18/03/2019
Let's put it this way!
As you leave your home to go shopping, any sober minded and experienced person will normally have a checklist of items he/she intends to buy.
When intending to buy a car, that checklist can be pretty daunting. That's because each car has it's own particular qualities that make you want to buy it. It's how manufacturers play around with your mind ... and eventually, money.
Thing about it this way. When buying a car, the main part you want to familiarize yourself with is the engine. That is because the engine determines the performance of the car, the fuel consumption and overall maintenance costs. If that is the case, you will agree with me that the 3S engine that appears on the Toyota RAV4 (SX chassis), Toyota Noah (SR chassis) and some Toyota Altezza should more or less have the same performance in all these cars.
Your checklist should therefore, include engine size as a vital element in your purchase decision. However, the engine alone does not make a car. Your gearbox. Are you a stick n' shift or an automatic person? Passenger capacity. If you intend to use the car for domestic purposes then this will probably matter. How about ground clearance, this plays an important role in our roads. Looks! Do guys pay attention to this?
All the above put aside. I'm a piston head. I care more about performance and ... most importantly, handling, than anything else. Factor in family and work, and you will immediately see my choice. The one car that I will dare say I lust for ... hold on. My work normally takes me upcountry a lot. I like to travel at night, for obvious reasons. And I want to spend as little time on the road as I can.
I have had the pleasure of driving the 2,500cc Toyota Crown Athlete (please bear in mind that there's this monster of a car called Toyota Crown Majesta. It has the same engine (4,600cc, Petrol) as the Land Cruiser VX - we'll talk about it some other time) and this car, is in a class of it's own. Few cars in the same class can compare. The Mark X is a 2,500cc competitor but I would never dare do what I can do with a Crown Athlete. For example, I find the stabilization on Mark X a bit off when going around an S bend at more than 110. The Crown can do that at 135 without you noticing or worrying that your wheels are about to come off. Flat out, you can do 170 with no effort and without even noticing. I'm not going to mention the luxurious interior or any of the extras you get with the car. I will also not mention how good the car looks ... pimped or without pimping. Have a look at this unit:
