My first car was a fun ride

Jay Omondi

Jay Omondi owned a Nissan Bluebird SSS 1992 model, manual transmission, white in colour with a deep maroon interior. “I bought it in 2008 at Shs5m and was thrilled that it was manual with a seemingly whistling sound as one drove it. More to that, it was a 1.5 litre engine so the consumption was friendly.” Omondi reminisces about the times when he and his friends would go to Kyadondo Rugby Club to watch the matches and enjoy the pork. “Watching those matches without the worry of how we would get back home was thrilling. Then with all my pals drunk, I would drop each one of them because on most weekends, I was the designated driver.”

Seeing that it was not a fuel guzzler, Omondi would sometimes drive on an almost empty tank for some good distance. “At one time, the person who had promised to give me fuel was in Kampala yet I was in Entebbe. On an almost empty tank, I made my way to them without having to push. It was an adrenaline filled ride,” he laughs.

However, the joy of owning it came to a halt one day as he drove off road after a heavy downpour. “I hit a pothole, and unfortunately, there was a stone in the middle of the road which cut the oil sump leaving a hole on it. As I drove it, all the engine oil emptied and later on, it failed.” While he stopped, it was late and the car was towed to a garage. “Little did I know that that would be the last I saw the car moving because at the garage, almost every week, the mechanic, would tell me of a new part he had discovered needed to be bought,” Omondi says with a crestfallen face. More to that, he was being billed for its parking on a daily basis with no visible progress. “I came to a decision to tow it home and it was here that I discovered that several parts had been looted.” With all the frustration of how much money he had used to buy parts yet they were only being sold, Omondi opted to sell it. “It was painful that I only got Shs1m from it.”

Louis Ovon

Louis Ovon got his first car, a 1995 golf in 2007. The 1.4 litre manual car was red in colour, and fast hence gaining the nickname red thunder. “It was a lovely car for my first. The five door was also very economical, comfortable and quite stable. Using it while still in England, I enjoyed driving it on the motorway and its taxes were also low.”

On coming back home, Ovon returned with it to Uganda and it did some upcountry trips. “It was basically my run around car. However, here, I had problems getting spare parts and at that time, I did not have enough money to maintain it so it went down the drain. But it was still very good and reliable for its age and type.” The downside was it had no AC and the windows were manual so he had to roll the windows up and down. “I drove it for four years in Uganda before someone came asking to buy it from me but I did not want to sell it because I had grown attached to it. On the other hand, my wife did not like it because it had broken down severally.” For instance, one night, at about 11pm, while coming from Kitukutwe, in a village somewhere, the clutch stopped working which forced Ovon to go to Kiira Police Station for a breakdown which towed it home. “I then waited for two weeks before I could get a clutch kit from the UK. Apart from that, and a few bumps from accidents, it was a great car.

The Golf’s persistent buyer was someone who really wanted the car for his girlfriend. “He bargained for about two hours because I was not willing to let it go. I then called a friend and my wife to ask for their opinion regarding the price and they told me I could never get any good money for it. So I settled for the Shs4.5m.” However, selling his car would later haunt Ovon who unknown to him suffered depression for the next two months.

Mark Wabudeya

It was a black Golf 4 (VW type 1J) with black and grey interior bought in 2015 at Shs8.5m. Mark Wabudeya had always wanted a Golf and when he had saved up some money, he decided to look for his dream car. A search took him online where he found one on sale. “It did not matter that all my money would get me was a second hand car, I was glad to get what I could lay my hands on.” However, the only challenge was that it was a manual transmission car yet he had last driven one in driving school. “With my friends having manual cars, I was endeared to buy it, nonetheless, because I was certain that in the event I needed help, I would call up one of them.” To start on a clean slate, Wabudeya took his new buy to a reputable VW garage for proper diagnosis and the bill came up to Shs2.5m alongside labour which he agreed to part with. “I had seen the diagnosis being done and was certain I was not being duped. Besides, for the needs it had, the figure was believable and I was willing to part with it to drive my dream car. However, owing to trial and error fixes with the previous owner, the diagnosis software picked up other errors after the first fix. Thankfully, the mechanic willingly fixed them at no extra charge because they did not need spare part purchase. Quiet unstable with manual cars, he chose to avoid roads that had traffic police and those prone to traffic jam. “I enjoyed the speeds it offered and its stability. But fate was about to hit because as I drove on a murram road, it suddenly stopped.” When the mechanic was called, he discovered that a small part had got broken owing to its low clearance but it was too costly. “After two years of loving the car, I had to painfully sell it. At least, I bagged Shs6m, enough to act as a start up for the next car.”