illuminating science

Last weekend we bought a car! Quite exciting, but also kind of stressful. It reminded me more than a little about finding a house. All these different parameters that have to be weighed up - pros and cons for all these different features, and then the bottom line - how much will all this cost?

First of all, there’s age and kilometres. The older the car, the more wear and tear on its appearance, and just general aging of parts. Likewise, the more kilometres it’s done, the more wear and tear, on the engine in particular. What’s better - a newer car with more kilometres, or an older car with less? Tough call.

Then, there’s the size of the car. Petrol prices are going up and up, so it’s more economical to own a small car that uses less petrol. On the other hand, because petrol prices are going up, no-one wants to buy large cars, so they’re a lot cheaper now than they were this time last year (we’re talking a couple of thousand dollars, it seems). That means you can get a newer large car for the same money as an older small car. While it costs you more in petrol, you’ll also save in repairs.

The question is, what’s the best compromise? In the end, we went with a Holden Commodore. It’s a 1992 model, so not too old, and in good condition (e.g., upholstery, etc) and (apparently) mechanically sound. It’s a big car (it’s really long!) so chews up about 25% more petrol than the smaller Corolla we’d been thinking about, but in much better condition than the ones we’d seen. In the end, we worked out that we would have to drive a really large number of kilometres to use up in petrol to make up the difference between a similar standard small car. (Basically it’s simultaneous equations! Total cost = cost to buy + kilometres * price per kilometre) Furthermore, parts and repairs are (comparitively) cheap for a Commodore, since they’re so common, which makes it, we hope, a good deal. (I guess, really Total cost= price + km*price per km + repairs*(number of years and kilometres you’ve had the car, in some complex function)).

Either way, it’s great to have our own car to go where we want, etc. Public transport is far better for the environment, but it just isn’t cheap here. If you don’t own a car, it’s quite reasonable, but once you’ve made that initial outlay for registration, insurance, etc, then buses etc just aren’t a good deal. (Actually, as a student they’re not bad, but if you were an adult with no discount, they’re terrible. Not to mention that they take twice as long for most trips when compared to going by car…) We still catch public transport into the city, say, since it’s just as quick (direct route!) and parking is a pain.

But there really is something to say about cities like Hong Kong where the norm is not to own a car, and you can (literally!) get anywhere and everywhere you want to go, and in a reasonable time frame. But for that kind of transport system you need a lot of people in a very small area, and Australia really doesn’t lend itsellf to that just yet!