Kia Sportage

So, eventually all the bits and pieces came together, the bank approved my finance at the rate I wanted, and I got the car. I took the Kombi to work under the pretence that I was going to get a quote / offer from a cash buyer, some guy who comes up from the coast once a month to buy rust free cars for his lot down there. Anyway, I took the Kombi in, and came home with the Princesses first ever brand new car!!

She's quite stoked, and it's a great vehicle.
5 year warranty, 4 yrs, 100k km maintenance plan, with option to extend, 2Lt, petrol motor.
it has most of the bells and whistles, and I had a tow bar fitted, as well as having the windows done with that tinted anti smash and grab stuff. All I still need to do is have a nudge bar fitted, but that can wait till I have the funds.

Insurance is only ZAR 180 per month more than I was paying on the Kombi, and repayments will work out just marginally more per month then what the Kombi was starting to cost me to maintain. In fact, in the 3 weeks prior to trading it in, I had spent ZAR6500 on it, and it still wasn't right! That's 3 months repayments already!

Anyway, all's well that ends well. The colour is right, as per the Princesses choice, and she enjoys driving it. There's enough space in the rear seat to accommodate the two tall boys, and anyway, they old enough now not to need to lie down and sleep every time we go on a long trip. Although, having said that, the rear seat, which is split 60 / 30, also has a 5 setting reclining option, so if we do take a long trip, we hook up the trailer, put most of the luggage in that, and the boys will have "beds" / recliners to sleep in if needed.
Overall a well designed car / SUV, no rattles (yet), the interior lights don't come on when you go around a corner, you can open and close the rear windows without bits of plastic covers falling off, unhooking, snapping. The Kombi, as much as we enjoyed it from a practicality point of view, wasn't very well designed / built. Over the years VW have been trying to get too fancy, clever, and have done some seriously bad damage to what was basically a great family wagon. Having said that, I wouldn't discount buying another one one day, should the need arise, and VW sort out those little stupid design faults.
Maybe I should email them some time, and point out what are very basic, but frustrating faults. Who knows, they might appoint me as their unofficial critic!

I'll post the before (VW) and after (KIA) photos as soon as I have down loaded them from the cellphone.
Oh, and Fishman, he of papvreter fame, I'll bring it round sometime for your opinion.

Salagatle!