Went to have a look at a new car yesterday

I have no been without a car since Ooooh 2006 as I recall. My last car was my beloved MINI Cooper S which I had a passionate love affair with. She was called Tena, because she was a Super Mini. Unfortunately Tena hardly got driven, in fact she only covered 3500 miles from new within 2 1/2 years of me owning her, this was due to me being ill with my right leg and finding it increasingly difficult to drive. When I knew I was going to have my leg lopped off I reluctantly put her up for sale as I knew I would struggle to drive a manual car and within no time I was saying a sad farewell to her.

I then gave Ern £6000 grand towards a new Honda Jazz with an auto-box and went out and bought a ridiculously expensive mountain bike to re-learn how to ride a bike with a prosthetic leg. Since then I have spent a small fortune on various bikes and just shared Ern's car which has it's own pet name. I like to affectionately call it the mobile skip. My dad and I are as different as chalk and cheese. While I have OCD tendencies and would polish and hoover my car and have everything organised, Ern believes a car is a work horse, so will think nothing of having a huge length of 4x4 laying up on the dash and pertruding out the back of the car, driving along with the tailgate open. Our little Jazz is covered with dents,scratches and dings from local kids and their bikes. As I point each new one out Ern will say his favourite quote to which he uses on most topics ahhhh it'll be alreeeet!". I usually get this quote on instances like where he has decided to loosen my bike handlebars so that he can organise my bikes in our shed more easily. I then go down the street almost kill my self as i didn't realise the bars were slack and Ern will say "ahhhh it'll be alreeeet!"

Anyhoo yesterday after I came back from the Lomabrd Clinic and seeing Paul my prosthetist from Pace Rehabilitation and being reunited with my running blade, Ern and I decided to call in at our local Jeep Garage. I have been fancying a car for sometime. Gone are the days of sports cars and speed. I'm getting old so looking for more practicality and comfort. Of course this doesn't mean I have lost my sense of adventure and after reading how well the little Jeep Renegade preformed off road I quite fancied having a look at one.

Jeep Renegade Trailhawk

   The Jeep dealership is on Scotswood Road, upon arriving we were greeted by a very friendly salesman and he went on to introduce both my dad and I to Ian Wilson the Jeep Moatability specialist. I explained to Ian I really would quite like to get a new Jeep Renegade on the Motability scheme and that I am in receipt of the higher rate of the Disability Living Allowance component for help getting around. I went on to inform him I had just got a letter saying this was an indefinite award, however I also informed him due to the governments draconian way of assessing people and with the new PIP, Personal Independence Payment coming along I thought I may loose my allowance.  Ian didn't seem aware that this was happening to genuine disabled people and was really surprised when I informed him approx 600,000 people according to statistics will taken off DLA and no longer get any assistance. This is going to have a huge impact on the whole country. Just think of those 600,000 people how many just like me need a car for work. How many need help getting around otherwise they will become totally isolated. Then of course there is the knock on effect to car manufacturers. They will loose a fair size chunk of their car sales.
 

Capable Off Road

 Anyhoo Ian agreed he would contact Motability and give me a call on Monday to discuss options and see whether I could use the scheme after talking to them. Of course another option for me would be finance, which would obviously be a lot more expensive.

Ian then showed us around one of the Jeep Renegade's. The model i am after is a Trailhawk, this comes fully loaded with extras, specific to taking the vehicle off roading. Things like slightly higher suspension and skid plates. The car we checked out was the sport in a nice bright Yellow colour. If I was to get a Jeep I'm caught in between either Blue or Orange. 

Cool rear lights

Nice interior

The Renegade actually uses a lot of Fiat components, the chassis for instance is from the Fiat 500 XL and the engine is the same as the tried and tested one in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. The Trailhawk comes with the 2.0 diesel Multijet II with 170bhp and a 9 speed auto transmission.

Upon reading various car mag reviews the Jeep doesn't score highly on the road reviews, however does come into it's own off road, being best in group for it's capabilities. As I enjoy camping and mtb I can see myself doing a bit of off roading and after seeing the car in the flesh I really like it. Jeep has put some nice little touches, including what are know as Easter eggs  around the vehicle. These are hidden little accents relating to the history of Jeep.

Guess I will start saving a deposit and who knows may have myself a new car this year...