It Could Be Worse

Renault Scenic

Originally uploaded by CokeeOrg

Our Christmas trip to Basingstoke (hello, glamorous life!) took place before Abigail arrived; nonetheless, the sheer amount of stuff we took with us and brought back (presents, kids’ toys etc.) rather emphasised how small our little Honda Jazz is. Its small size but generous interior space is one of the reasons we bought it in the first place and its boot is one of the largest in its class, but now we have two kids we’re starting to consider upsizing to a larger car.

At first, I wanted to stick with Honda; the Accord seemed like a good step up, with plentiful supply in our price range (under £4000). Having driven one on Sunday, though, I soon went off the idea. The example in question was a bit older (2000/W), cheaper (£2750) and more untidy, but the low-down driving position and low ceiling common to most saloons & hatchbacks really put me off the idea of any Accord.

The Jazz, while short, is quite tall. It’s not as tall as some full-on MPVs, but it’s got a nice amount of headroom (less important for me at 5′6″ but Kathy, at 5′10″, appreciates it). Consequently, the move to a regular saloon or hatchback just feels…wrong.

Kathy’s dad suggested looking at the Citroën Xsara Picasso or the Renault Scenic (which Kathy’s uncle has). So I did:

• Citroën Xsara Picasso [00 on]
• Renault Scenic [03 on]
• Renault Scenic [99-03]

The newer Scenic has better reviews than the facelifted original, but is a rarer find in our price range. The older one is more common and is the definitive mini MPV but is older technology. Argh! What to decide?

Big Dave has owned both the Scenic and the Picasso and says he prefers the Picasso overall, but admits the Scenic looks better.

And then, using Parkers’ “also consider” feature, I stumbled upon the Vauxhall Zafira:

• Vauxhall Zafira [05 on]
• Vauxhall Zafira [99-05]

The older model is, again, more plentiful, but I’ve found an 2006/06 1.6 Life in red for under £4000 on Auto Trader. Is it too good to be true? I’ve emailed the advertiser; watch this space…

UPDATE

We bought a 2002 52 reg Citroën Xsara Picasso 2.0 HDI Exclusive in metallic mauve. Phoebe calls it “our purple car” though it’s not that purple.

At the company Christmas meeting/lunch/disco in 2006, I had the pleasure of sitting at the same table as one of our directors. During the meal he checked his email on his Blackberry (nicknamed “Crackberry” due to the addictive nature of anywhere, any time email) several times. I seem to remember telling him, in jest, to “put it away”.

Fast forward to 2007. Three has the best-value data packages of the UK mobile operators: £2.50 per month for 10MB of data, which is plenty for mobile e-mail and the odd bit of Twittering and Mobile Facebooking. You can get “unlimited” (actually 1GB fair use) for £5/month, but that’s overkill for me. It’s the same price as ten train times lookups via the official, paid-for service on Planet Three, so in those terms: why not?

Well, it’s a good job that Three’s 3G coverage is patchy near our house. I do find that I don’t want to miss anything on Twitter, especially, while mobile GMail is a strange mix of regular email, commercial marketing that I have signed up for, and mailing lists. The latter, like Twitter, plug me in to online community to such an extent that I find it hard to resist continuously checking for replies and new conversations.

Perhaps I’m filling a void because I don’t get out much IRL. Hey, having just had another baby, I don’t have the chance to get out much! My evenings are mostly cook (unless Kathy’s done that), eat, clear up, do some housework, rock Abi to sleep and then go to bed - preferably early so I don’t feel the effects of broken nights too much.

Online community is most of the community I get at the moment.