Hello Oppo! An overdue introduction.

"Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)" (havecarwilldrive)
07/05/2015 at 22:40 • Filed to: intro

Hi Oppo, I have had authorship for more than a year (and lurking for a bit longer), and while I made a few posts in my first few months of authorship, I have neglected to introduce myself. So after quite a few months of no posts (mostly due to work being very busy and exhausting), I thought it was time for an introduction to mark the beginning of some new contributions to the great community that is OppositeLock.

I am a 27 year old accountant from Melbourne, Australia, and have had a keen interest in cars for as long as I can remember (in fact, probably longer).

There is nothing I love more than driving on roads lined with stunning scenery with enough interesting characteristics to make for an enjoyable drive (as shown in the title picture). I particularly enjoy finding an out of the way dirt road and finding the limits of my car’s traction at legal speeds, with a bit of lift-off oversteer around the corners thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, I don’t get out of the city nearly as much as I would like.

My current daily driver is a 2003 Mazda 6 (complete with Oppo sticker). It is pretty much stock except for an aftermarket bluetooth adapter and US spec taillights that I swapped in to replace the clear-lensed originals. It is not the most interesting car, but for the amount I drive it at the moment it is hard to justify an upgrade. It has been well looked after (my dad owned for the first 10 years of its life and kept it well maintained), and has not given me any trouble in the 2 years I have owned it. It does have a few interior rattles, which bother me some of the time, but overall it remains a comfortable and reliable mid-sized sedan, that is not too bad in the handling department either!

However, “daily driver” is a bit of a misnomer, as lately my Mazda mainly gets driven on weekends. Since January this year, my daily transport to work in the centre of Melbourne has been a Honda CB125e motorcycle.

Prior to buying a motorcycle, I was frustrated with the packed trains I was regularly experiencing on my commute (I did not enjoy barely having breathing space on a train after a long and stressful day at work) so was driving 2-3 days each week, however the hefty inner-city parking costs were starting to add up. Motorcycles however are permitted to park for free on any footpath (US English translation: sidewalk) in Melbourne, provided pedestrians are not obstructed. As a result, I can now park right outside my building without paying a cent for parking.

The CB125e is not the fastest of motorcycles, but it is quite adequate for my commute, where the highest speed limit is 80km/h (50mi/h).

I also own a 2008 Ford Focus CL super-stripper edition with 5MT (also pictured in the title pic) which was my first and only new car purchase and served as my DD for 4 years. It is now my wife’s DD (she pretty much refuses to drive an auto!), and having just ticked over 60,000km (37,500 miles) has quite a bit of life left in it.

So that’s a brief intro to me. If there’s anything I haven’t said, but you’d like to know, please ask. Also if there’s any topic that I should write about (particularly if it uniquely relates to my corner of the earth), please make suggestions!

DISCUSSION (14)

$kaycog > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/05/2015 at 22:43

Lovely first post! Welcome to Oppo!

wafflesnfalafel > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/05/2015 at 22:51

I like the silver, (I’ve currently got an 09 Mazda 3 hatch which I love in that same silver) - howdy from across the big pond.

Nibby > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/05/2015 at 22:51

Welcome aboard, mate!

Kinja'd!!!

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/05/2015 at 23:02

Howdy from the USA! (sorry I have a lot of questions)

1,Have you ever hooned a ute?

2. Have you owned any variant of the Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon?

3. Would you import a JDM car?

4. Are you a loyal Mazda owner?

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
07/06/2015 at 00:44

1. It has only just occurred to me that of all the vehicles I’ve driven (of which there are quite a few) I have never driven a ute, let alone hooned one. Excuse me while I go hand in my Australian citizenship...

2. I have never owned one, but have driven a few (in some case extensively). No V8s though sadly, only 6s. Also, my dad had three in a row (Falcon, Commodore, Falcon) before he bought my Mazda.

3. This is something I’ve been giving some though recently. The rules here used to be pretty relaxed (you could import pretty much anything), but now are much stricter. You can only import certain vehicles that are considered “special” enough to make the import list. While this does include quite a decent list of vehicles (e.g. most Skylines), it is still quite restrictive. The only less restrictive way to import a car to Australia is to import a car you owned yourself for at least 12 months while living overseas (which is not really practical unless you are already in those circumstances). So far, my brief investigations haven’t found any vehicles particularly appealing to be worth importing, but I’m open to the idea in general.

4. Yes and no. I really like my Mazda, and would happily by another (particularly the current gen 6 and 3), but I don’t see myself owing Mazdas forever. I do think they build good cars for those of us who need to buy an ordinary car, but want to enjoy the drive a little more than you would in the average Camcord.

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > wafflesnfalafel
07/06/2015 at 00:44

Thanks! It did occur to me yesterday that we have too many silver cars...

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > Nibby
07/06/2015 at 00:47

Thanks! Sorry about that, hope you didn’t strain your neck reading...
I was getting quite sore when I started reading Oppo, but now I have a special mirror set up for reading all the posts from the northern hemisphere.

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > $kaycog
07/06/2015 at 00:47

Thanks!

pip bip - choose Corrour > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/06/2015 at 04:33

welcome my fellow countryman!

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/06/2015 at 05:06

Welcome to Oppo! I’m more of a lurker as well, but I do make some comments from time to time...

Shiftknob > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/06/2015 at 07:58

Hey I have the same Ford Focus but tdci 6MT version. Quite expensive to maintain here in the Philippines. How’s the pricing of replacement parts in n Australia?

Nibby > Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too)
07/06/2015 at 08:28

It’s a great place. There are reasons I’ve been here for 5+ years now.

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > Shiftknob
07/07/2015 at 04:47

I can’t say, I really don't have anything to compare it to - I’ve only had to replace any significant parts in the last 6 months, and the last time I had a car requiring any significant maintenance was before I bought the Focus six years ago (also, it was a Saab so was hardly a benchmark in cheap parts). When I replaced the handbrake cable the mechanic commented that it was not as expensive as he thought it would be, but that’s all I’ve got to go on!

Have car, will drive (now has a motorcycle too) > pip bip - choose Corrour
07/07/2015 at 04:49

Thanks! Good to know there are others from this part of the world!