Wheels

You knew it had to happen sooner rather than later.  Face it, one can only live with a rental car for so long before you decide you really need to get your own vehicle.  Join us to find out what we wound up with.

We’d done quite a bit of research before we came over here and had pretty much narrowed it down to one of two vehicles.  A Skoda Karoq or a Peugeot 3008.  Once here though, we wound up looking at several other vehicles, a bit smaller in size, and a couple of other brands.  

The reason for that was, unlike in the United States, you don’t have multiple competing dealerships of the same brand in an area and the number of vehicles at any given dealership is, in a word, limited.  There’s no haggling on price (you pay what they ask for) and except for the VW dealership, they really don’t go looking for other cars in the country that may match what you want (and VW didn’t quite match what we wanted anyway).

Plus, with the rare exception, on higher end vehicles you have a choice of white or black, with the remote possibility of some form of dark gray (“We Portuguese are very conservative and if you buy a car of a different color, the resale value goes way down.  So, no, you’re not likely to find one anywhere in that color.”).  

Well, we went with the Lion - Peugeot.

While the Karoq had some really great practical features (like removable rear seats), and in some ways a much easier dashboard to operate with its German manual control dials (it’s based on the same VW platform as the VW Tiguan), we got a better deal with the Peugeot (they were having a sale).  And it’s cockpit is, how to say it, space-ship like.  I’ll just have to eventually figure out how everything operates. 

Now price wasn’t really the only reason we went with the Peugeot.  Ann liked it because it had a better white (more of a pearl white (though not quite Lexus pearl white) whereas the Karoq was more of a flat white).  Plus, the Peugeot just looks cooler, not that either of us could be considered cool.

It was also a plus that this vehicle has a Diesel engine (that actually is supposed to get the mileage Peugeot claims it gets - so say the reviewers) - 55 mpg. That, and the fact that diesel is cheaper is a big bonus given the exploring we’re likely to do over the years.

No, it’s not an off-road monster, but that’s what the Bimobil will be for.  Our criteria for this vehicle was something that travels well, and can carry two passengers and their overseas luggage.  The 3008 should do the trick.

I’m sure at some point, we’ll be doing a good photo shoot of our car.  Because it’s been so long since we’ve done any photography, we need to re-learn our cameras.

And like all new cars, Ann insisted that I park it quite some ways away in the parking lot when we went food shopping this afternoon.

Boy am I going to hear it when I put that first scratch on it!

And in case you think Ann and I are enjoying ourselves too much here in Portugal, the day ended . . . well, interestingly.  As I sat down to write this post I hear Ann yell, “Dan, Sr Gomes is outside.”  So I run upstairs and open the door and he’s there typing into his translation app on the phone.  A second later Ann comes out.  Sr Gomes turns his phone around and it says “How has everything been the last two days?”  I say “Muito bom!”  “Very Good!”  Whomp!  The front door slams shut (when we open the big sliders we get a great breeze through the house.  

Now, if you paid close attention to the photographs of the house from back in January, you will recall that the front doors in Portugal often do not have door knobs that operate the door latches.  If the front door shuts and you don’t have a key, you’re locked out.  If you don’t remember, then take a look below.

And yes, I stepped outside without my mask (shame on me).

Also, guess what I did just before Sr Gomes arrived - I lowered the exterior shutters to my office because the light was blaring in and I couldn’t see my computer screen.  So trying the back doors wasn’t really an option.

So, the three of us are outside, locked out of the house, and Sr Gomes did not have his key to the house either.  And the battery to his copy of the garage door opener was dead.  He calls Miguel, the electrician, do everything guy for Sr. Gomes and 20 minutes later, he arrives with a ladder.  We could see our kitchen window open, but we couldn’t reach it (and Ann didn’t want me breaking my neck trying to climb over the wall from the playground in the back yard, then up onto the balcony into the open-door living room - probably a good idea).  

Oops.  

At least it gave us time to bond with Sr. Gomes.  He’s a really nice guy.  As for Miguel, he’s my hero for the day!