CARS

still haven't got my car. but getting much closer to getting one now. i shall document the whole process of me getting car from the time i had the brilliant plan to get a car.

it started out on a crowded bus journey hope from climbing. i was on service 67 from little india and the bus was freaking crowded. some fat old lady was grinding me throughout the bus journey cos we were all packed like sardines. i was cursing to myself and wondering why i had to put myself through such uncomfortable situations. so i conceived this brilliant plan of buying a cheap COE car for myself to drive while i am still in singapore and when i leave, it would be time to scrap the car.

the same night, i spoke to my dad about getting a car for myself over dinner and after much debate, he said we could check out cheap old cars provided i get a job. the first car in question was a 1991-1992 honda civic esi for about $7000. car will then be scrapped in 2011 after i leave.

spent a week checking out that car on the net and after that, my dad suggested we spent a little more to get something newer and more reliable. so i checked out some 2006 cars to scrap in 2016. hence, i will still get to drive the cars when i return in 2014 and save up for something really good. the next car in question was a 2006 toyota vios. cheap car at about $33000. upon doing further research, i realised that the 2006 subaru impreza was good value too. for the same price as the vios, i can get 4wd which means super handling. but i checked out the crip sheet for the subaru and realised it has 97hp instead of the 107hp i initially thought it had. so pretty fail in terms of power. so the vios was the car of choice. nothing much to shout about though.

so with the vios firmly in pole position as the car to get, i continued searching the net for other cars worth buying. chanced upon a 1992 toyota mr2 going for $38000 with COE expiring in 2019. didn't think my dad would get me a sports car but i still talked to him about it and managed to convince him about it. looking at it from the financial point of view, i pay a few thousand more than the vios and i get a car which i can drive for an extra 3 years. why not? and during the extra 3 years, i can save up even more money for my next car. the mr2 was really good looking and power packed too. 2.0L turbocharged engine producing 200hp to the rear wheels only. awesome stuff. most importantly, such cars are pretty well maintained because they are exotic. less than 15 pieces in singapore.

having my dad's approval to get the mr2 opened me up to the idea of owning a sports car. so i checked out other sports car and there was another suitable candidate. 1992 mazda mx5. there was one going for $30000 with coe expiring in 2019 and another going for $20000 with coe expiring in 2011 with intention to extend to 2021. with 130hp to the rear wheels, the mazda isn't as powerful as the mr2. however, it was a real driver's car. built with the idea of "horse and rider as one". it was the most fun to drive. it was also a platform for the novice rwd driver. hence, i kept myself open to either the mr2 or the mx5 with me leaning more towards the mx5 based on the driving experience the mx5 would give me. went to the showroom to check out the cars and realised the mx5 was sold the day before. gone. but the pretty white mr2 greeted me and it was so darn sexy. asked about their loan policies and stuff and my dad said maybe i had to wait till april to get the mr2. felt sad. dad did say if i was willing to wait, he could get me the garage r tuned mr2 for $45000 and thereafter extend coe in 2011 to 2021. it was powerful with 560hp. told him crazy. i don't feel safe handling something so powerful with so little driving experience. moreover the fuel consumption will kill my wallet. anyway, i decided to wait till april to get the mr2.

went home, checked the net once more and found a $14000 1992 honda prelude. that was when i got excited. here's something i didn't have to wait till april to get, and it was a proper sports car with 2 doors. called the owner up and my dad wasn't so sure about the condition of the car because the owner said some things need fixing. so my dad wrote the car off. but for some weird reason, later in the day, we decided to check out the car anyway. and thankfully we did. the issues with the car was just spoilt side mirrors and a cracked armrest. nothing too difficult to fix. just some wiring and sealant will do the trick. mechanically, the car was fine and that was my main concern. so why not? a little about the car. owner was a prelude enthusiast. he refurbished the car to it's current condition. old 2.0L engine removed and replaced with a JDM 2.2L producing 205hp. illegal exhaust system but owner would give me the stock legal exhaust for inspection purposes. bucket seats from the lancer evo VII. momo steering wheel. JBL stereo system with woofer in the boot. free accessories thrown in include a gigantic gt wing which i don't intend to put. strut bars to improve handing of the car. customised tein suspensions. pretty impressed with what i was getting. a proper sports car which sounds like how a sports car should sound. decided on getting this car and now trying to settle the financing portion of the car. pretty excited now.

day 4

i went to play go karts again. played till my kart ran out of petrol, had to return to the pits to top up and go again. like f1. ate everyone for breakfast lunch and dinner again because not many people there can really drive fast. drove up gunung raya again. love that road/mountain. also visited a waterfall today. didn't know what i was getting myself into until the end. i climbed 500m of steps just to see waterfall. oh well. took pictures. they also have trails to the top of some mountain. 2500m high. i shall go back someday to climb that. okay off to dinner by the beach.

day 3 of my roadtrip.

first day was a drive up from singapore to kl. took me 3 hours. could have been faster if not for the jam outside kl. topspeed 180kmh. no traffic police. spent the night in dad's condo.

second day was drive from kl to langkawi. took me 4 hours. topspeed 190kmh. average speed on highway was 140kmh. overtaken by a bmw and a ferrari. that's all. no trafic police. parked car in ferry terminal. went over to langkawi. checked into bella vista resort. it's nice. but a little low class. too bad was only hotel left with vacancies.

third day. rented a proton wira to drive around langkawi. would have prefered something better but town was mainly single lanes so no point. no speeding as car's topspeed was 130kmh. car is trash. but i needed a trashy car to drive around for a change. played go-kart. faster than the pnes in singapore. ate everyone. found a 700m mountain. drove up in a speedy manner. drove down i a speedier manner. very fun. wish i had a semi-auto or manual gearbox. still, made my day.

will be back in singapore on friday morning. till then, tata.

love them mountains.

For Combat Engineer Xiew

Another incident during the war (Gulf War 1) highlighted the question of large-scale Iraqi combat deaths. This was the “bulldozer assault”, wherein two brigades from the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) were faced with a large and complex trench network, as part of the heavily fortified "Saddam Hussein Line." After some deliberation, they opted to use anti-mine plows mounted on tanks and combat earthmovers to simply plow over and bury alive the defending Iraqi soldiers. One newspaper story reported that the US commanders estimated thousands of Iraqi soldiers surrendered, escaping live burial during the two-day assault February 24-25, 1991.



that's why digging trenches is no good.

"Love Actually" is a really nice show. I love christmas!

Why I should get the Toyota MR2

1. Pricewise, a 1991 MR2 costs $38,800 which is within budget. In fact it's pretty good value because the car is powerful and it is ia very rare sports car.
2. Car might be old. But such cars are very well preserved because the people who own it would take care of it. Car i am looking at is in stock/mint condition.
   
3. COE is until 2019. Most other cars i'm looking at have COE until only 2016. This means that i can drive this car for an extra 3 years and that means i can save more money for a better car/house next time. This is money savings. I will also tell dad not to set aside money for my car fund because once i have this car, i don't really want any other car.
4. Insurance for this will be expensive as it's a sports car. But i have an idea on how to circumvent this. Insurance under dad's name. He has the 50% no claims waiver. I will pay for the insurance and be registered as a driver. When i return from the states, i would have accumulated enough years to get my no claims bonus and then insurance and car will be transferred to my name. So i wouldn't be affect too much by the high insurance for sports car. Moreover, this is an old car. Insurance wouldn't be sky high anyway.
5. Practicality is another issue but that isn't too crucial. No doubt car can only sit 2 people. However, dad still has the camry to bring the family around in. We don't really need another car that can sit 4. Another issue might be that this isn't a suitable car for my sister to borrow while i am in the states. But sis already says that she would rather not drive than maintain the car and pay for petrol. So she wouldn't be driving it and instead i will just leave the car in the carpark for my dad to randomly drive to keep engine warm.

I think i have valid reasons to get a MR2. gotta see what the dad thinks.