Bought a Car !

Today was a very exciting day for me. I bought my first car. :) Having lived in Sydney for the past 10 years with its excellent train system, I never needed a car. But with Yvonne upcoming move, we thought this is a good time to buy a car.

After researching online for the last few weeks, we decided that a Honda Accord Euro was the best fit in terms of balancing looks, practicality, performance and budget. A new Honda Accord Euro would have cost anywhere from $45,000 to $50,000 depending on equipment level. We then looked at near new second hand cars (up to 2 year old) and we found that there were a lot of previous generation Accords in the $30,000 to $37,000 price range. Most of these used cars had at least 40,000kms on the clock.

With the help of a friend, I found a late 2007 Honda Accord Euro Luxury with less than 10,000kms and it was fully equipped with all the technology we could possibly want in a car - satellite navigation, reversing camera, Bluetooth integration, iPod integration, 10 speaker system, you name it, the car had it. The car has loads of safety features as well, which is important. Basically, this was the top of the range Honda Accord. The asking price was $35,000. One down side to the car is that it's white which wasn't my preference but in terms of equipment level and mileage, it was very good.

So tonight I went to take a look at the car and I brought a good friend along who is much more knowledgeable about cars that I am. We both agreed that the car is in excellent condition with some minor dings and scratches. I test drove the car and it drove very nicely. The car has a large multi-information display screen which normally displays the map that the navigation system uses but you also use it to control everything else in the car - setting the speakers, the air-conditioning (there are two zones you can set, so driver and passenger can have different temperature settings). Let's say, it was very cool and I love technology !

I can also control my iPod through this screen. And when you set the gear into reverse, the screen switches to the reversing camera which is amazing ! Looking out the rear windscreen and comparing it to the camera's view, the camera makes a big difference.

Oh .. and the front seats are heated, great for those cold winter days. :) And it has a sunroof that's fully retractable and all leather interior. After the test drive, I knew that this was the car for us. It all came down to the negotiation. After some amount of negotiation, the final price was agreed to was $33,700. I am very excited to take possession of the car early next week. I will put up some photos of the car next week.

Yvonne - the car is waiting for you to drive it when you come to Sydney ! :P

Note by Yvonne: Honda Accord Euro is equivalent to an Acura TSX in the U.S.