I don't want to hi-jack Pete's thread, so we can discuss this matter here.
You need a cruza.
We came across one towing a caravan on the Ernest Giles Road. Both headlights had fallen out and he'd blown two shock. I'll stick to the solid and reliable Colorado thanks.
From some of my experience, the reliability of a car has more to do with the driver than the car itself. Sure there are some exceptions, but not necessarily in this situation.
Back in '73 (that's 1973 not 1873, just in case some of the young'uns on the Forum weren't sure) the then boss bought three brand spanking new XA Falcon 500's, bog standard, 200ci donks, three-on-the-tree, drum brakes, sans radio, etc. (I'm not sure if you could've got anything more basic). These were to replace some pretty tired, worn-out XT's, so we were pretty grateful.
One went to Pete (not Stinky, but another guy), one to Tony and another one got rotated amongst the other, all younger, guys, including me.
Within two years, Pete's was tired and worn-out, Tony's looked new, the shared one was in pretty good nick considering the multiple drivers. They all had the same basic use and mileage, what was the difference? Or who was the difference? Pete = Difference. Something to do with the way he would drive, where he would drive, crunching gears, bashing through paddocks, riding the clutch, oh dear he mistreated that Falcon - terribly.
I remember on incident where he snuck-up (is that a real word?) in the left kerb side lane at a set of traffic lights to get the jump on the other traffic when the light change green. He would need to accelerate reasonably quickly to merge back into the traffic as there was a car parked on the departure side of the intersection.
I said something along the lines of, "Pete, you know you are still in third gear!" He responded (never admitting he might be doing the wrong thing), "Yeah, I know", then as the light change green, revved the engine, rode the clutch and out-accelerated the bus to our right (thank god it was a bus).
Pete said 200 yards later, "What's that smell?" A couple of days later a new clutch had to be fitted.
I'm sure some of you have a "Pete" amongst your family, friends and colleagues.
