Object 5 Kia Rio

 

For a little while I owned a second hand Alfa Romeo. It was a wonderfully frustrating little bastard - lovely drive, sexy etc, but you knew it's reliability was as trustworthy as a National Enquirer headline. Alfa owners say that's part if the experience but I was never one for masochism.

To be honest, I never felt comfortable in it. They say you need to see yourself in a car and we never really fit. This was all va va voom, brash self confidence, sexy curves and intense passion. I'm just an odd looking bloke, with a slight stammer, no hair and worrying obsession with tea.

I guess it's a bit like buying the kind of suit a suave, sophisticated player would wear, only to look in the mirror and seeing a crushingly ordinary person looking slightly more daft than usual.

So I got rid of it and bought a second hand Kia Rio (the one in the picture isn't THE one but looks identical). To be honest, there was an ulterior motive, I needed cash for something or other and quick, but it wasn't a struggle to make the swap, quite the opposite.

I owned that car for four years, I did 100,000 miles in  it, with virtually no problems. It took me over the Pennines to Manchester every day. It never let me down. But more than that, I loved what people said about it.

So many people couldn't understand why I wasn't embarrased owning this clunky, Korean monstrosity. Many laughed, it became something of an in-joke. But I didn't mind that, in fact I loved it.

On one level, that car represented me beginning to care a lot less about what the things I owned said about me, and being far more bothered about what I did. If people judge me by how I look, or by owning the right labels, symbols or whatever else, I say balls to them.

Put another way, that car is about becoming comfortable in your own skin and coming to terms with who you are rather twhat others want or what you've deluded yourself into.

That's important for surviving in this industry, especially as a planner. A big ego gets in the way.

On a more general level, I don't care where you've worked, what you've done and who you know. I have no interest in what people wear, only what they can do and what they're interested in.

It's better to ignore what the cognoscenti will think about your work, only what the client thinks and not even that really.....the people you're trying to sell things to. That's why I go into orbit when people slag off Try Something New Today as not that creatively exciting. Bollocks, it does the job it's supposed to do and then some. It's genuinely useful to the people it's aimed at and cares about what they care about. I say that's good and if some git in skinny jeans and converse doesn't get that, well good, there's more space for people who want to be good rather than cool.

Anyway, eventually the Kia died and had to be replaced by a Honda Civic. I love that car too, but not in the way I loved my little, modest, shambolic Kia.

Comments

I like that post a lot. "Put another way, that car is about becoming comfortable in your own skin and coming to terms with who you are rather [than] what others want or what you've deluded yourself into."
Exactly what it is about. At least for me. I couldn't give 50 cent about people who judge me by the car I drive. Many seem to do. I notice that because I often drive a shiny new car. My fifteen year old car is worth 50 cent. But it still works. In a weird way, I love it. I see no point in getting rid of it. What I find really sad are people who cannot afford to buy a certain car and end up working for instalments. Is this enjoying life and the freedom, fun, sexiness, whatever they allgedly bought into? Oh well, to each their own I guess.

[Rob]

This might seem scary, but your post is similar to my post.

Well in so much as I say ego is bad, fear is good.

Except as usual you write it in a more interesting way.

Damn.

http://bit.ly/ePhl7v

[cash advance]

Good thing you found a new car. It's a wise decision to ignore what people are saying about your tastes in things. It's human nature that they try to be the coolest person on the planet with all the their possessions. I actually think Kia cars are cute and comfortable, ya know. I definitely go for comfort than looks. Whenever I apply for cash advance to buy something, I think about the benefit I could get from it. After all, you don't purchase items to please other people, right? So, way to go, Andrew!

- Sofie Britts

[Jolandi Kerstetter]

Do you have a picture of that Civic you've bought to replace your ever-so-reliable Kia? Your Kia must have really done a lot for you in those past four years. It's also cool that you didn't have that much problems with it in those four years. You really take good care of it, do you? I hope you can share photos soon!

[Simon Schempp]

Ask Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson and he will say to you with a straight face that Alfa Romeos are the most beautiful cars in the world. I was really surprised that you traded your European sports cars into a Korean station wagon, but I can't find fault in your decision. Kia's are affordable and reliable. I used to own a Rio too, and it never failed me when I needed it. Now I'm driving a Sportage, and I'm fully satisfied with it. I hope we can see pictures of your car, hehe.