This is Bradley, my first ever convertible! From the very first day I took down the top and drove on the motor way I fell in love with convertibles. There is just something so free about having the wind blow through your (hedgehog) hair while traveling at 120 KPH. It's even more amazing when you get to do that in Ireland without getting rained on! But actually, I managed to take the top off the car quite a fair amount during my five-year ownership of Bradley. And despite him being a 1.9L engine, he didn't cost me too much in petrol, due to my relatively conservative driving pattern!
However, more recently my monthly budget on Petrol has been increased, each month this year, to compensate for the rising cost of the 'black stuff'. But where Bradley really hurt me was in maintenance! I have had to get a new catalytic converter every year for the past three years just so he'd pass the NCT emissions test. Additionally, while the engine did run very well (and I'm sure will continue to do so for a few more years yet with his new owner) the parts (and labour) did cost a fair amount. By the way, I took this picture of Bradley beside what I hope will be the last ever petrol pump I will have to visit (at least with my own car!!)
While Pepé is most definitely range-limited (and this is just going to be a problem for many people), not having to visit the petrol station and having little to no maintenance (Pepé has five moving parts in his motor!) is just so worth it for me! Of course, we'll see if I am still saying that when I want to get to Cork in a hurry and I have to stop twice to charge up! Thankfully, my desires to rush to the rebel county have been few and far between in my ten years of driving! Let's see how I get on in the next ten!
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