I feel safe in an Avensis, and since the road traffic accident in November 2000, safety has become a matter of which I am aware and about which I am concerned. There are more airbags in my new car than ... and not only are there anti-lock brakes but also traction control (whatever that is - the dealer told me that I must switch off the traction control when driving through deep snow - when I am next in Canada I think I shall hire a car rather than take my own).
I test drove a Toyota Yaris some months ago, but realised that I ended up feeling remarkably travel sick. The same was true of the Vauxhall Corsa that I drove for a little while when my Toyota Carina was written off in the accident. I assume that, with a longer wheelbase, a larger car lurches around rather less than a small car. I also considered buying a Toyota Corolla on the basis of its smaller engine (1.6 litres, as opposed to the 1.8 litres of the Avensis) and assumed smaller carbon footprint. However, the CO2 emission figures were not significantly different, and neither were the forecourt prices. I should like to have bought a Toyota Prius, which has a hybrid pertrol/electric engine, with much lower CO2 emissions. However, the forecourt prices were much higher than what I was willing to pay. I am hoping that by the time I come to change this Avensis, hydrogen fuel cell cars, with zero CO2 emissions, might be being sold. Alternatively, the Tyne & Wear Metro might have been extended along the mothballed Leamside line to my village, in which case I would no longer require a car in order to get to work.
I have been driving since my seventeenth birthday, and passed my driving test some three months later. I have owned many cars, as well as a moped and a motorbike, although I have only ever had one vehicle at a time. I equate wheels with freedom. The times when I have been without a vehicle have been difficult
... to be continued ...
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