so we’ve been thinking about getting a car. something simple, small but comfy, used but decent, diesel, 4 or 5 seats, and with some space to put our stuff. something to hit the road with when the time comes.
the plan is to stay in europe for a while, hop around cities and countries, discover a bit of what we’ve been missing – what we’ve been almost taking for granted. europe looks mostly predictable to me, organized and easy… but i’m willing to prove myself wrong, and i’m eager for the surprises these roads will throw at me. 
getting a car is kind of a big thing for us… we’re cautious about this sort of big commitments… but i think there’s potential. europe is small enough to be drivable, i like roadtrips and i like driving as much as i like being in the passenger’s seat, taking pictures, suggesting pit stops and fiddling with the radio and the maps. i can see this working out.
paulo took this photo from the passenger seat of our borrowed ibiza, who effortlessly took us to the douro region this last weekend despite the narrow bumpy road chosen by the gps. :)
2 replies on “1.8 tdci 100cv 5dr etc wtf”
diesels are always going to be more expensive, both to buy and to maintain, than petrol cars. do the math and see how many kms you’ll have to do before the choice pays itself.
also, check the prices of petrol in other countries. petrol is cheaper than diesel in the uk, for example. i do about 15-20000 km a year and it’s barely worth it, at least with *our* prices.
they will do more kms than petrol ones before any serious spending; rule of thumb is 150k km for petrol ones and 300k km for diesel, but that’s just that, a rule of thumb. we have three ibizas, and one is on it’s way past 400k km with little problems. my next car is probably going to run on petrol, and I’ll do the math to see if it’s worth converting to LPG.
:)
good point, tozé. the main reason we’re leaning towards diesel isn’t really the price difference, it’s the mileage. i think we’re going to push this car a bit more than the normal home-to-work user, and i’d like it to last at least a few years before the problems start…