car buying these days...

[VJ]

Forgot to mention the first service. Very smooth, quite a big checklist of things that were done: apart from the normal things (such as oil change - the boxer takes 6 l, various filters changes including cabin filter), there are weirder things such as taking apart the brakes, cleaning them; checking locks and doorhandles.

[VJ]

Small update... We decided to sell the 11 year old Hyundai i10 and keep the 20 year old Polo. We were still doubting, but my mother-in-laws broken right elbow earlier this year made the decision for us: the Polo is an automatic, so she'll be much faster able to drive it (she already is able to drive it). The i10 went for quite a nice price, about 1/3rd of its new price 11 years ago, much more than the Polo would go for.

Meanwhile, Polo did have 2 expensive fixings that were quite blocking for using the car. First was the siren of the alarm (which started going at random times - but because it is tied in with the central locking, there was no easy way of bypassing it, so you could not leave the car locked somewhere), second was a broken wiper motor (front wipers) which rendered the wipers non-functional. Let's hope these were two quirks, and that now it starts behaving. Both these fixings were problematic as the wait for parts was quite long and we could not use the car in the mean time.

The Subaru goes to its second service, it now has close to 28000 km (service interval is every 15000 km, we went earlier to the first service as we needed the car for a long drive). Still very satisfied with it, long drives are so relaxing with it.

One tip: tinted rear windows are surprisingly useful. They not only hide very well what is in the back of the car, but they really prevent the car from heating up in the sun (esp. when you can park it with the back towards the sun). We were not convinced about it when looking for a car, but it came standard on the version we bought.

[VJ]

The battery in the Subaru died for the second time... First time was last winter, when we left the car parked for just over two weeks at my inlaws. The temperature then went below -10⁰C and the day we wanted to start it also was similarly cold, we connected a charger and let it charge the battery for a few hours. This time, the car was parked for 3 weeks, but temperatures were never below 0⁰C. Despite that, the car is now completely dead (even the locks don't open). We'll again plug it in for a few hours to charge the battery, but it is annoying. I hope we manage to open the door with the emergency key, although it seems many people have issues with it.
I've found online that the car comes with quite a weak battery from the factory, but this is a bit ridiculous to happen again. My Polo only once had that problem and it was with a 5 year old battery in winter (and even then I could start it after giving it a few hours rest). Ok, Polo probably has less power draw (only its alarm), the Subaru has the wireless door opening and an anti-theft tracking system. The battery in the Polo was wrapped in a thermal blanket and well protected in its own box; in the Subaru you just see it sitting out in the open under the hood.
Probably we'll get the battery replaced soon, but we also plan to get an emergency booster, as it just gets too risky (we don't have a chance to connect a battery charger where we normally park)
edit: we suspect my mother-in-law may have something to do with it. She tends to "ventilate"cars by opening the doors (but does not use the ventilation while driving), the dome lights and dashboard probably drained the battery...