Driving
was something I enjoyed since I bought my first car. I had been a 7 seater man
since I came here to work. From Serena , Zafira to Santa Fe; I finally returned
to the family of SUV. One of the reasons is that I need to drive to work in a
raining cat and dog typhoon day. The SUV capability of driving through flooded
road was something that I needed. Fefe had one unique feature that other 7
seater SUV lack of; the third row blower. Well, Fefe’s diesel engine was pretty
much solid and even though the paint started to fade, the leak was noted from
the rooftop luggage tray fixation screw, it’s pick up was still good and
reliable. The leak from the screw hole of the roof top started 2 years ago. A
heavy down pour would leave the luggage compartment with water stain and it had
worsened after 1 year.
I
had tried to seal it with silicon and
water resistant GS3 glue however it only worked for a short period. The
glue/silicon would fade away after a hot summer and the leak recurred. I was
reluctant to change Fefe as those cars which are comparable to Fefe was in the
range of MYR 300k; enough to buy a house and I was not ready to spend such a
load for a car.
As
time passed some of the electronic sensors had started to fail and I had to
replace them one by one. I had started to source for a replacement since 1 year
ago. 7 seater SUV was still my first choice but yet MYR 200k was the ceiling
that I set. I had tested drive the 4.5gen Santa Fe and was impressed by its
improvement over the last 10 years; but yet it exceeded the ceiling that I set.
I
had broadened my choice to 5 seater SUV instead. I had tried Rav4, Kuga and I
was satisfied with their performance but their space had made me think twice. I
had decided to wait for the launching of Outlander and Xtrail which are both 7
seater and might probably fit my requirement.
The
last straw came 7 months ago when one of the lower arm and sensor failed
together. The replacement took 2 days and I knew that the time had come and bit
after bit I would need to replace its parts.
The
replacement was inevitable but the time lost on replacement was what I could
not afford. So I begun my sourcing again.
It
was not difficult for me to narrow down my choice but yet spitting out part of
the load which I had accumulated over those years is something that bothers me.
After
a short discussion, Ving and I had finally made our decision and we decided to
take a final look before we drop the deposit.
I
called up the sales manager who sold me Fefe 10 years ago and asked for one
more tour before I signed the agreement.
We
took a good look and the manager had kept persuading us to settle with the
petrol turbo hybrid model. A more efficient fuel saver but I wanted something
with a better torque. The hybrid model would be facing battery problem sooner
or later and I would not like to bet my future on this uncertainty. We had
however stood our ground and make a purchase agreement for a 4WD diesel model.
The
sales manager did warn us that the waiting period would most probably not
shorter than 6 months. I still had Fefe to hang onto and I and not in a rush to
get a new car.
4
Months had passed by since I paid the deposit and one day the sales manager
called me up and asked me if I wanted another color as someone had left the
queue and a blue color model was available. I reviewed the color with Ving and
told the manager that we could wait.
2
days later the manager called us again and told us that our car had arrived….WTX
I grumbled, it was fishing method to lure me to go for the spit out
vehicle…well, I was happy though as I finally got the chance to tried out the
drive assist...
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