My Four Wheel Midlife Crisis – A VroomVroomVroom Confession

As a parent you almost look forward to the day when your kids can finally drive themselves around. And better still, their siblings! It wasn’t until I was trying to teach my oldest how to drive in our SUV that I realised, we really should be looking for a cheap run around for my tribe to learn how to drive.

So the search began for a cheap little car. And the search abruptly ended when the holy grail of cars almost jumped out at me online. A Toyota Camry! It had seen more years on the roads than my oldest daughter has lived, but there was something about its shiny hubcaps that caught my attention.

The first time driving it brought back so many memories. Why?

1. It has a tape deck! My kids don’t even know what a cassette looks like! And daughter number 2 tried to jam her Iphone into it, thinking it was a phone charger!
2. Our youngest was not sure how to wind the window down! Oh yes honey, you have to work to get fresh air in this car, you can’t just press a button.
3. My kids were shocked to see that we actually had to walk up to the car and use a key to open the doors, this little beauty does not come with a remote control.
4. There are absolutely no electronic counters on the dashboard. No indicators of how many KMs are left before I need to fill up. No trip clock. No climate control. Just good old dials where you have to guesstimate exactly what’s going on.

I quickly tried to find anyone who may still own a cassette so I could show my kids how we used to listen to music. Just the sound of the tape rewinding and fast forwarding flooded my head with memories of sitting for hours listening to old school music, and having to turn the tape over to Side B to get the rest of the album.

When I am in this car, I feel so happy. So many good memories of growing up and even the memories of breaking down on the road, and coming up with things to pass the time as we waited to be rescued.

I drive this Camry like it is the first car I ever bought. I hesitate to let the kids drive it now, in case they wreck it. I hide the keys from hubby so he doesn’t take it, because it’s mine!

My kids will never probably appreciate just how much ‘Cars’ have evolved so quickly in such a short time and by the time my grandkids come, who knows how we will be getting around!

Once upon a time, this type of car would have been the model that car hire companies would’ve rented out. And who knows, my Camry could have been a rental car in a past life, but for now, it is my Midlife Crisis and I love it!

Tia Hippolite is Customer Experience Manager and a car rental expert at VroomVroomVroom. She encourages everyone to share pics of midlife crisis cars. Tweet them to @vroomcarrentals now!