I have a bit of a chequered history with cars. When I first met Paula, I didn’t have one, and hadn’t even passed my driving test. Needless to say, with her living in Blackburn and me in Chester this wasn’t an ideal situation. By the end of that year I managed to scrape through my practical test, and bought my mum’s old car off her. This was a Nissan Sunny, first registered in 1983 if memory serves, and was second-hand when my dad first bought it. Given the Sunny’s age and the weekly trips up and down the M56/M6 between Chester and Blackburn, it wasn’t long before I’d basically run it into the ground and the brakes started to lock-up (or something: my knowledge of car mechanics is somewhat sketchy). Luckily, by this time Paula and I had moved into our own place, and were able to share the use of her car, a ‘99 Toyota Yaris. (I bequethed the Sunny to our Chris, who tried (and failed) to get the brakes working before giving up and selling it to some guy for scrap.)

When Paula became pregnant with Evie, we knew that a small 3-door hatchback wasn’t really going to cut-it and that we’d have to buy a larger car with at least five doors so that we’d be able to get Evie in-and-out easily. After looking around at various MPVs, we got an amazing deal on a brand-new Renault Scenic from a dealer near Sheffield. At this point, I inherited the Yaris as my ‘work-and-back’ vehicle.

That was mid-2007. Little more than a year later, it was becoming clear that the Yaris wouldn’t last us much longer. It failed its MOT on a number of points, and it cost several hundred pounds to sort those problems out. Added to that the engine had started making strange noises, and seemed to want its oil replacing all the time. Whether it had been my driving that had killed the little car I wasn’t sure, but it seemed obvious that it was going to start costing more and more money each year to keep it on the road. I felt we had no choice but to start looking for a replacement vehicle.

And so it was a few weeks ago that we took delivery of a new ‘09-plate Vauxhall Corsa. I wasn’t specifically looking for a brand-new car, but we again ended-up with a great deal that wasn’t much more expensive than buying second-hand. We traded-in the Yaris for recycling, which also saved us some money.

Having driven the Corsa for a few weeks, first impressions are mixed. I like the styling of the vehicle, both inside and out, and it’s got all the stuff I’d consider essential for a new car such as power steering, CD player, leccy windows and air con. However, for some reason it feels quite sluggish to drive: it takes ages to get up to a decent speed, and going uphill is particularly painful. I can easily lose 15-20mph going uphill on a motorway or dual carriageway, even when flooring the accelerator. I know it’s only a 1.2 litre engine, but still. Personally I reckon there’s something wrong with the car, but the dealer said to give it 1000 miles or so before bringing it in for them to look at, so we’ll see.

At least I know why they use the “C’mon!” slogan in their advertising: I’m muttering that under my breath all the damn time now!