Fort Collins is a beautiful city and Old Town – where we live – is especially lovely. However, the public transport is not what it is in England. Buses tend to run north to south or east to west along the city gridlines and the trains are virtually non-commercial, so getting about – particularly if you want to go for example south west – is challenging.

So as a new year present we decided to procure ourselves some wheels.

We went to a local used car dealership suggested to us by our friends Rosemary and Chris and after much debating we ended up with a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT:

Most importantly for us, it has all wheel drive so we can get about in the snow, and has room for suitcases and skis so we can transport visitors around in style.

For those petrol-heads, the relevant specs are: 5 door, Automatic, air con, anti-lock brakes, 160,000 miles, heated seats, cruise control, 2.5 litre engine, 22 miles per gallon, and only $25 (£17) to fill the tank!

The mileage may seem like a lot to an English driver, but considering everyone drives EVERYWHERE (we know people who have done 12 hours straight drives home for Christmas), it’s not that unreasonable.

The heated seats are of course appreciated when it gets down to -18 C, and the gas (petrol) here is crazy cheap.

We can also now take Colorado driving tests, so we need to learn about all the US and local state rules e.g.

1. In Larimer county, when you have an accident, each person pays to fix their own car, irrespective of who hit who.
2. There is no such thing here as an MOT, so we have sent our new car into the Subaru garage to give it a full check over.
3. “Upon meeting or overtaking from either direction a school bus that has stopped, a motor vehicle driver must stop at least 20 feet before reaching the bus and not proceed until the visual signal lights are no longer being used.“

We are yet to name our car as we wanted something that alludes to it’s slightly boy-racer-ish-ness but don’t want to call it Gaz or something and have to get Neon’s and a subwoofer.

We are open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas?

Rob and Cat xx