Seya: my Mercedes is comfortable but very costly

Take us back briefly to the time you learnt how to drive
At the time I wanted to start learning how to drive, my father did not have a car. I was probably 19 years old. My mother on the other hand had a friend called Ali Mukasa, who owned a car. I had the opportunity to stay with him for a couple of months helping him out with different domestic chores and in return, he let me learn how to drive.

How long did it take you to learn?
About six months.

How many cars do you have?
As you can see, the ones parked in my compound right now are two. There is the Mercedes Benz, Cross Country AMG Sport and the Toyota Town Ace.

Do you drive the cars by yourself or do you have a driver to chauffeur you around?
I have a driver who chauffeurs me around most of the time.
At my age, you cannot afford to drive by yourself because you have many thoughts, so I let someone else take control of the wheel.

When did you buy these cars and at what prices?
I imported the Mercedes Benz, Cross Country AMG Sport four years ago from Germany and then bought the Toyota Town Ace from one of the car bonds in the city about three years ago.
The amount of money I used for buying each car is not important. But the people who have similar cars know how much they are worth.

How do you cope with maintaining both cars?
Well, maintenance is not a big issue to me. By the time I bought both cars, I knew that I had the capacity to maintain them.

Speaking of maintenance, how often do you take them for servicing?
I take the Mercedes for servicing almost every six months because I do not use it as often as the Toyota Town Ace, which I tend to take to the garage from time to time especially after making long journeys.

Are the cars manual or automatic transmission?
Both cars are automatic. It’s not that I do not like manual cars but the thing is that I drove them a lot in the past and wanted to try out something different.

I have noticed that the Mercedes Sports car has a customised registration number XXX. Does this bear any of significance?
Each letter stands for the Roman numeral 10. So I just decided to triple the letter X so as to be unique.

What is the fuel consumption of both cars?
The Mercedes, of course, consumes more fuel than the Toyota Ace.
If I was to run errands around town, I would need Shs30,000 or more daily for fuelling the Mercedes and if I was using the Toyota instead, I would need a lesser amount.

Have you received offers from people wanting to buy any of the cars?
Yes, I have received so many offers from people wanting to buy the cars, especially the Mercedes Benz.
The interested buyers normally tell me that they love it because of its elegance and luxurious nature.

During which occasions do you use the black Mercedes and the van?
I use the black Mercedes mostly when I am going to attend a social gathering such as parties. On the other hand, the Toyota is for mostly taking children to school, travelling to far places and transporting bulky items.

Have you encountered any nasty experiences while driving any of the cars?
No, I have not. My driver is very careful to the extent that we have never been arrested for committing any traffic-related offence.

Do you share your car with anyone?
Yes, I do. However, I only lend out the cars to close family members. It is very rare for me to give them to other people outside the family.
You see the problem with giving out cars is that when it gets any mechanical fault while in someone else’s possession, that can easily break the relationship between the two individuals.

What do you love about the two different cars?
The Mercedes Benz is an elegant, luxurious and comfortable car while the Toyota is a spacious family vehicle that has carrying capacity of more than six passengers.

Is there anything you dislike about the cars?
Well, as much as the Toyota is spacious, it is not that comfortable.
On the other hand, the Mercedes is harder to maintain. Just fixing a little scratch on it can take a lot of money.

Do you have a dream car?
I would not want to really call it a dream car but I would love to buy a silver Range Rover, hopefully sometime this year.

Toyota Townace

The Toyota TownAce is a line of commercial and derivative passenger car produced by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota. It originally utilised the cab-over-engine configuration, although since 1996 a semi-cab-over arrangement has featured instead. The TownAce van/wagon was released in 1976, as a larger version of the LiteAce.
The LiteAce and TownAce have been commonly exported to Africa, Asia and Australia. Over the years, select LiteAce/TownAce models have also been available with Daihatsu Delta badging in Japan. Originally sold as the Delta 750 based on the LiteAce truck, later versions have been badged Delta Wide and based on the TownAce van. For the final Delta retailed between 1996 and 2001, the “Wide” suffix disappeared.

The mercedes

The Mercedes-Benz G-Class, sometimes called G-Wagen is a four-wheel drive luxury SUV manufactured by Steyr-Daimler-Puch (now Magna Steyr) in Austria and sold by Mercedes-Benz. In certain markets, it has been sold under the name Puch G. The G-wagen is characterized by its boxy styling and body-on-frame construction. It uses three fully locking differentials, one of the few vehicles to have such a feature. Despite the introduction of an intended replacement, the unibody SUV Mercedes-Benz GL-Class in 2006, the G-Class is still in production and is one of the longest produced Mercedes-Benz in Daimler’s history, with a span of 35 years. Only the Unimog surpasses it.
The G-class was developed as a military vehicle from a suggestion by the Shah of Iran, at the time a significant Mercedes shareholder to Mercedes and offered as a civilian version in 1979. In this role, it is sometimes referred to as the “Wolf” and LAPV Enok.

The numbers

Shs30,000
Amount spent daily on fuel to run erands around town in the Benz.