I saw an Aston Martin DB9 in the P.C. Hooftstraat yesterday afternoon. If my immediate family contained fewer members than the number of seats in that car (or even an equal number), that’s a vehicle I might have to consider. What a nice car; and so subtle, too. I could drive around in that without feeling like a complete wanker.
The only problem I could see was that literally about 30 – 40% of all the people who walked past it in the street stopped to admire it and peek inside. You’d attract a similar number of glances parking it and getting out, as well as getting back in. I suppose that’s precisely the reason some people would want a car like that, but I personally can’t stand being the focus of attention and the resulting loss of casual anonymity. I’d end up waiting on the other side of the street for people to walk away from my car, then quickly scuttling across the road to get back in before the next admirer happened along.
Ah well, that’s another advantage to our Audi A6 Avant. It’s a fantastic car, but not very glamourous.
Well, Wiesje’s seat may not fit in the back now, but once she is a bit older, she will fit in the back seat. And once she outgrows that, she will be old enough to stay with a friend for the weekend while you and Sarah go cruising!
You should also consider the Jaguar XK8; I’ve seen those here in London a few times and as performance convertables go, this one is rather classy and you certainly wouldn’t look like a wanker.
Besides, dressed in your jeans and favourite Google or Red Hat t-shirt you’ll look like a geek – not a wanker – whatever you drive.
Ha ha,there’s not much room in the DB9 and we’re planning on more children, so I don’t think that model will work for us unless we decide to own two cars. That’s something we just can’t currently justify, given the amount of driving we do and the fact we live in car-hating Amsterdam.
Indeed, unless you do quite a lot of driving, why own the DB9 even if it’s your only car? It’s just too much expense for too little use.
Assuming our family grows, I might consider a Jaguar X-Type estate, the BMW X5, the Audo Q7 or even have another look at the Volvo XC90.
Otherwise, I’d probably just get another A6 Avant, which has been an absolute pleasure to drive. It’s rare that you can purchase something off-the-shelf, as it were, with no customisations and be happy with it, but the A6 has been a fine example of that. There’s scarcely a thing about it that I would change.
If I were without children, though, the DB9 might be the one, as I’d probably do more driving then. On the other hand, perhaps I’m kidding myself. I might find, like this week, that I scarcely leave the house.