A Singaporean In Australia

Not once I had such a hard time finding a good car at affordable prices in the used car market here. It was just one of those days I guess, to experience the Taxi Syndrome - plenty when you don't need them but none when you do. I ended up viewing a 2005 Honda Jazz well above my budget. It wasn't viewing for the sake of it. I figured that since I had a bit of time in the day, I might as well learn something from test drives. Besides, it was a rare opportunity for me to drive around Perth to see how the place looked like during office hours. I realised that I have never actually done it before since I came. The drives were pleasant on quiet Perth streets just like the way it attracted me some 8 years ago, albeit an obvious increase of road traffic today.

This time the seller lived just 10 minutes away from me. Her car was another Honda Jazz, 2005, 130,000km, 1.5L VTI-S, asking for $4,800. I knew I wouldn't buy the car at that price but it didn't hurt to take a look. After all, I had a surprisingly huge discount on the asking price for Stargazer the other time. Never try, never know.

The owner was a young Asian lady in her early 20s, likely to be either a Singaporean or Malaysian. She was wearing, quite little but apt for an unusually hot Spring day. Little did I know I would be schooled by that young lady on the different models of Honda Jazz. In fact, she could tell me the different in specs of a 2003 and 2004 model, including different features in the dash board! She would have made a rather good Honda Jazz saleswoman. That also meant that I had no chance of getting a bargain for her car as she insisted that it was a bargain at that price, which wasn't far from the truth, going by the condition of her car. Besides she already had an offer of $4,600.

I took it for a test drive. It drove really well. Both the interior and exterior of the car were well taken care of. The air conditioner was not working though. Soon, the car got as hot as its owner. It wasn't quite a bargain after all. At least, I knew what a good Jazz felt like. It would help me identify the lemons should I decide to view anymore of these pricey, unaffordable things.