The HONDA has gone.

[Williamson]

... Sue just got a new car. 

Yes, a new car here too!   To make some space in the garage, the Honda has gone to a new home, the Honda Civic that is.  Goodbye old friend.  In CarSales for a coupla weeks, plenty of calls and messages, three inspections, last one by a young fella (19yo) with $4,800 cash and a friend to drive it home.  It is a manual, and buyer has an auto licence.





The little Civic was a lovely little runabout, with ony 99K in its 15 years, it was sweet and clean as a whistle, reliable, cheap - could get around 5 litre per 100km (sitting in the left lane on the freeway to Wodonga), better than the ST1300, now replaced by a Pajero Sport.





Getting geared-up for the next episode, an OzLap with a caravan in tow, when border restrictions are lifted and the current level of animosity shown by (some) interstaters settles.

May be just a VicLap first, I'm sure there's enough places wanting to be explored or re-explored within our boundaries.

Oh yeah, the ST1300 is still in the garage, on the trickle charger, it's not a priority at the moment,  I hope I get out of this slump soon.

[Jdbiker]

Congratulations👍. The Pajero is a great car albeit underrated.

[aussiexs]

Looks good, hope you enjoy it.

[ruSTynutz]

Congrats on the new beast, Michael! 

Sue ended up with a Hyundai i30 which we're both very impressed with.

We gave it a bit of a run this weekend. Headed up to Marysville via Reefton Spur on Friday arvo. (where we stayed the weekend) A quick trip to Beechworth and back followed on Saturday then home today via Acheron Way, Warburton, Powelltown, Neerim South & Warragul.

I'm not sure whether Sue was overly impressed with me taking it on dirt roads but it handled it all with no issues... 
Trouble is, now I have to wash it...

[Williamson]

Sue ended up with a Hyundai i30 which we're both very impressed with.

Only driven an i30 once, we had one on the work fleet, compared to the Holdren Astras we had at the time (around 2012 I think), it was (IMHO) a better car.

Next door neighbour is impressed with the i30, he has four ranging from a 2013 model to a 2019 model.  These are currently shared between mum, dad and two adult daughters.  The i30 might be a good car, but four?  I would find that a little boring.   

The 2013 model he just inherited from his late father, he's tidying it up to sell it, not that it needs much tidying.   Anyone want a seven year old i30 with 25,000km on the clock?  He's asking around $14K which is top $$ for this model (according to CarSales), but considering the km, and others of similar specs on CarSales, it's probably good value.

[ruSTynutz]

It's actually funny, Sue had her heart set on a Kia Cerato...until we sat in one and then test drove it.

Anyhow, we're now a 2 x i30 family...

The other i30 is a 2010 model with the little diesel which I reckon punches well above it's weight.

Sue wanted a petrol auto so that's what we got with the "newie".

I'm still not sold on auto transmissions, they give me the irrits a bit with their kicking down and "hunting" on hills.
Give me my manual diesel any day, I just stick it into top gear and there it pretty much stays no matter how steep a hill is...

[STroppy]

The 2013 model he just inherited from his late father, he's tidying it up to sell it, not that it needs much tidying.   Anyone want a seven year old i30 with 25,000km on the clock?  He's asking around $14K which is top $$ for this model (according to CarSales), but considering the km, and others of similar specs on CarSales, it's probably good value.

Hi Michael, I am looking for a first vehicle for my Grandson, I’m thinking this i30 is a tad more than I want to spend on my Grandson’s first venture into motoring, but if you hear of any around $6k I could be interested.

[Williamson]

Hi Michael, I am looking for a first vehicle for my Grandson ...

The Civic may have been okay.  I was also thinking of my oldest Grandson, but I would have had to hang onto it for a few years, and a nephew, but he has champagne taste and a beer budget, and didn't want a manual.

... but if you hear of any around $6k I could be interested.

Manual, auto or doesn't matter?

[STroppy]

Manual/Auto . . Either would be OK.

[ppopeye]

Very nice Michael.
A trip around Vic might be the only choice for a while, in a while. We are even thinking of using our current  Christmas booking at Mallacoota because its there and we might be free to go there by then.


Enjoy your new ride.
All these new cars around. Oh well. Stick to tried and true for us.

[Williamson]

A trip around Vic might be the only choice for a while, in a while. We are even thinking of using our current  Christmas booking at Mallacoota because its there and we might be free to go there by then.

We visited Lakes Entrance and Mallacoota (couple of nights at each) at the end of June (before current restrictions).  At Lakes we were warmly welcomed, at Mallacoota were not all that welcome, some people were nice, others were definetly not very nice - we were treated like leppers.  There were two grumpy old pricks at the pub - one of them was me.

I hope they get the chip of their shoulder by Christmas.

Went through Orbost, very sad, looked like it was struggling, many, many shops closed.