RETIREES face a lot of changes in a life without fulltime work.
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But one of the upsides is mobility – you can go anywhere you want (just for the sake of this story, let’s imagine a post COVID-19 world OK?) any time you want.
No reporting to the factory at 9am; no working out if you have enough leave to take a few days off and hit the road.
The world is your oyster.
Except for Isaac Newton; who just had to stick his oar in it long before even he could have dreamt of the horseless carriage.
He declared “there is no action without reaction”.
In other words, possibly for the first time in your adult life, you are footloose and fancy free.
You are also probably at least 60; maybe 65. Even 70.
Not as sprightly as the good old days; not so easy sinking down into, and climbing up out of, a lot of cars.
But motor vehicle design seems to finally not just caught, but superseded Newtonian physics.
Just ask Garet Stobaus at Echuca Mazda and Mitsubishi. He’s helped enough of Echuca-Moama’s seniors to know cars you can step into, such as the whole range of 4WDs and SUVs could have been designed with ageing bodies in mind.
Garet said it’s all very well to buy a flash little sports job when that good old super fund kicks in. But when you find yourself groaning as you get into the driver’s seat, or having to swing both legs out and push yourself up with your arms, chances are you’re in the wrong car.
And it’s not going to change shape; you, on the other hand, may, or may not, change shape but definitely will get older and will find the up and down and ins and outs of driving presents a stiffer challenge – year by year without fail.
“It’s no coincidence that as the population has aged, SUVs have become the most popular segment in the country,” Garet said.
“There’s a right sized SUV for every job, around town runabout, open road cruiser, mum’s taxi and, of course, the ever popular grey nomad,” he said.
“The ability to just slide straight in and out, or slightly climb up into the saddle, is far more appealing and comfortable than the descent into a traditional sedan or hatch.
“The driver’s vision from an SUV is more complete, being a bit higher off the ground.”
Garet added there is also the appeal of driver assist technologies from lane departure warning and lane keep assist, radar cruise control, blind spot monitor, driver attention alert, frontal crash mitigation, trailer sway assist, the list goes on.
He said it “seems obvious to say but cars really are almost driving themselves – it’s not far away”.
“Fuel type is also a horses-for-courses approach. If you are towing a block of flats obviously turbo diesel is the go; however if there’s open road cruising on the agenda ULP should be considered,” Garet explained.
“With advances in engine technology, fuel economy differential between petrol and diesel is often negligible. Once lower diesel prices and better economy ruled the hip pocket, today price parity at the pump combined with improved ULP efficiency has those who are thrifty thinking twice,” he said.
“There isn’t one of our Pajeros, Pajero Sports, Tritons or BT50s that leave here without towbars and electric brakes. It amazes me so many people come in and say ‘right, we’ve bought a van and now we need a vehicle to tow it’.
Garet also said the speed at which technology is expanding means getting your head around the functionality of a new vehicle can be overwhelming.
He said taking someone through the delivery handover of their new Pajero Sport Exceed, for instance, is an hour-long process because of the sheer weight of information it can sometimes mean people just can’t soak it all up. But that’s OK, we often do plenty of refresher training after delivery and are more than happy to field phone calls should anyone not quite remember what this or that does.
“This applies to all buyer types in the market but certainly influences those with safety front of mind.
“It seems technology advances on a weekly basis and there’s no doubt all the driver-assist technologies have made cars more attuned to their driver. The ability of a car to tell you when you need a break based on the steering inputs you make, your use of the accelerator and, in Mazda’s case, the facial recognition technology around your level of alertness, is mind blowing really.”
Garet said once we come out of COVID there is going to be considerably more domestic tourism and a lot of that will be road trips he thinks.
He said buying a vehicle is hard enough, but buying a vehicle to suit a specific purpose, such as towing or long road trips, can be trickier.
“With that in mind all of our demos are fitted with maximum capacity tow-packs and we’re happy to send them for towing-specific test drives, even overnight if necessary,” Garet added.
“If you’re not towing, all of our other demos can be test driven for a weekend to give you the time needed to make the right choice,” he said.
CONTACT:
Garet Stobaus
Echuca Mazda and Mitsubishi
141-143 Northern Hwy, Echuca
P: 5481 0200
E: garet@northvicmotors.com.au
W: echucamazda.com.au