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| Two Polos courting at a Swiss homestead |
I had come to love the lack of petrol that small cars consumed and thought to be buy a similar size.
Thinking I could brave this one on my own due to my now vast experience from my past trials and tribulations, I scanned the classifieds for cars under $5K with less than 130klms on the clock. I found a VW Polo in my local area just up the hill, owned by an old Chritsian lady (I know her religious persuasion from her fridge magnets, and her many references to her going to church in the few conversations I had with her). This little puppy didn't have many k's for it's age, drove really well, looked good, and was a VW (I was always told they're reliable, and that the Germans are ruthlessly efficient).
I made arrangements to go back on the weekend, and paid the lovely old Christan lady $4,800 after unsuccessfully trying to bargain her down (because I'm crap at that which shouldn't suprise you by now). After she gave me the rego papers, we had a conversation that day that went roughly along these lines.
"So what will you use the car for Matthew?"
"Well, my wife is pregnant and we need another car, and I need something that has low maintenance costs. I just got rid of a car that kind of guzzled petrol."
"Oh that's very nice - do you know what you're having?"
"Yes, a girl"
"Oh wonderful, well you will be happy to know there is a bolt already fitted for a child seat."
"You have kids?" I had been told this was a one owner car.
"Yes, my son was driving this car for about three years before we garaged it. He used to drive his kids around in it. Actually just did a heap of work on it to get ready for sale. The only thing he couldn't fix was the boot."
"What's wrong with the boot?"
"Oh nothing really, you just can't lock it."
Oh nothing? This meant you couldn't lock the car - this is a Polo, the boot is practically the back seat! This woman was way too cheery for someone delivering shit news, but I didn't think that much of it given that she was a Christian and struck me as the type that is easily cheered.
"Yeah, you didn't mention that before."
"Oh don't worry that's all that's left to do, shouldn't be more than a $100 or so."
Good enough for yours truly I suppose. I thought it was all a bit suss, but I drove it on out of there and back home. I pulled into my carport at home, got out, and shut the door closed behind me. As I did, my driver's side window fell into the door frame and smashed. "Fuck!" In my heart of hearts, I already knew I was a goner. I had just got this fucking thing home, and already I couldn't lock it, or keep rain out of it. Pretty handy.
I called my mechanic on Monday and told him what I had bought. He didn't sound too impressed. Bring it in tomorrow he said. That night I was driving up Powder Works Road to a mates house. I was in third gear when the car lost power, stopped accelerating and jolted quite violently. I dropped it back into second and it kicked off again. It happened again a but farther up, now I knew I was in trouble.
So I mentioned this to the mechanic. Just to replace the window cost me $400. The Polo parts weren't cheap. The boot would cost $700 to fix. Apparently, these cars use a "sophisticated" locking system that kind of works like a vacuum. I couldn't afford to fix that. As for the car stalling, he said he couldn't get the car to do it - so I hoped this at least somehow resolved itself. I should have known better, it did it again on the way home.
I discussed this problem with everyone I could think of who knew anything about cars. My mechanic had already told me to get rid of it as soon as I could. A lady I worked with burst out laughing when when she heard what I had bought. "My husband had one of these in the UK - it was the worst car ever". Where was she a week ago? Oh well, at least I knew I had to get rid of this thing.
Again, I advertised the car online. A few weeks passed with zero enquiries. Seems I couldn't find anyone as dumb as me, so I looked back into maybe fixing this problem with the accelerator or whatever it was. An engine light now permanently adorned the dash. Someone suggested I take the car to a VW specialist to see if there is an error in the computer. This I did, and I paid a man $40 cash to hook it up. "Not sure" came the diagnosis. "You would have to leave it with me to take the engine apart." I had no money to fix whatever problem he might find (he did assure me it wouldn't be a small job whatever it was) so I thanked him and left.
The car continued to drive like this whenever I drove it. It was quite unnerving for me and my passengers but I got the hang of it, and could normally predict just as it was about to happen and ease of the accelerator. One day I was on the way to the airport to pick up my wife and daughter who had come back from QLD, the car lost all power on Military Road and cut out. I couldn't restart it. I had it towed to my mechanic and this time the prognosis was clear.
"You're car is dead basically, needs a new engine." I would have to spend another $1,500 or so and still wouldn't be able to lock it up. I sold it for $300 - to a VW mechanic.
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