A year ago, I got my first car! Yes, I’ve been driving for years – since I was 15 if you include the time I had my learners permit – but I finally got a car of my very own last year.  Here’s the story of how it all happened.

I had never wanted a car before. To be honest, I didn’t really understand the big deal. After all, it was just a box with wheels that got you from point A to point B! But it was an expensive box that was tough to buy (especially if you have ovaries!), expensive to run and/or fix, and could easily be snuffed out because of someone’s carelessness which of course, leads to another ball hassle. While living at home, I always had access to a vehicle and on my own, I always knew how to navigate the transit system so why spend more money?

Things changed a bit in 2013. One of the vehicles I was using was my dad’s 2004 Nissan Quest. One night, we got a call that he had been in an accident. He was okay but the van…yikes!  It was obviously going to be a write off. Apparently, a drunk driver coming in the opposite direction from him ran a red light at a major intersection. A city bus that was just entering the intersection slammed into this car and pushed it into the side of the van where my dad was patiently waiting for the green light. He didn’t even know what hit him!

Needless to say, there was somewhat of a ‘curfuffle’ afterwards as the insurance nonsense began. (The driver who caused the accident actually tried to take his DUI case to court but there was too much evidence against him so he plead guilty. This raises all sorts of questions in my mind because…well, what kind of person would cause such carnage then try to deny responsibility and more fundamentally, do we really want people like that on the road? But, that’s another story!) Money eventually came through but it was certainly a small amount. Unsurprising, I suppose, because of ‘vehicle depreciation’ but still, disappointing as my dad was just a bystander. Anyway, despite my folks being retired, a family of 3 has trouble getting by with one vehicle. After a bit of waffling, my parents made a decision: they were going to use money that my grandma left a few months earlier to by me my first car.

And this began an interesting journey for me. At this point, I had spent a few months working in a garage year earlier and had begun to understand the appeal of cars. Even as just a carwasher, I still had the chance to try out so many different cars and it was fun! When I finished my OHS Practitioner program in 2012, I was so sure that I’d find a job right away that I began looking at cars. Unfortunately, it things weren’t that simple and I quickly put away those thoughts as I discovered the true nature of the job market in that field. When this accident happened though, I was still ready!

Having tried several types of cars already, I had narrowed things down a bit. At the garage, I got to drive around the shuttle vehicles every now and then. Don’t get me wrong, the Toyota Prius IS a nice car and I love the idea of hybrids and electrics but having attempted a left turn in one of the ugliest intersections in town at one of the busiest times of day, it was very clear that I needed something with good acceleration. But, I also needed good fuel mileage. And let’s not forget, it has to look good AND be functional too. That’s a lot of requirements that…let’s face it, don’t necessarily go together in today’s messed up car market!

A year earlier, while picking up a part for the still intact van, I tried a 2012 Nissan Juke for kicks. Lovely vehicle! Great handling and lots of space but the price tag was a little much. At least I got some good service at that dealer though. Even the manager was quite friendly.  But, when it really came time to test drive some cars and make a decision, I was surprised to learn just how bad some dealers/salesmen really are. At one place, the guy acted like I was just wasting his time. Admittedly, there was some miscommunication in my family because I had already done all the research and just wanted to test drive whereas the assumption was that I just wanted to ask questions. Still though, I was shocked that there was no real offer to try anything out.  Most gave the impression that I was just wasting their time and that I didn’t know what I wanted/was talking about because of my requirements.

At another dealer, there was a similar reaction but not quite as bad. When asked, I got to try out a 2009 Mustang Coupe. Holy crap was that ever fun! Just one tap of the gas pedal and I was in heaven! But, despite being listed as one of the more fuel efficient sports cars out there, it was clear that it was quite a gas guzzler and with the way I drive, I’d be bankrupt in no time! So begrudgingly, I put thoughts of the ‘Stang aside and looked elsewhere.

I was really excited when I heard that Fiat was coming back to North America. I knew of this brand though my family and from trips to Europe. I’m not going to lie though – I was worried about the Chrysler connection. Yes, technically the Italians bought an American company but still, I couldn’t shake off the thought of all those crappy US cars that my friends and family had dealt with in the past including an 1994 Chrysler Intrepid that fell apart a tad too easily! But, the call of non-German European styling was too strong and we headed to the nearest studio.

I had previously scoped out these cars before. A year earlier, I couldn’t wait to see the Abarth and went there often to check it out. But this time, I was there to drive! I also discovered though that for 2013, Fiat released a model in between the regular 500 and the Abarth: the 500 Turbo. It has the same classic styled interior as the other 500’s but the same body and engine (and torque) as the Abarth. The only difference is horsepower as the Abarth is 160 hp and Turbo has been tuned down to 135hp. But it still has that fun, get-your-ass-outta-that-way-fast turbo that I really wanted…and for less money! The only problem was that it was only available in manual transmission. I had learned 1st gear and reverse for driving cars but that was about it.

Well, that didn’t matter! The super friendly staff at Studio Fiat were more that happy to let me try one out…downtown! It was certainly quite an experience but despite not completely knowing what I was doing, I still loved it. The speed, the handling, the style – it was so me! And it was clear very quickly that I was going to love parking it too. Despite stating that the Abarth wasn’t quite in the price range, I also got to try one of those. Way too much fun! But alas, I figured that it wasn’t going to be an option especially since most of the Abarths they had were fairly loaded which pushes up the price tag past what was possible for us at the time.

It didn’t really take long to make a decision. With one exception, I had pretty much tried out any other vehicle that was in my mind although, I admit that I probably should have still gone and talked to other dealers. Most of the other cars that I was considering would have to have been used and I really liked the idea of being the first owner of my first car. I also liked the idea of having something different instead of blending in. And with an alleged 7.1L/100km city and 5.1L/100km highway, who could say no to that fuel efficiency! Hauling stuff was a worry too since I wanted to be able to take road trips and go camping. I hoped that it would be the year that I would finally buy a kayak. But after looking carefully at trunk space and pictures online of official parts for roof racks with kayak and bike carriers, I said, “Yes” to the Fiat 500 Turbo!

And that is where ‘Giovanni’ came from! He’s a white base model 2013 Fiat 500 Turbo. With incentives that were offered at the time, he came to about $20,000 which is a fair bit for a starter car but worth it because I had everything I needed! Learning to drive it wasn’t too bad either. Despite having to get my mom to drive it home from the studio, it really didn’t take me long to get the hang of driving stick. And now, I have trouble driving automatics!  Partly because I got too used to shifting but really, I just get bored now in an automatic and that is not good on the road.  We don’t need any more inattention on the roads these days!

What was a little hard to get used to to was the suspension. Having driven the van and a 2004 Mitsubishi Endevour for several years, it was hard getting used to feeling every bump in the road. Even now, I have trouble controlling the clutch on bumpy roads. But being able to whip around corners with such ease is totally worth it as is all the little places I can get in and out of!

Little by little, I’ve personalized my car. It wasn’t the easiest thing since the dealer here seems awfully confused by the car. Giovanni has the Abarth body but because of the 500 name, they kept selling me the wrong parts. But it’s okay, I figured it out. Mats, pedals, and licence plate holder are all official parts. I had to ship the gear shift knob from the US. The original wasn’t bad but it just felt like too much in my hand and I wanted something with out plastic on it. On a tip, I ordered the mud flaps from Rally Armour in New York. I was assured that despite the cost, they’ll last longer than my car. But to be honest, I just think they look cool! The stripe came in from the UK. Perhaps with a different colour of car, I wouldn’t have felt the need to put a strip but something about the white…well, it just needed to be broken up a bit. I searched online but not many places had what I wanted. Most had the stripe that ran just under the window but I didn’t like that one. By accident, I found the barcode stripe at a company that sells decals for street racers. The cost of the decals plus shipping was way cheaper that getting anything here so I bought them and I’d like to think that I didn’t do too bad of a job putting them on. Not great but not bad! And yes, I did pick up a roof rack. I still need to buy an extender but since the kayak I bought is only 10′, the rack plus some tie down straps for the hood and truck work well enough for now. I think I’m done now but…who knows what cool thing I’ll see next!

One of the thing people ask me about my car is how it handles on the highway. In September 2013, I found out on my trip to Calgary. All I can really say is that there are definite pro and cons. Obviously the gas mileage is great and that turbo kicks ass when it comes to passing cars. Even the small size makes it great for weaving around cars. But feeling every bump in the road can be tiring. Maybe it’s because I haven’t driven that kind of distance for a long time but my arms were definitely sore by the time I hit the city. And with the number of trucks on the road, being dwarfed on the highway is a tad scary. Of course, if a semi hits you, you’re screwed regardless of the size of your car or truck but again, that’s a while other story! I discovered and additional con on my trip to Narrow Hills and Gem Lakes – dirt roads. Handling on these kind of roads is scary to say the least but at the same time, the great handing allowed me to recover fast from slides and with a slower speed, it was all good!

Which is also the way I answer questions about winter driving in my little Fiat. It doesn’t matter what kind of vehicle you drive, on ice, anything can happen and no drive wheel is perfect. But what I loved about my car is the recovery. For whatever reason, any sliding that happened was easily dealt with. Only once did I get into serious trouble. Unfortunately, this is a city that doesn’t know how to deal with winter despite having winter of 6 months of the year. Ruts on a major road here got very high in early January 2014 and a layer of ice on top made roads a Slip’n’Slide. While passing a bus, I found myself behind a car that had slid and was perpendicular to the road. I couldn’t stop and I turned my wheel but the ruts were to big and it shot me across two lanes, Luckily, no one was in those two lanes but still, very scary! Needless to say, I bought more kitty litter for the back of my car (bringing up the total weight to 80lbs) and drove more slowly. But even in snow drifts, I kicked serious butt. Whether is was winter tires, the manual transmission techniques you have to learn, or just the car itself – winter driving really wan’t that tough. We’ll see next year though!

For the most part, I’m happy with my car. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be celebrating his ‘birthday’ today. But things are not all rosy. Within a couple weeks of buying it, I began to hear a weird grinding/rattle noise by the front passenger wheel when I turned it over in the morning. It was subtle but definitely there. I took it in as soon as I could but the tech claimed that he couldn’t hear anything. So I chalked it up to not being settled yet and forgot about it. Until the temperatures dropped again in the autumn and it came back but even louder. They eventually changed my clutch but the sound returned shortly after. (Something also happened to my axle which I never got the full story about but I am a bit suspicious.) The problem is that it only comes under certain conditions. The temperature needs to be around 0C and it happens only on a cold start. However, you rarely hear it from inside the vehicle. You must be outside and this is where I’m confused. I had also complained about a squeaking my brakes and yet the tech claimed that he couldn’t hear it. Well, people on the street would jump when I braked so it was obviously pretty loud so why couldn’t the tech hear it? The grinding came back again this spring but again, he said he couldn’t hear it. I don’t know what to do and I’m actually quite scared. Not that something might happen while driving but that some serious is going wrong and that it might cause damage elsewhere. In other words, I don’t want an even bigger repair on my hands because they couldn’t fix the problem in the first place.

This is what really concerned me about car ownership and why I avoided it for so long. I’m glad that the process of buying wasn’t quite the dehumanizing experience that I was expecting but dealing with repairs has been frustrating and upsetting. Especially since I’m not sure where the problem is. Are they seriously looking at the problem or just ignoring me because I’m a hysterical ‘woman’ who doesn’t know what she’s talking about? Is this the fault of the dealer or the staff? If the tech legitimately can’t hear the problem, the OHS practitioner in me wants to know why someone who potentially has hearing damage in working in this kind of environment. (Hearing loss is a problem in many industrial settings and I’m glad to see that more companies are taking it seriously but there’s no doubt that more work needs to be done to get all businesses on board with testing and protecting employees from permanent damage.) I definitely acknowledge that maybe I am just over reacting but at the same time, if I know why it’s doing that, then I won’t have to bug anyone about it but I don’t get an answer. It’s a bit like having a tooth ache and going to the dentist but the pain mysteriously disappears as soon as you sit in the chair. The only difference being that the dentist usually tells you what it could be and makes suggestions of how to deal with it if it returns.

And to top it off, I’m not entirely sure if I’m really getting the kind of fuel efficiency that I should be getting.  I know that the numbers they give you in their advertising are of somewhat more ideal conditions but still, I’m a bit concerned with what I’m seeing.  And even more concerned with the dealers response.  Barking at a customer that they can’t do anything about it even if things are off is not really an acceptable business practice!

So, there you have it: the story of my first car and my first year with my ‘baby’!  Despite some hiccups, I’m definitely looking forward to many more years with Giovanni and all the adventures we’re going to have together!