Cars and bikes and cost of living

Mid November 2008:
We've been looking at cars (our hire car goes back next week), and bicycles for the family. We knew cars were relatively expensive here, but didn't realise that everything else is too!! Bikes, food, clothes, utility bills, ice cream, electrical items, chocolate .... they are all more here than in the UK. Even flip flops! The only things we've come across that are less expensive are cucumbers, herbs, local wine and meat!

On the cars, we ended up with a 10 year old Mitsubishi Charisma for nearly EU4000. It seems a lot, but the car feels newer and in much better condition than the 10 year old rust bucket we sold in the UK for £600 before we left! Where rust is a problem in the UK, cracked dashboards are something to watch out for here - left in the sun, it can crack (our new car has this!). Now we know why everyone has silver windscreen protectors :)