Car

London is not a car friendly place. Central London that is. With the infamous congestion charge, most drivers try to avoid getting into Central London on weekdays from 0700am to 0600pm. It costs 8 pounds a day if you drive you car within the congestion charge area. However, the reason for it is actually good; and it definitely makes a difference to driving experience in Central London and to certain extend, around it.

However, due to extensive network of efficient (relatively speaking) public transportation comprising underground and overground rail services and buses, getting around in London without a car is not impossible and definitely a workable option. In fact, that how I survived for years in London. Have Travelcard, will travel.

For families with children though, while the public transport is great in terms of value (i.e. kids below 11 travel free and those between 11 and 15 only pays 1 pound for unlimited travel on public transport), from convenience perspective, a car is necessary. This is especially true when you have multiple destinations and they are not right smack in the middle of Central London. We still enjoy using public transport with Central London as the stress of finding car parks and getting lost is a lot higher.

So we come to the topic of this posting. Car. We need a car. Currently we are driving a rented Citroen C4 but not for long as the rental is only until the end of the month. The car is quite spacious and offers a lot of nifty gadgets and tricks that initial made it quite exciting. However, driving it is not fun at all and what I hate most is the movement that somehow gives me sea-sickness, even when I am the one driving it.

We have so far driven close to 350 miles (that's about 560 km) in it. The car is diesel powered and fuel consumption is not bad. It's also fits 5 people nicely and comes with a large boot as well. In fact the guy who delivered it to me stashed his motorbike in the boot of the car.

The search for a car to buy is starting and at the moment we are looking for a cheap 2nd hand car that would fit the family nicely. Compared to Malaysia, cars are cheap here and direct comparison tends to encourage one to go for the high end models. For a feel of how 'cheap' cars are here, a 5 years old Mercedes E-Class or BMW 5 Series are selling at around 7-8 thousand pounds. That's less than RM50,000. Whereas in Malaysia they would fetch more than RM200,000.

Reminds me of my 1st car. A 450 pounds Rover that I bought years ago.