02 Apr 08
This month, I have mostly stopped moaning about our Caravelle being mistaken for a minicab.
In our last report, I complained how our MPV-alternative could be easily mistaken as one of the capital's growing number of private-hire Caravelles. Since then I have, to use terminology of American psychobabble, had closure. More accurately, I have well and truly been put in my place, following a chance meeting with someone who suffers a similar fate.
Except instead of having a mini-minibus, an acquaintance of mine had spent almost three times the £30,000 Caravelle's asking price on a Mercedes S-Class (and no, it isn't silver). On a number of occasions he's been exposed to a small band of drunken revellers gathering beside his car asking for passage to Kilburn for 15 quid as he waited to pick up his daughter from a night out.
That put our situation into perspective but, just to be on the safe side, we thought a little added retail therapy was in order to help our car stand out from the cabby crowd.
We kicked off our stylistic overhaul by ordering the rear boot spoiler (£177), lower chromium grille (£118) and pricey but very un taxi-like chrome side rails (£353). The total bill came to a hefty £648, inflated further by the addition of an excellent, if seriously costly, in-car DVD player for rear passengers that cost a sobering £1,129.
