With the new circumstances (job this far away from family), getting a car was becoming a necessity. So, I bit the bullet and went for it!
In a nutshell
I bought a Peugot 3008, and it’s awesome! Also: get your secondhand car in Luxembourg from Peugeot – Occasions du Lion. They’re genuinely helpful and friendly.
The full version
I had found a small apartment near work. It was unfurnished, so I went to look for the same sleeping couch as I had bought in 2009. The store didn’t have those anymore, and the ones that came close comfort-wise were ugly. So I went to Roller, a nearby furniture store. Turns out that there’s a Volkswagen dealer right next to Roller. Well, I needed a car in the near future anyway, and they were open, so let’s have a look!
There was a Peugeot 307 outside for about €8.500. Price seemed reasonable, car was a bit old (2007), but mileage was relatively low (56.000km). I went in to ask to see it. The salesperson I spoke to was… let’s say “less than enthusiastic”. 
I sat in it, and found it surprisingly nice – a quite high seat. I asked if they had other secondhand cars. The only other occasion was a Renault Scenic from 2010. I sat in that one as well. It was quite a bit bigger, and seemed comfortable too – but half again as expensive. So hmmms.
I hesitated, took Aga & Antoś to see the cars, and the day after, my parents came. My mom to play with Antoś and my dad to go car-shopping with me. First, we stopped by a former colleague of a friend of ours, who had a BMW for sale. It turned out to be a car from 2002. That was really quite old. Moreover, the couple’s attitude towards keeping the car in shape was basically to have it hauled over in the garage yearly. That’s a good attitude, but it might become expensive for a car this old… those two things made this a less-than-desirable solution. I need something reliable, not something that will give me worries.
So onwards. My dad & I stopped at the Volkswagen dealer, and both cars met taciturn approval from my dad. Not enthusiasm, more acquiesance. Well, okay. Then we went back home, and stopped at a secondhand cars dealer near our home. This dealer was not connected to any brand, and sold all sorts of secondhand cars: relatively new, rather old, big, small, executive-class, etc. That was just great – walking around helped very much to get an idea what kind of car and what kind of quality you can get for your money. This helped me to accept what the kind of car I would like will cost.
Then we stopped quickly at another Volkswagen dealer (even closer to home), to look at their small selection of secondhand cars. Most were quite over my planned budget, one or two would be a stretch but perhaps. We skipped the BMW secondhand dealer (Aga & I had already checked it out — all over budget), and went home. Then my parents went home, dropping me off to test-drive the Peugeot 307. It was a bit of a hassle. I almost felt like I had to apologise. In the end, after some forms and copying of driver’s license, we were off. “We” indeed – I was not allowed by myself in the car, and there was a prescribed route.
Anyway, having driven it, I remained unconvinced. To have a point of reference, I asked to test the Scenic. It was too close to closing however, so no more test-drives. However, they did allow a quick (accompanied) drive over the parking lot. That cemented one thing clearly: I did not like the Scenic.
I now was ready to buy the Peugeot. The salesman, however, was not ready to sell it. Still busy with another customer. The mechanic who had accompanied me suggested I just hang around and wait. Me, I had other plans though. I had passed a Peugeot secondhand garage three times, only 5 minutes down the street. So I figured I’d stroll over and tell them (basically) “Hi, I’m about to buy a secondhand peugeot, and not from you. Can you show me why I’m wrong?”
So I strolled down the street. In the stroll I managed to put some words to my uneasy feeling about the 307. Basically, once I no longer needed the car to get to Luxembourg every week, I would want to get rid of it as soon as possible. I would not want to keep it any second longer than absolutely necessary. That was a clear message: this was the wrong car. So before I walked into the parking lot with secondhand cars, I was already looking for other options.
On the parking lot, I saw three interesting offers: a Citroën C3, a Peugeot 208, and a Peugeot 308. 
Prices were roughly comparable, sizes were somewhat comparable. I went in, to find two salesmen chatting. They immediately turned to me and were ready to help me. I said I’d seen a few cars which interested me. “Which ones?” “… errr… I can point them out…”. Up the salesman jumped and pulled on a jacket. “Let’s go then!”.
Talk about a different attitude! I think that was the point where I decided to buy from him.
We looked at the three cars, and made an appointment for a testdrive the next day. I came in Saturday with the buggy – kind of important to see if it fits in the back. It worked more or less in all three. But then the salesman said “You know, you’re a familyman. I’ve got 2 Renault Megane’s in the back. They have roughly the same mileage, price is roughly the same, but you get a lot more car for your money.”
So I figured we can have a look. And sure enough, that was quite a bit more car for your money – color me interested! So I asked to testdrive it. He drove it around, got out, passed me the keys and said, “see you in 10 to 15!”
Talk about a different attitude! Again! I felt genuinely supported by him. I test-drove it, and it was quite nice. I came back, ready to buy it. The salesman came out with news. The Peugeot 3008, which I had seen outside for a good price, was indeed for sale (apparently, it was an impounded vehicle which could not be sold before the bank okay’d it). I asked to test-drive it. We went there, but couldn’t jumpstart the car. (for insurance reasons, batteries of all cars parked outside have to be drained.) So he just passed me the keys to another 3008, and off I went.
Within the first 200 metres, a smile made its way to my face. I came back, smiling, content. This is the kind of car you drive for fun! I walked into the office and exclaimed “LA VACHE! Vachement chouette!” – my best way of sharing my enthusiasm in French :)
So that’s the one I ended up buying:
Last weekend, I attended 
Last weekend, Wichard was over and we went to the Rock A Field festival. Volbeat was as good as I remembered from last time they were at RAF, but other than that, there wasn’t much rock happening. On the other hand, I cobbled together a first draft of a teaching statement and a research statement that weekend, and Wichard and I watched all Indiana Jones movies (me with half an eye), Hotel Transylvania and Wreck It Ralph (the latter two movies are warmly recommended). Of course the statements I wrote need to be polished more (at least I didn’t write “X never marks the spot” ;-), but still… not bad for one weekend!
It’s cold here! I arrived at Johannesburg airport yesterday morning, having hardly slept. My bad: we left at 11pm, more or less, and in the first hour and a half they were handing out food and such. So then, I figured to try the video on demand part ;-) It was cool! Gnomeo and Juliet, Rio, Thor, another movie I’m interested in (will watch on the way back). The plane was also a gigantic whale! 2 levels… geez! I found that a good place to sit is probably either near a door or in the center isle in the center — provided no one is sitting next to you. All because of legspace. Sitting next to the aisle isn’t great: people walking by, and you shouldn’t dump your legs in the aisle because of that…
I had to wake up way too early on Friday to get to my 7:10 plane to Vienna.Funnily enough, by the way, I managed to squeeze everything into one piece of carry-on luggage. Not sure yet on whether or not I’ll do that again for the next hop — I do appreciate some more leg space, but I’ll have a transfer and I also appreciate having everything there. To ponder about. Anyway, I got up way too early, wasted time at the airport and touched down near Vienna. Then, I hopped on a train to Graz and got moving to Baptiste and Katherina.
Where were we? We’d climbed up to Teide, I danced on the volcano, and then we descended to the top of the cable cart. The route we planned (to Pico Viejo and beyond) was closed, so we decided to abort the plan and take the cable cart down. On the way down the cart operator pointed out some native mountain sheep — but I didn’t spot them. At the cable cart base station, we treated ourselves to a brunch and sat down to figure our plans out.
For me, this was a completely new experience. Luckily, Agnieszka had done this before, and she struck up a conversation quickly. The Danish couple that had picked us up were about our age, and had rented a car to explore Tenerife. For a brief while, that sounded quite appealing to me. Rent a car, and explore the country side together with your girl. You could find all these wonderful spots … hmmms. The parts where we had walked, were inaccessible by car. And they were pretty damn amazing. And actually, with this car, there were some nice views too, but we were mostly speeding through them, not really having the time to admire them. Upon reflection, the hiking sounded slightly better.
