To America. Kicken!, Friended friends. Rent a pick-up! A Monster SUV, a muscle car, a Mustang-Cabrio! You only live once!
No. A convertible is too hot, a pick-up too big, a mustang too loud. Why would I tear in a country where the slightest violation leads to a bankruptcy? Furthermore, with test cars I attract more attention too often than I am sweet. I want the most normal, unobtrusive car in the world for two weeks.
That became the Toyota Corolla. It is more popular in the US than with us, where it is only supplied as a hybrid. That is not my rental car with its two-liter petrol engine, but a piece of cultural history that I want to experience. With the Honda Civic, this is the Japanese who taught the Americans after the 1973 oil crisis to drive economically, the perfect average of useful properties. Agile, efficient, discreet. He is what kind of letters goethes Faust And for the music is Beethoven’s ninth, a classic that you should know.
I rent the simplest version of the sedan version that has not been supplied with us. Who has been disuse here, still loved body variant, has a stuck, which has been a separate trunk that have forgotten the practical benefits. Due to the extra length of the car you effortlessly slide in two hefty rolling cases, which you don’t have to try with a hatchback. And he is very cheap. For 23,000 dollars, more than 20,000 euros, you get air conditioning and automatic transmission, electric windows and mirrors, comfortable seats and an average consumption of 1 in 17.
In the Netherlands, he would be more expensive thanks to the tax authorities, but why doesn’t Toyota have such a Dacia-like price fighter in the showroom here? Because we find him boring. His non-aesthetics dates from a time when it was not civilized not to stand out. More than 50 million buyers thought that was a recommendation, just like me. Being beautiful in Trump country is not in the mood. Bad roads and sudden parking habits leave nothing of your car. People park so close together in cities that the damage risk is life -size. Nowhere do you see so many cars with serious front damage as in Los Angeles. Modern cars no longer have simple replaceable, effectively protective loose bumpers. What now calls itself Bumper is in its most favorable one included in a larger bodywork panel, bulging piece of plastic. Whoever touches that frontally immediately destroys half the front. And unfortunately in the US many old cars have no reversing cameras or parking sensors. In Yosemite National Park I see a bizarre dent in my hood after a walk. The bicycle rack of an elderly motorhome must have drilled into it. The rest of the front is scratch -free, but due to the pressure on the nose, the voluminous body panel with the complete grille is relieved. Fortunately I was well insured.
A dent in the hood. The bicycle rack of a camper must have drilled into it.
Death Valley
Furthermore, my sedanje appears to be perfect for a road trip. I had not had anything about a quieter car. Due to the state of the road surface, the noise on board had also been deafening in more expensive models. The Corolla is the post -carriage to happiness that rises above cars. He takes me to the greatest Sequoia in Yosemite, astonishing monster tree who, with an estimated age of between 1,900 and 2,400 years, may have experienced Jesus. He feeds me irregularly by the macabre and very hot Death Valley. I am looking forward to my rental car for a second. Also in an eight-cylinder monster truck or open mustang I had forgotten what I was driving. I was enchanted by something bigger. There were more than 50 million Corolla drivers shit on their visibility. They stove boring but satisfied to the Jesus tree, a miracle that cannot match Ferrari. Of that relativity, the hedonistic experience hunter in the European automens could raise something. He must be deeply unhappy that he chases something so banal as public attention. The Corolla exposes the Achilles heel of the Western identity obsession, the insatiable urge to be seen. In the I era, that is something to think about in a country where people break an annual salary on exactly the same car as their neighbors. Anyway, for whom his exhibitionism is master, 26 used Corolla sedans are still for sale in the hybrid versions supplied until 2023, for between 15 and 20,000 euros not to be broken and splashing efficient. Recommended.