![]() ![]() One of my closest friends is something of a Subaru evangelist, having owned half a dozen of them over the last decade, and he is particularly fond of Foresters. And so the focus became wider, and I started thinking about compromising on one or two requirements to get something I’d enjoy owning Now I understand that this is perfectly fine for some folks, but I need to have driving involvement, even in a daily hack. With a 1.6-litre four-cylinder and ancient four-speed automatic, there was really no driving pleasure to be had: you simply operated the vehicle until you got to your destination. On paper, they fit the bill exactly, but when behind the wheel I just couldn’t bring myself to go ahead and buy one because they were so dull to drive. There was no shortage of choice, and I checked out and test-drove a couple. I was focused on the later facelift model, as those were sold with side and curtain airbags in our market. This model is likely familiar to those of you in the US as it is externally the same car, a bit larger than the JDM version (which we also got here). The next candidate was also a Corolla, but this time the previous model (E140 series) sedan. Magnificent in its ordinariness, is it not? My wife was also not a fan of wagons in general, so when she also objected I was quite happy to forget about the Corolla Fielder (which is what the wagons are called on the JDM). Of course, I could just have found one that had already had the work done, but I think that part of me was looking for any excuse to discount this option. ![]() Replacing these was a fairly large cost, and due to import issues, availability was a problem. The only real concern was the fact that the ones within budget were around 7 to 8 years old, which meant their hybrid batteries were near the end of their useful life. ![]() It was the ultimate sensible choice stellar economy, space and solid reliability. Good fuel economy seemed like a desirable trait too, given the circumstances.Īt first, I mainly focused on the Toyota Corolla (E161) Hybrid station wagon, JDM versions of which were freely available in our market at around my budget. It was obviously going to be older than the Mazda, but needed to be something that would be reliable as it would be the main family vehicle. I was also looking for the safest possible vehicle, ideally with side and curtain airbags and stability control. The main criteria for the replacement would be that it cost no more than the price the Mazda would fetch, while providing more space and practicality to better fit the needs of a young family. Today’s episode of my COAL chronicles is about the replacement for the much-liked (but ultimately too cramped) Mazda 2, which left my stable in June of 2022. ![]()
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