TBH, I'm pissed off and disappointed at the prospect of having to keep an 'ordinary' car for daily use. I promised myself that, when I was 60, I'd get myself a luxury barge with a bit of poke to run around in. When that didn't happen, I moved it to 65. I'm 63 now and there's nothing out there that I can get excited about. Autotrader promises much but, in the flesh, I find most cars I look at to be nothing special.
A 1.4 astra is be laughed at by car enthusiasts, obviously. But when I put my sensible head on, it just ticks all the boxes. When I took it for it's MOT yesterday, I had done 13,500 miles since the last one. Imagine the money I'd have spent on fuel and maintenance on an 'old cruiser'. 
50 years ago they had the same reaction to an 1160HB Viva, which was the equivalent, or 1.0l Anglias. But they're sought after now. By definition, ordinary, every-day cars have always been
ordinary at the time. Omegas were the equivalent in the large car class; just solid, decent value, useful tools.
A sensibly bought old cruiser might not have cost much in maintenance, although fuel would have been more, but beyond comfortable and reliable what do you really want from a car? My needs and wants have both changed drastically, and I find myself considering building a silly but usable toy(with some spare cash the Caterham 160 would be top of my list) and keeping the Omega because it is hard to replace. Impossible to replace for a similar amount of money.
Because of my circumstances this year, I expect my annual mileage to well under 5000 miles. I reckon that over the last 28 years, my annual private mileage is about 25,000!
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Topic: I think my astra will be going soon (Read 10945 times)