Road Warrior

Yes I drive. It is not as green as taking public transport, but I am the owner of an 82 year-old who is not in the pink of health. I also like to entertain some of the oldies in the extended family, who are now into their 80s and 90s.



I considered taking cabs after a lorry mangled my old car (with me in it), but Mum and I had one miserable experiment. She gamely walked with me to the main road to hail a cab, but even though it wasn't peak hour no cabs stopped. Soon the sky got dark and it poured. The two of us trudged home, soaked, and she begged me to buy a new car. I saw her point.



The other possibility was to get a diesel goods vehicle to save on the vehicle, road tax and fuel, but the thought of oldies with fragile bones bouncing in the back with no proper seats and seat-belts made it a no-no.



A little research and I settled on a Proton Wira, 1.5 litre. It was cheap(-ish, this being Singapore), with a boot big enough to accomodate a wheelchair if necessary, and maintenance would also be reasonable, if I crossed the Causeway to Malaysia. I'd heard that Korean cars might be cheap up front, but they hit you hard on spare parts.



I got the 1.5 litre instead of the 1.3 l version because the smaller one had this really ugly faux-wood dashboard that clashed with everything inside the car, and I imagined how irritated I'd be every single time I sat in my car and opted to cough up $2K more for a ride with less jarring interior decor.



For the sake of frugality, I didn't want to take a loan. My theory is that it's better to have no money in the bank for a few months, and slowly build back a cash cushion, which will earn next to no interest, than to take a loan, which will cost you 2 or 3 percent per annum, compounded. Because she was anxious to close a deal, the salesperson agreed to no loan. I also asked for a further $200 discount (I believe that most big-ticket items are negotiable, and one should always try to get something off, as a matter of principle). She offered me leather seats. And alloy wheels. And she finally agreed to $100 off as well.



The Proton option proved to be ok, when I had to change my rear bumper after someone banged into the car when it was parked and disappeared, plus a rear light (after I backed into a Lexus -- thank goodness I didn't change the bumper earlier). I drove across the Causeway to leave the car with a respectable mechanic while I jumped into a friend's vehicle for a few days in Fraser's Hill. When I got back, I had a new bumper and lights for RM440. Compare that with the Lexus. I put a dent in his rear door, and the paint looked ok. A panel beater could have got lucky and restored it without destroying the paint work, but my insurance paid over $8,000 for a new door.



Which brings me back to choice of car. Perhaps the wealthy should spare a thought for other road users and the environment before they buy their lux cars? The door of the Lexus was repairable - no nasty sharp edges to the dent I inflicted, but it was changed. I understand that if you coughed up for a lux car, you'd want everything to be tip-top (especially if someone else's insurance was paying for it), and I admit that it was my own silly fault, but I can't help thinking that the new door was unnecessary.