How I decided to buy a car in Istanbul...

How I decided to buy a car in Istanbul...

My first job was just couple blocks away from where I lived so I never needed a car. Plus, you can pretty much get to anywhere with Taxi cab in Istanbul 24/7; else you can use public transportation. I was "ok" until my second job which was 45 minutes highway driving from where I lived back then (downtown Istanbul). Ofcourse the highway was not the only option but during harsh weather, no taxi cab would take those old narrow roads...

When I started working, it was January and it had not snowed in Istanbul that year yet. The office building had dark tinted windows so, it was kind of hard to see what was the weather like outside during work. It was around 8:00pm when my parents called me and asked me:
"How are you gonna get to the city? There is a snow storm!"
First I thought, they were joking. Then I looked outside and couldn't see much. Then I went down to the lobby and there was a huge line for the company transportation and the taxi cabs... Immidiately I rushed up to my office and get my bag and coat.

After that it was a long never ending waiting for a taxi cab. Since it was a news media building I managed to get a cab from the company. It was just me and the driver in the cab. As soon as I told the driver where to go, I added "On the way if anybody else is going our direction, feel free to get them as well...". (After all, Istanbul turned into Syberia in couple hours.)

Driver replied: "Well, I don't think we'll see anybody on the highway!"

Ouch, I wished he could take the old narrow roads. I'm going to make the long story short: it took me 7 hours to get home that nite. I wished I stayed and slept at the office. After 7 hours in the cab, I've learned almost anything about the cab driver: his first love, his first sex experience, how tough it was in the military, his political view... we talked about soccer, Turkish politics etc... you get the picture... In that 7 hours, there were times that I didn't want to talk anymore, there was nothing I could do to prevent it... I was stuck... The driver was hungry for talking :-)

Anyways, the next day the snow melted, I went to work and on the way back I was passing by a car dealer which was selling Russian cars ( Lada ). As soon as I saw this 4x4 I didn't even bother to ask if they had any other colors... I was in luv with this car which I was going to drive for the next couple years...

The next day, I went to the dealer. After a long rough bargaining, finally I bought the car: Lada Niva.

I found out that the frame work is originally Italian FIAT, but sometime in the 80's they sold the trademark of the framework to this russain company Lada. There's not single luxury in the car. Everthing is manual and simple. SO the labor for the service was exteremly cheap in Turkey. Even the most expesive parts of this car was cheaper than my bar tab on a weekend.

The most important part, it drived great in any harsh weather conditions. After that day, everytime it snowed I drove thru the old narrow roads to get back to the city. Littel bit of adventure on the way home... there were couple times, I pulled out some cars stuck in the snow with my russian 4x4. Lada Niva was amazing...

That's all for now...

Posted: 3:30 a.m. EST September 22, 2005