New Car

I received delivery of my lease car last Wednesday. I am choosing to lease for now, and may keep doing so for the convenience. If I would want something bigger, I could upgrade without problems.

This is a 2007 Mitsubishi Lancer, 4-door, 4-cylinder. It drives pretty well, and doesn't have many kilometers on it (only about 10,500). I filled my car last Friday with super petrol for 29 riyals (about USD $8.00). I used super because I was told to by the lease company, and I can see the difference in performance too with the 4 cylinder. My friend/colleague Alice also drives a Lancer, but she only puts regular petrol in, and it seems that I get better performance. It may be the gasoline grade.

It doesn't matter, though. Regular petrol is about 89 dirhams a liter. Super is about 97 dirhams. For USD $8 for my gas, I won't make a fuss either way. There are 100 dirhams to a Riyal, and 3.6 Riyals to a dollar (set rate). However, you rarely use dirhams. If you go to the grocery store, the dirhams are either rounded up or down to the next Riyal, and you pay in Riyals, and get your change in Riyals. Or that's how the big markets work anyway.

Gas is cheaper than water here. I paid 97 dirhams a liter for gas, but if you go to the Carrefour and buy water in bulk, 1 riyal for a liter is cheap. I buy 5 liter bottles for 5 riyals.