I never knew this, but cars have wells. A foot-well; and it is where your feet are when driving. (Another definition is an example of sentences with their pronunciation, according to Mr Oxford dictionary). Let’s stick with the car foot-well for the sake of this piece of writing.
This is going to be a boys’ piece, so be warned ladies!
For a couple of years we have been driving a car without a foot rest. Unbelievably as it sound and just at the age where many have gout stools, we have a car without a foot rest at the bottom of the foot well. It means your left foot is kind of hanging at half-mast with the toe part pointing upwards. After a couple of hours driving it feels as if your foot has given up the will to go on any further.
This was one reason we thought of getting another car with a foot rest. Without compromise on foot comfort we went straight to a dealer of cars and looked for a model with foot-rests. I know that many people would have car priorities in different areas of requirements but believe me, we wanted just a good foot-rest. If the car had four wheels and an engine as well, so much the better.
”Could you show us a car with foot rests, please’’, we asked the salesman who already observed us from the moment we stepped into the Peugeot/ Volvo/Skoda dealership yard. ’All cars have foot-rests’, he smiled. ‘’Not our Holden Cruze,’ we answered with expert car nous. (We didn’t want to come across as elderly car ignoramuses.) ‘’ Ah, well, you are talking just Holden,’’ he quipped but still friendly. ‘’Perhaps you are after European comfort with a smooth overall superior technical suspension,’’ it sounded as if out of a Peugeot prayer book delivered from the pulpit of the Notre Dame.
‘’Yes, but also with good foot rests, can you show us some,’’ we demanded firmly. ‘’We have several with similar outputs as your Cruze but with far more comfort and good stabilizer controls.’’ The French know a thing or two about comfort and style,’’ he added while looking at Helvi, smelling a sale. He went even further; ‘’you know how good the French are in designing good comfortable yet stylish shoes?’’ ‘’Oh, yes, so much better than here,’’ she answered him. The salesman was on the home run now having observed Helvi’s very Paris looking shoes and fashionable colourful silk scarf. ‘’You are wearing lovely matching ear-rings,’’ he smoothed on.
‘’Just show me the Peugeot with the footrests, please,’’ I curtly stated, not to be left out totally and hoping to gain back the upper foot and my authority in the coming deal. He obliged by opening a few car doors here and there. My foot honed in on the foot-rests on the left of the foot-well. The Peugeot had by far the widest and most comfortable foot rest.
After a ‘free’ coffee, compliments of the yard dealer across the road in an antiques cum old wares cum books cum coffee shop we mulled over the trade-in of our foot-rest-less Cruze and agreed to get the Peugeot 407, 2009 model with low kilometres and great foot-rest.
We are picking it up today.
Our feet deserved it.
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Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
My cars from age: 17.
Ford V8 Single spinner. (Girl friend during concrete bras era, trip to woy woy to see willy willy)
Bedford panel van’ (broke in half)
Holden ute 1956
Ford Zephyr ute ( $60.- from Pacific Auctions just married to Helvi) Pacific is terrific on P/matta Rd
Zepher station wagon ( filled the rust with bread soaked in milk and painted over.)
VW wagon in Holland for 3 years. Had a bed in the back. slept in the middle of Paris.
VW wagon in Australia. VW wagon drivers used to dip their lights then and played Carly Simon music smoked bongs and rooted heartily.
Holden station wagon.
Ford 8 cyl station wagon (Huge lid at the back which one had to wind up and down)
Renaualt very comfy
Subaru (on the farm 1996)
Mitsubitsi Magna (broke timing belt just installed three months before, bodgy mechanic)
Holden Astra in Bowral
Holden Cruze diesel (Australian made in Korea.) no foot rest
Peugeot 407 Diesel lovely wide foot rest.
That’s it. never bought a new car yet. But there is hope.
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Gerard, you are getting forgetful, how could you forget your pride and joy, your Porsche.
I think it was there just before the Renault…I have to say I preferred the comforts of the Renault, sitting practically on the floor in the Porsche was no joy, I felt like some Mika Hakkinen…also you had to so careful not damage it in any way, I think I wore woollen gloves as not to scratch it…summer and winter.. 🙂
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Yes, I did forget. It was by far the most uncomfortable car. I hardly ever drove it. No footrest either.
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Come to think of it, I don’t even remember if I am using the foot-rest consciously, while I’m driving in the city traffic (my vehicle is automatic). It is good to have one, along with the cruise-control, when you are on a long journey between cities.
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My 2001 Honda Civic came with this footrest. I sometimes use it and sometimes forget. With a manual car both feet get used a fair bit. I would have bought a new Honda of some kind. I know a bit about Peugeots – are all the knobs and flicking things still set for a left hand drive? Queensland inspectors seem to deem them almost unroadworthy. But they do look very smart. What colour did you get?
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The colour is metallic grey. The knobs and electronics seem to be part of all cars now. The Holden Cruze had the same climate control, complicated radio , impossible to select stations except by doing a Tafe certificate course. The Peugeot is lovely and comfortable with less noise from outside. The Cruze was criticized for not having a foot-rest which I thought would never bother me. It did, so did the shorter wheel-base which made getting in and out a bit more difficult for an over 6 footer.
I still don’t understand the Holden Cruze being imported from Korea (2009 model)
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Holden has a long history of rebadging foreign cars as their own. Isuzu (then made in Japan) rebadged as Gemini, plus all of Holdens 4WD utes, now, Ssangyong rebadged as Cruze. I don’t know how much Korean parts they have in their ‘Australian-made’ cars like the Crummydoor, but I very much doubt if alternators, starter motors, and electronics are made here!
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Yes, I think Holden was or still is General Motors or GMH, which I thought was American owned. I think the Holden was very popular in Europe sold under the Opel name. It is all so confusing. Bostitch tools were the essence of good quality American tool makers. ( Stanley, Black & Dekker) The brand name exists but made in ‘China’.
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Yes, we forget that Black and Decker invented the electric drill, and that Stanley used to make the sort of tools that one only ever needed one of. All Chinese, now.
I did manage to buy a German made masonry drill bit, cheaper than the Chinese equivalent. there is hope.
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I forgot to say, the Holden Cruze was good and the Diesel economy was fantastic. I could have fashioned a foot rest and have it bolted on the floor. The narrowness of the foot-well and the shorter wheel base made it a bit uncomfortable for a tall person.
The Peugeot on the other hand is a diesel model as well with an even better fuel economy and a great foot-well and roomy foot rest.
I never thought I would ever write about cars…There is hope for all of us.
Oddly enough our Holden came from Korea. Figure that one out!
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Yes, Gez, our great Australian, iconic car maker, propped up by tax-payers’ money, has most of it’s bits from Korea and China.
They still can’t make a bloody footrest!
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Dad and step mother just bought a new Mazda 6. “Did it drive well? No we didn’t drive it. Were the seats comfortable? No, we didn’t sit in them. Better fuel economy than the Toyota? No. So..why the Mazda? Well, the dealer was very polite, and gave us a better trade-in. Oh, of course.”
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