Down sizing is all in the mind....

The old Jaaaaaaaaaaaaag. Well, not so old, a 2004 X Type diesel. A Transit engined beasty. The Ark Royal of all the cars I've owned in the past 14 years. The biggy, posh and comfy bus! I like this car, I did when I bought and still do now, but it was just BIG. The purpose of the car was full filled, to transport my mum around in comfort, backwards and forwards to the hospital whilst awaiting for her hip operation. The operation was done a few months ago, the car was still comfy, but seemed to be getting bigger. Less walking sticks to carry around, less clutter (not that I have much in my cars), just less.

I wasn't even planning on doing what I did. This is all the fault of my mother! I was thinking about changing the car, but next year. The Jag was due it's yearly medical, and after spending over £300 on tyres and another £70 on an intercooler hose in nine months, I thought that car would easily sail through, which it did!

Anyway, before the MOT date, I was window shopping on the Autotrader website. Alfa 147s, 156s, 159s, Mazda RX8s, MX5s, BMW Z3s, I liked them all and was toying with a swap. Nothing to decided, no harm in looking, just window shopping. The Jag done everything I needed it too, it was cheap on the road tax (£130 a year for a Jaaaaag!, petrol V6 one is nearly twice that amount!), insurance was ok (well I thought, but later about that!), the car run smoothly and did need a service soon. Then whilst flicking through pages of BMWs, I came across the MINI. Well, ok, small car, cheap tax, cheap insurance, could be ok. I knew my brother had one and he said no. Unreliable car that spends more time in BMW garages than on the road. Oh well, back to planning trailers and doing the day job.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was still flicking through Autotrader and eBay and decided I need a trip to a dealership and have a look at some cars. I will not make up my mind, but just size the cars up. Try out the boot, driving position ect. Well, first of all the Mazda RX8 disappeared off of the radar. The top band for road tax every year (£460 or something like that), and no I'm not going to pay that! Even though I do like the little 1.3 RX8, and if I did buy one I could say Wankel lots! The MX5 also got knocked off the list as I had already owned one, and the boot is small. It's a fun car to drive though and no roof is good in the summer. Just a shame that in the UK we seem to lack summer! BMWs got knocked off for the same reason, then it was just the Alfas, but who knows what you would get with an Alfa. Yes, I love the Alfa, it's a great looking car, but they do need a lot of looking after and if you do get the wrong car, you are f**ked! Expensive and they do not hold their value due to being Alfas!

In the end, a shopping trip to Epsom was planned with a visit to Cooper Tadworth. Well, everything did not go to plan. I drove my mum over to Tadworth and the plan was, I'll look round the forecourt and see what cars they have, get the attention of the sales person and ask if I can check out the size of the boot (with the seats folded flat) to see if my mums shopping trolley will fit in. Well, parts 1 and 2 went fine, I walked around, found two cars, a Cooper in black and a One in blue. The sales girl came out and I asked if the cars were unlocked, she disappeared and came back with the key to the MINI One and as she popped the locks, my mum decided to get in the passenger side and sit down. That was the end of my careful planning.... "oooo I like this, it's comfy!" said my mum. Well, that was it! I had a look at the boot size, which is too bad with the seats flat, not quite as big as the Jaaaag but enough space for shopping and trolley. Anyway, the sales girl explained that the car was off out on a test drive in five minutes with the possible new owner. My heart sank a bit, but oh well, I only wanted to be nosey. The only thing was, two hours later whilst walking round Epsom, I get a phone call from the salesman at Coopers telling me that the couple who test drove the car had decided to buy a Mini convertible. So, test drives were booked for Sunday!

After test driving two Minis, the little 1.4 One felt as good as the Coooper. Cheaper tax and cheaper insurance as well. Still, I didn't fancy a change of car yet, well for at least 5 minutes. So, after filling in a couple of forms, being told my Jaaaag was a CAT B write off (which it wasn't, due to sales man not being able to read his own writing!), I had managed to nearly buy a new car!

On the Tuesday morning, I get the phone call. All the finance stuff had gone through, the car will be ready to collect on Sunday! And that was it! The Jaaaag was going! I had only had the Jaaaaaaaaaag for nine months, but she was off to be part exd for a MINI. Downsizing in a big way!

Sunday arrived and off I went to Tadworth. The Jaaaaaag had passed it's MOT with flying colours, everything cleared out of the car except the bits that should be in there. Sorted! I got to the dealership, spent forever signing sheets of paper! Finally, the keys were handed over. A little blue dinky toy was now mine. I had a few bits to get out of the Jaaaaaag, which didn't disappoint, it's parting shot was to not open the boot on the boot release button. Nice car!! Everything finally cleared out and put into the new car.

I was out of the car park like a stupid Cheshire cat. Grinning insanely! Farewell comfy leather clad, walnut dashed Jaaaaag, hello mad driving, go kart handling Mini! Now, after two weeks of driving the MINI, do I regret the swap... NO!!!!