If you share a house with your bank manager in all Australian states and one of the territories (guess which?) you are a millionaire. But you are paying $4k a month to send your banker's kids to private schools in Jaguar SUVs.

Now, we asked the good folk at Consumer Reports what they really thought of the Jaguar F Type (SUV). They said reliability is 30 out of 100 and owner satisfaction is two out of five. And they said don't forget the two recalls. One is because the oil filter housing can crack and leak oil into the engine compartment. An oil leak in the presence of an ignition source such as hot engine or exhaust components can increase the risk of a fire. But, hey, don't let us put you off spending $181,670 to $373,547 on the Indian brand.

Getting back to the topic at hand: while you are paying 6 per cent on your home loan, you will be spending 9.89 to 21.79 per cent to buy your car. And what no one ever tells you is the real cost of running your car. See, when people tell you the cost of running a car, they leave out the silent killer, depreciation.

When you drive out of the showroom waving an emotional goodbye to the very friendly sales consultant who under his/her/other breath has just called you a wood duck, you have just dropped 30 per cent of the value of your new toy.

The problem with an electric car (and there are many) is that because of the Chinese, new EV prices are dropping like a company's share price after the CEO has been found to be having too much fun. So, if you bought new EV last year you've dropped at least 30 per cent of the money you're paying 20 per cent for. So, houses are better investment than cars. How's that for insight?

Just so you know, the real cost of running an electric car is $20,784 a year and a reasonable sized SUV is $19,867.

Anyway, talking of treating customers like wood ducks brings us back to Dan Kawai and his team at Autoleague, which is mobilising people towards a better life except for Helen and Jerry Chaberka, who were sold a lemon by Dan's Berwick Jeep dealership.

And in a side note, I'm told Qatar is about to buy an F1 team. Let's hope it's Sauber where one of our fav drivers, Val Bottas, lives. Val drove a blinder to take 14th in Mexico last week. Val remains 23rd in the driver's championship (out of 23) and on zero points.

OK talking of F1, it was Hasta la vista Chuck, Mad Max Recupera el golpe and Hola saltando Lando in Mexico. Chuck Sainz had his second win of the season, local Mexican lad Serge Perez came 17th, Mad Max had his elbows out and gave Chuck a push off the track. In the drivers' championships it's still Max, from LL then Chuck.

jc@jcp.com.au