Time to Change My Car

Not long ago, I parted ways with my strange little MINI Clubman. We had a good time together. With that car I completed a 10,000-kilometre European road trip to Granada and back, got chased by carabinieri in Italy, drove at Zandvoort during the British Motorsport Festival…

Plenty of good memories. A few not-so-good ones as well. More than once, various “tough guys” on the streets of Sofia got out of their cars ready to fight me, simply because I overtook them. In my opinion, the problem was that the MINI’s compact size attracted aggression from the local orient-orangutans. I’m not entirely innocent either, when someone cuts me off, I flash them. When someone tries to push ahead at a traffic light, I close the gap. I stick to my philosophy of zero tolerance towards deliberate traffic violations, but I’ve noticed that this philosophy works much better when you’re driving something more intimidating.

And so, a few requirements started forming in my head.

1. I need a car with presence, something that attracts less aggression. The simpletons worship money, meaning an expensive-looking car.
2. I’d prefer something impractical. There’s no joy in practicality, and while I still don’t have responsibilities demanding it, meaning children and all that, I don’t particularly want it.
3. Despite the previous point, I still need to carry my bicycles. After all, I’m working on the Vinghen startup, so the car should at least support that part of my life. A tow-bar mounted rack would be ideal, though roof-mounted bikes would also do the job.
4. It has to sound good. I loved my MINI, but let’s not pretend, I’m tired of rattly engines or powertrains completely lacking character.
5. It has to be reasonably quick. I love acceleration, I love corners, there’s no escaping that.
6. And finally, design. I want a car I’ll turn around to look at after parking it.

So, after considering those six points, I came to the conclusion that the ideal solution was… a Bentley Continental GT V8. I configured one and absolutely did not head to the nearest showroom, because I quickly realised it was about €165,000 over my budget.

Back to the drawing board.
I revised my criteria, removed the “expensive car” requirement from point one, and eventually concluded that if it wasn’t going to be a Bentley, then it had to be a hot hatch.

So once again, configurators, calculations, offers and endless thinking. And eventually, three finalists emerged:

The MINI Cooper S Clubman. The sensible choice. Moderate power, white roof to keep the cabin cooler, tow bar for the bicycles, solid engineering and, of course, I’ve always had a soft spot for British things, even when heavily improved by Germans.

The Ford Focus ST. I like Ford, and the Ford Fiesta ST was tremendous fun. So 280 horsepower in a Focus body, plus the option of a tow bar, sounds pretty good. Again in white, because summers are getting unbearably hot.

And finally, the Renault Megane R.S.. Once again 280 hp, four-wheel steering, genuinely attractive design and white metallic paint in the eternal battle against the heat. No tow bar here, though, because of the gigantic exhaust, meaning the bikes would have to live on the roof.

Now all that remained was to think about it. The dilemma was serious.

Eng. Tsvetan Iliev