If you share a house with your bank manager in all Australian states and one of the territories (guess which?) you are a millionaire. But you are paying $4k a month to send your banker’s kids to private schools in Jaguar SUVs.
Now, we asked the good folk at Consumer Reports what they really thought of the Jaguar F Type (SUV). They said reliability is 30 out of 100 and owner satisfaction is two out of five. And they said don’t forget the two recalls. One is because the oil filter housing can crack and leak oil into the engine compartment. An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components can increase the risk of a fire. But, hey, don’t let us put you off spending $181,670 to $373,547 on the Indian brand.
Getting back to the topic at hand: while you are paying 6 per cent on your home loan, you will be spending 9.89 to 21.79 per cent (other fees and charges will apply) to buy your car. And what no one ever tells you is the real cost of running your car. See, when people tell you the cost of running a car, they leave out the silent killer, depreciation.
When you drive out of the showroom waving an emotional goodbye to the very friendly sales consultant who under his/her/other breath has just called you a wood duck and the even more relationship-driven F&I (finance and insurance) person who was responsible for sticking you with various products and services, including fixed-price servicing, extended warranties, paint protection, gap insurance, fabric protection, rustproofing and undercoating, tyre and wheel protection plans, key replacement insurance, roof racks, cargo barriers, tow bars, weather shields, bonnet protectors, headlight covers, boot organisers and VIN etchings (F&I is the most profitable part of any dealership, with parts and service second), you have just dropped 30 per cent of the value of your new toy.
The problem with an electric car (and there are many) is that because of the Chinese, new EV prices are dropping like a company’s share price after the CEO has been found to be having too much fun. So, if you bought new EV last year you’ve dropped at least 30 per cent of the money you’re paying 20 per cent for. So, houses are better investment than cars. How’s that for insight?
Just so you know, the real cost of running an electric car is $20,784 a year and a reasonable sized SUV is $19,867.
Anyway, talking of treating customers like wood ducks brings us back to Dan Kawai and his team at Autoleague, which is mobilising people towards a better life except for Helen and Jerry Chaberka, who were sold a lemon by Dan’s Berwick Jeep dealership. Of course, one of Autoleague’s values is integrity: “We continuously strive to do the right thing through transparency, thoughtfulness and a genuine commitment to fairness.” Unless of course you buy a dud from them. So best avoid Autoleague’s Essendon Volkswagen out there at 335 Wirraway Rd, Essendon Fields, for two reasons. If they sell you a dud you’re stuffed and who knows how long VW, the world’s biggest carmaker, will be around. As the Financial Times headline screamed this week: “Volkswagen is in crisis again. Can it be reformed?”
“Volkswagen was ‘still struggling to adapt’ to the new technology almost 10 years after prioritising it, said a former employee. He added that the group’s EVs were ‘poor imitations of their internal combustion products’ and ‘really average cars at high prices’.”
The VW group is 50 per cent owned by the Porsche family, 20 per cent by the state of Lower Saxony and 17 per cent by Qatar.
And in a side note, I’m told Qatar is about to buy an F1 team. Let’s hope it’s Sauber where one of our fav drivers, Val Bottas, lives. Val drove a blinder to take 14th in Mexico last week. Val remains 23rd in the driver’s championship (out of 23) and on zero points. Val said he was left feeling positive about Sauber’s progress at the Mexico City Grand Prix, with the Finn pleased to have been able to fight despite the team again missing out on scoring points. Audi was going to buy Sauber but now it’s not. Still things are going better for Val than for the legendary Jochen Sengpiehl, chief marketing officer and head of product strategy for VW China, who returned to Beijing after hols in Thailand. Thai authorities evidently tipped off their communist counterparts and, after testing, Jochen was found to have had too good a time in Thailand.
OK talking of F1, it was Hasta la vista Chuck, Mad Max Recupera el golpe and Hola saltando Lando in Mexico. Chuck Sainz had his second win of the season, local Mexican lad Serge Perez came 17th (aka nowhere), Mad Max had his elbows out and gave Chuck a push off the track, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda kissed each other out of the race, Mad Max vs saltando Lando was the real race although Maxie ended up getting two 10 second penalties (ie, 20 seconds) but he still came sixth. In the drivers’ championships it’s still Max, from LL then Chuck, and in the constructors it’s McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull. Get your Kayo sub for tomorrow’s Formula Grande Prêmio de Sao Paulo 2024 (Brazil).
Talking of important dates, next weekend it’s The Adelaide Rally, the largest tarmac rally event in the southern hemisphere. It features the Torvill and Dean of the rally world, yours truly and Mick McMichael (aka the Sultan) in the WART (Weekend Australian Rally Team) 1990 BMW. Also making up the numbers are winemaker Tim Knappstein, Craig Lowndes (who we tipped to win Bathurst so never follow our tips) and heaps of other people in far better cars than our 1990 BMW. Please come up and say hullo. Times are tough in the newspaper caper, so we have no T-shirts, no Australian pens that don’t work and no newspapers from last year, but Mick is always eager to be commissioned to paint you. Of course, no kit on is compulsory.
The Adelaide 500 (14-17 November) is celebrating its 25th anniversary and it’s a packed four days of on-track action, concerts and entertainment for the whole family to enjoy or not depending on your tolerance for petrol engine noise.
And on this day Louie Renault, the founder of the French automobile company Renault, died in prison in 1944 at age 67 after being named as a Nazi collaborator, a charge he denied. He did leave fantastic jokes: How do you upgrade a Renault? Put in an engine. Why do Renaults have heated rear windows? To keep your hands warm when you’re pushing them. What goes on pages 4-5 of the Renault user’s manual? The train & bus schedule.
jc@jcp.com.au
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