Change of Heart

As with the given condition to me, I listed out a couple of choices of my next car. Surprisingly there is an absence of one particular brand, Toyota. My dad used to only support the Toyota and Mercedes Benz brand and despise Honda, BMW and Nissan. However, in recent years more brand enter his consideration such as Peugeot and Hyundai. The reason would be a too cheap for continental car, Peugeot and the cheap but elegant European look Hyundai. The first non-mainstream car in my family is my brother's Hyundai Tucson. This first step allows me to consider a more wide variety of brands.

Given the budget, my father considered the D-Segment or a slight luxurious Sedan. My dad had his eyes set on the Mercedes Benz C-Class and the Volkswagen CC. Being a fan of Mercedes Benz, the C Class is the choice that he would like me to have. However, I do not like it at all and the reason is simple. He drives a E200 CGI and it is suppose to be a bigger, better car than the C CLass but to me the only interesting part of that E200 is the power of the 1.8L Turbo engine. If the supposedly better car could not woo me, how do you expect the smaller one to fair ? Furthermore, I do not like the fact that most C Class are locally assembled and if I were to choose I would pick the C250 CGI coupe. My dad would not agree because it costs a bomb and 2 doors do not fly with my parents.

The Volkswagen CC captured my dad's sight because of its sporty but continental feel it gives out. I too think that the CC is a beautiful car but perhaps too mature looking for a 24 year old guy. Although the interior is dress in black, the interior is a bit empty for a luxury 4 door coupe and frankly old fashion. This is expected given the usual range of people that would buy a CC and the demand of such interior in Europe. The most unexpected and surprising element is its power-plant. It has a 1.8L Turbo engine similar to the E200 my dad owns but the power is only 155hp which is too low and a 7 speed DSG that screams better fuel consumption. My transition from a sports car to this would mean the end of the joy of driving for me. The price tag is out of the budget given to me.

I have to remember what features that I am looking for in a car. My Celica is a 1.8L with 190hp plus 180Nm of torque. It is a low, road hugging handling machine. The replacement model must have a close enough power figure and appropriate torque although it is eay to find any car above 180Nm of torque. Power alone would not be enough as the handling part plays a key point too. The Mercedes Benz always give me the drive of being too heavy, not stable and drives like a ship in rough sea. Both the C Class and the CC have good enough torque or power because of the turbo engine but handling wise it just could not impress me. The prices of both model is way over the given budget but for my dad sometimes you have to pay more for its brand. Many just thought about the prestige image it would give when driving either one but I am more into its performance. I would like him to pay more for performance instead.