:
List of things you have to fork out for: - Lessons
- License
- Test
- Car
- Petrol
- Insurance
- Road Tax
- M.O.T.
- Stupid repairs
If you happen to crash into someone - Stupidly high insurance after claim.
I may have left out some things, but I'm not including any types of fines you'll get for speeding or bad parking. And you car will vary on how much fuel it chows down on and you'll most likely by a starter car which will om nom nom your wallet.
Paying for public transport is a hell of a lot cheaper than owning a car and owning a car has only a few upsides; you don't need to share with stupid, smelly people and you have the luxury to fuck off to wherever you wish at your own convenience.
And by the way, five quid for eight miles is actually not that expensive. |
Ultimately I'll never get what I want from transport - It's all about compromises.
Public transport annoys me because it can't always get me where I want to go, or if it does, I often have to wait hours to traverse such short distances. It used to be a lot cheaper too, and now I'm paying twice as much or more for exactly the same sub-standard service, while the prices and restrictions continue to rise. It isn't worth its value by a long, long way, when it used to be, I find that unacceptable.
Cycling is cheap and gets me where I want (sometimes even quicker than public transport), but as I said earlier it sacrifices safety for convenience, since there isn't much of a separate infrastructure for bikes, and they don't mix with cars on roads that aren't designed for them.
I realise a car would be more expensive in the long run, and yes there are rising prices and restrictions too, but at least I'll be getting what I pay for since it's private transport that can get me, a passenger, and some luggage, anywhere I want where there is a road, and exactly when I want.
I feel driving lessons are more of an investment in a skill rather than an expense. Most jobs where I live seem to want their applicants to have a driving licence and a car, probably because public transport here sucks.
If the T.25 does what they say it'll do, it should be cheaper to run than a standard car, due to its low price (£6500), it's high fuel efficiency (90-100 MPG, approx. 5p-7p a mile on fuel to run), the way it's built (components are designed to be easily and cheaply replaceable and serviceable), its weight (lightweight reduces component wear), its size (it's tiny with one of the smallest turning circles ever, it should be easy to park), it won't cost me road tax, and also it should, in theory, be cheap to insure (but since it's not comparable to any other car on the market today, not even those shitty SMART things, I can't get an accurate quote).
Still expensive, but it seems like a pretty damned practical transport compromise to me, and well worth its value. I'm hoping it's as good as they say it'll be.