Cars

I'm a total newb when it comes to cars. I haven't got a driver's license (although that's to change in a few months) and besides having a basic knowledge of engineering and physics, I know nothing about the actual machines.

My wife had a nice little runabout before we got married and we still use it to careen up and down the A14 every day. It's a little Nissan Micra and it's called 'Scoot'. But sadly Scoot is getting a bit long in the tooth. It's done its job with admirable grace and performance (only breaking down twice as long as we've had it) but the money we need to spend on it to keep it in shape is getting a bit much. But then again, it's almost 15 years old...

But now we're getting in the game of buying a new (used) car. And my god, what a minefield it is. I'm not even talking about the dodgy dealers, the wrecks sold as new or the stolen cars out there. No, it starts with the sheer number of brands, makes and types out there.

Brands I still get. Most of them I know if only by name, but when you drive (or more accurately: get driven) up and down a very busy patch of road every day, you get to know brand badges quite well.

Makes. Still not too bad. They don't tend to change that often. People like that they can go into a dealership and know that a Golf is a nippy little car and a V40 is an estate. Fair enough. You do get into problems if you want to make any sense of them though. Numbers, names, codes... as the great Eddy Izzard said: 'It makes no sense.'

But then. The sheer variety in types, versions, badges, luxury types, special editions, sport versions.... It is enough to drive you wild.

And we're d(r)iving straight in to it....