[829] My Possibly Attainable Dream Car

I'm writing this blog post on my 10th wedding anniversary. I've been thinking about cars (again) for the past few days. As much as it pains me to say it, the classic Volkswagen Beetle (Super Beetle or regular Beetle) isn't the best attainable dream car for my family and I here in the Philippines. Moving forward let's just call it the Beetle, since currently I have no desire to own the newer model.

Quick aside, have you seen the farewell video VW did for the Beetle? Watching it always makes me misty-eyed. I'm very thankful that I was able to ride one when my dad had one when I was still a young boy. I just regret disliking the car at the time since it was old and did not had air-conditioning.

Anyway, the Beetle is still top three in my attainable dream cars. As well as the Suzuki Jimny, whether it is the older or latest models. The second generation Honda Jazz is now my top possibly attainable dream car.

Here are the reasons why the Jazz is my top possibly attainable dream car.

1. Safety. The Honda Jazz has disc brakes, anti-lock brakes, airbags, and possibly seat belts for the passengers in the rear seats (though I'm not too sure about this). A totally stock Beetle has drum brakes everywhere, no ABS, and the seat belts are only for the driver and passenger in the front. Not to mention no air bags and no driver aids. It will teach me to be a better driver, though, but for daily driving it's not that great an idea.
2. Air Conditioning. Sure you can add that to a Beetle, but it will greatly affect engine performance for a relatively low HP engine. You don't want to draw power to the engines, plus since the Beetle is air-cooled chances of overheating could increase. The Jazz already has a modern air-conditioning system that is more than enough to cool the car without affecting engine performance that much.
3. Automatic transmission. I have no idea if there are any existing autostick Beetles here in the Philippines, and I'm guessing if there are any repairing any problems with it will be a major headache. The Jazz has an automatic transmission, and I'm guessing if it's the CVT it doesn't have the headaches associated with the gen 1 Jazz CVT transmission. Yes, I'm a lazy driver. I have no desire to drive around in traffic with a manual transmission. I'd rather have an automatic so I don't have to worry about so many things.
4. Space. Let's face the facts, the Honda Jazz is bigger than the Beetle and it's more spacious for both passengers and luggage. Obviously having four doors is also a big benefit.
5. Performance. The Jazz will obviously have more power, better handling, and better ride quality than the Beetle. We don't even have to discuss this this much.

So there you have it. I still want to own a Beetle. Why? Because I want a car I can work on myself. And restomod. And learn how to drive. Those things are basically gone with modern cars. But the benefits of the modern car outweigh whatever reasons I have for wanting to own a Beetle, specially with my current status in life. But hey, I can always buy a console and buy one of the racing games that has a Beetle so I can drive one digitally, right?

Out.