20/08/16 - Carsharing & a Classic
It’s been two months now since I sold my car and whilst I’ve been lucky enough to borrow the family cars before I left for Toronto, the decision was to avoid buying a motor when I moved over. Living in Downtown, like most cities simply means that having a car can be pointless considering the traffic, ownership costs and parking availability. Now I know the gas over here is beautifully cheap but even for me, getting a car doesn’t make sense.
Thus in order to cure my petrolhead itch and let me get my fix of some form of motoring, I decided to join an Enterprise CarShare membership. Incentivised by the promotion of having the first years membership waived ($45) and a $30 credit, I gladly joined up upon the realisation that I wouldn’t need to convert my drivers license, yet... - (Oh, I forgot to mention that trying to be a downtown street racer aside, we also needed a ride to get stuff from Ikea!)
A quick scan of the available cars in our area revealed quite a lot choice but there was only one for me. - The Red Mazda 5. Wagon...
“BWPY” was the chosen one for her sporty prowess and sculpted design. And also that she had a large booty for swallowing the table we needed to get too!
Now for all the pistonheads reading, there is something about hire cars that makes you drive like you stole it. Maybe it’s the fact that you know it’s not yours or possibly the fact that driving an average engined auto makes you think it’s one up for the everyday man. Spot the AMG Merc, shift it into Sport Auto and rev the nuts off of the 2.5ltr 4 pot to claw back that 20 metres or so before you hit the traffic again (and yes, there is always traffic!). I now understand why dad’s who drive SUV’s with their kids are also the most aggressive. (one for you Alan...)
Otherwise Canadian’s are pretty polite drivers, or based on my experience so far. In fact, I think that there’s generally more beef between the cyclists and bikers than the cars! Even the taxi drivers don’t drive (too) much like a d*ck.
And they have some tasty metal too. I mean, there’s always going to be variety in the city, from the bangers (North Americans do like their oldies) to Lambo’s driven by 21 yr old, rich exchange students but it’s quite opening seeing so much more variety than the usual German range back home. The Korean/Japanese manufacturers seem to do well here and of course, so do your usual US brands.
But what is even better is how the average engine size here is so much bigger. I’m mean, petrol prices plays a factor of course (who cares when it’s so cheap! Well, I don’t understand it anyways cause they look at L/100KM) but it’s also very interesting when you hear what must be a classic Yank Muscle Car bombing it down the St, only to discover it’s massive 4x4 truck with a Chevy V8. You know what, I kinda want to experience how that feels when you literally have the biggest c*ck, I mean vehicle on the road. I mean, I’ve seen 10x more 335′s here than 320d’s and that can only be a great thing for cars & humanity.
Now I could leave you with a sweet picture of some Bugatti or limited edition Ferrari that the cool kids are creaming over. I mean, I’ve seen some cool sh*t since I arrived (see my Insta for a gorgeous GT3 RS), including a 3-wheeled hot rod and a yellow Ferrari Dino. But instead I’ll leave you with this gem. I know how much Brits love a good breadvan estate but it appears that someone here does too.
This Audi RS2 is a real cult car and I don’t believe it was even officially sold in Canada (?). There really can’t be many of these over here and based on that logic, I’ll say that this is the coolest thing I’ve seen here yet.
Or in other words, it’s kind of like if Miss World 99′ rocked up at your local Weatherspoons on a Friday night. Most people wouldn’t know who she is but she’d still stand out if you took a closer look, especially with the context around her.
Anyways, this is not a motoring column of course but I needed to get it out. Back to food, beer and retro gigs next time :)
Will’s