A(nother) New Car!

 

I know, I know!  It surprised us probably even more than you!  But, in the end, it made total sense....

Yes, we had just bought a brand-new car last year about this same time:

She (Merlot) was a VW UP! that replaced our well-loved 10-year-old Škoda Citigo

BECAUSE, since the Škoda Citigo was no longer being made, she would be the "exact same."

In other words, she was supposed to be a new model of the car we were giving up.

Except that she wasn't!

Very soon, both Astrid and I started seeing that the brand-new car we had just purchased was not an upgrade (or even "same" grade) but a downgrade, even though it was new.  Astrid felt it in the lack of power she had had in the Citigo engine, especially when on mountainous roads in Belgium.  I felt it in the "little" details, like no overhead handles when getting in and out of the car.

So...one day this past July, out of the blue, I asked Astrid if she'd consider upgrading to another Škoda, trading in our almost still-new VW UP! (under 10K km) at the same place where we bought the UP! (which also sells Škodas).  Pedro, our dealer for all 3 cars in our 15 years together, would be good to us, we knew.

Guess what!  Because the Tour de France was just ending (which has been head-sponsored by Škoda the last 21 years!), Škoda was giving a €2K rebate for any purchase of a new car.  THAT was the fait accompli of our decision to order a new car on August 2....

...which still had to be made (in the Czech Republic) and which was finally delivered and ready for pickup this past Tuesday, November 26!

[All of that was for our record, as I always feel obliged to add!]

Drum roll, please!

The Škoda Fabia Selection in "brilliant silver," and automatic (Astrid's first)!

A foot wider and a foot longer than both our Citigo and UP!

ANY IDEAS FOR A NAME???

It took 45 minutes to finish all the paperwork and then another 45 minutes

to learn the entire entertainment center, connected to Astrid's iPhone.

DONE!

EVERYONE VERY HAPPY!

And THEN...Pedro pulled this trick out of his hat:

A gift-pack of 4 mini whisky bottles (5cl each) to honor Sander!

Pedro hadn't forgotten that we drink a "bottom" of whisky each Saturday

after Sander's death in April of last year, in remembrance.

Another tear and smile to celebrate Life as we know it!

Let's all drink to that.

A Commercial Break

So, here's the story of how it was that we traded in Granny Towanda (GT) for a new car, after a month shy of 4 years!

Unbenownst to me, in European standards when you drive a small car like ours, 50K km is the magic number over which you don't really want to drive, if you expect a good trade-in value.  Our Daihatsu Cuore was at 48K km (30K miles), so Astrid was already calculating in her head what that meant, especially with the government-required 4-year check-up coming in March.  To say nothing about the potential repairs once a car turns "that old."

Like I said, totally unbenownst to me, because I thought GT was just getting started!  So when Astrid opened her mouth in mid-January to say she was thinking it was time to trade in GT, I'm sure I looked at her as though she were crazy.

But she's not, of course.  Europe is NOT America.  The roads here are NOT American, when you consider all the cobblestones we drive over everywhere (apart from the highways).  And besides...a small car does not have the long-term durability of what we're used to in America.

So, off we went to see Pedro, the same man who sold us GT back in 2010.  When Astrid made the appointment he immediately asked, "Is Ginnie coming, too?!"  Awww.  After 4 years, he remembered...and that's worth a lot, you know.

Did I mention that Daihatsu, the oldest Japanese car manufacturer, no longer sells the Cuore in Europe...because it's not cost effective for them?

So Pedro sells Škoda's instead, manufactured in the Czech Republic.

We had already decided Sunflower Yellow would be our new color of choice before walking in.

But after driving this "silverleaf" demo car, we both exclaimed, "I like that!"

So much so that we negotiated for it on the spot, in spite of its 6,500 km!

Pedro gave us a deal we couldn't refuse.

A week later (this past Monday!) we were surpised by its unveiling when we picked it up.

Thank God for Pedro's handy iPhone!

Have YOU ever purchased or traded in a car to that kind of fanfare?

SOLD

Welcome

Ginnie and Astrid

Congratulations on your new car!!

We wish you driving pleasure.

On behalf of the De Waal workers.

And following the unveiling, we were presented with our keys.

You don't forget that kind of service!

The logo on the left was the Škoda logo til 2011.  Now it's the one on the right (Wiki image).

It means:

as straight as an arrow

swift as a bird

with an eye to the future

And now for a bit of interactive fun.  Remember when we asked you to help us name Granny Towanda?  Well, it's time now to name this "silverleaf" Škoda Citigo.  It's 100 kilos heavier than GT and with a wider wheel base, hugging the road better...and yet is "greener" than GT.  It was crowned the Auto Express Best City Car of 2013.

When you see it up close, it has a bit of a sand hue to it, so I immediately think of a sand dollar.  Surely there's a good name there?

The myth of the sand dollar.

The spiritual meaning of sand dollars.