Not a mini– that dream is dead. Instead it’s a 2002 Volkwagen Lupo, a small car of which I had never even heard until I saw this one (and so very sensibly decided to buy it).

Features

• room for two real people in the front and up to three cardboard cutouts in the back.
• MiniDisc player– which is such a relief because I had heard a rumor that the format was dying.
• Airbag brand dashboard and seats
• charcoal and red color scheme– no poxy mid-grey plastic/upholstery
• breathing holes
• cup holders! As someone who has managed to spill coffee on the inside of a windscreen, these bring me great satisfaction.
• no lame-o glove box– who needs those!

I bought it in an online auction* having looked at it in real life for about 10 minutes and driven it back and forth a distance of 2 metres or so. It was pissing with rain during the hours of inspection, so I hoped that not too many people would show up and I might get a better deal with less competition. In the end (ie the last 5 minutes of the auction, of course) it turned out a few others were interested, so I didn’t quite get it for the song I was hoping, but it still felt like a pretty good deal at NZ$6050.

Problems

• Passenger window not working… not sure if this is going to be expensive to repair, but not a huge priority right now (I was aware of it at time of sale)
• Loss of engine power/smoothness after leaving it parked in the rain. This seems to have been a problem with wet contacts/sparkplugs– a few spritzes of WD40 has kept this problem from recurring (Auckland is very soggy lately)
• I still can’t work out how to set the damn clock [UPDATE: see comments] Being an import from Japan (obviously not made there) it did not come with an owner’s manual, and I can’t seem to find an English one online because VW are total dicks like that it seems– Major kudos to anyone who can point me in the right direction there

__________

* to anyone in Auckland who wants to try their luck with a cheap import: I bought this car through www.oval.co.nz, a business that imports used cars from Japan and sells them directly on TradeMe** without detailing or servicing.

** TradeMe is a daggy but awesome auction site whose popularity has thus far prevented the evil eBay from gaining a foothold in New Zealand.