuff you don't see in Europe really.

Bottle brush flowers.

In the evening we went over to Deb and Richard for a BBQ. Here we see (left to right) Debbie, Greg, Debbie's mom, Gianna and Nicole.

The BBQ master: Richard.

Nicole and Gianna.

We played 8-ball and later on a 'small' version of snooker. Here we see Greg doing complicated things at which he is quite good ;-)

Richard also knows how to handle a que quite well. We had a most enjoyable time and had a lot of laughs.