Snoskred - Life in the Country

One of the guys who was on the XR-5 cruise put together this great video. Enjoy!

So, last weekend we went for a little drive with some people who happened to own identical vehicles to ours. There were 18 XR-5’s on the cruise and it was a lot of fun. Here’s a pic of the cars arriving in a small town.

You might imagine that keeping so many cars together was a challenge, and it was. Many times other vehicles unworthy of driving on the same road as an XR-5 let alone in the middle of a large pack of them got in the way. From time to time we had to stop and try to regroup.

The most popular color seemed to be Orange. Which is unusual considering that particular color tends to cost about 3 grand extra than the other colors. You certainly can’t miss them.

This morning I had to drop the other half off at the airport in Wollongong, he’s gone to Melbourne for some training. This meant I had to drive the car back here. We got the car on July the 9th and since then I had driven it twice. Every time I drove it was a huge adrenalin rush, because this car has some serious power. To let this vehicle loose on the roads with a teenager would be asking for trouble, I think. The XR5 is like a growling, snarling, hissing, spitting, ready to rip your face off with extended claws, big cat. The moment you turn on the engine you feel that this is a car of a different breed to your everyday car. Out of all the big cats it is most like a cheetah because it has the ability to get up to high speeds very quickly but you can see elements of all the big cats in this car.

So, I guess the question is - why haven’t I been driving it more often?

- I like to sit back and watch the world go by while the other half drives, letting out the occasional wheeeee when the G forces kick in.
- I sometimes feel like this car needs more from me than I am bringing to the party. I would like to do one of those driving courses where you learn what your car is truly capable of.
- Over the past 8 years I have not driven much because The Other Half is a much better driver than I am.
- I can’t see well at night, so I never drive at nighttime.

Just last week we were driving home and a kangaroo hopped out in front of us. The other half shocked me by aiming straight for it even though it was on the other side of the road. You can’t be sure which way it will hop so it is better to aim for where it is right now in the hope it won’t be there by the time you get there. It worked. I’m not sure how I would deal with that situation myself. The brakes are fantastic on this car. It is truly amazing how fast it can stop.

So many times since we bought it I’ve said to The Other Half that we made the right decision buying it. We did. The car fits him like a glove, and he does the majority of the driving. If you get stuck behind a slow driver on these country roads there’s not always places to overtake, but the XR5 can get past another car much quicker and more safely than our old car did. It still puts a major smile on my face just to sit in it. And I still won’t leave it alone in a carpark.