Cars, gadgets and such.....

Ever wonder why people aspire to owning german automobiles? Its odd, isnt it? These cars - BMW's. Mercedes-Benz' and Audi's - all do pretty much the same thing your good ol' Toyota does....except its double, if not triple the price.

This train of thought left the station cos a friend of mine just splurged 150 big ones on a 15 year old Mercedes! Why? I honestly don't know. Prestige, they say....the satisfaction of driving something engineered by the same people who almost took over the western world.....

Thing is, for that kinda money, there are a heck of a lot of brand new cars at his disposal. But he didnt want Japanese. Didnt want British either.......DEFINITELY didn't want local....OK...after having a brand new Proton act up on me the day I took delivery of the blasted car, I can perfectly understand the last write off, but Japanese?

I like JapMobiles. They're usually cheap (though anything above 90k can hardly be called cheap in my eyes), cheerful and go on forever and ever an ever as long as you stick to their service intervals. They're very well oiled machines, and that perhaps is their ultimate failing, as strange as it seems.

This is my theory......when you take something for granted - that the car will start first time, everytime, and will get you from A to B in absolute comfort and minimum of fuss, you tend to forget the machine that makes that possible. Drive any modern Japanese car and you'll understand. They're so utterly efficient that they are deviod of any characteristic that endears you to them.

Wanna test this theory? Drive a Toyota Corolla fo 30 mins. Then hop into a Honda Civic for 30 mins....then hop into a Mazda 323. They drive the same, feel almost the same and in many ways, look almost the same unless you have a keen eye for detail required to tell them apart.

On the other hand, "continentals" as we've come to term them, are utterly unreliable, expensive to maintain, temperamental, fuel guzzlers and often have baffling interiors. Their equipment can equally be as baffling as the cars themselves. Whomever thought it was a good idea to put HEATED mirrors in a tropical - spec Citroen Xantia really, ought to be shot......Same goes for cars from Mercedes.....what kind of "luxury" car makes do with vinyl seats? They call it "MB-Tex"....fancy name for "taxi seats", really......

Fact is though, these quirks make us remember these cars. They leak oil, guzzle petrol, have air conditioning that doesnt condition air at all....but these are things we love. It gives the car "character", as car enthusiasts tell me.

And of course, living in a typically asian society, a person's worth is measured directly by his posessions, and having a "continental" car parked in your porch can sometimes mean the difference between being accepted by your future in-laws and getting the boot out the door by the very same people......drive a Mercedes, no matter how old, you're brilliant son-in-law material...the type mothers would pay you to marry their daughters. Drive anything Japanese and you're "trying to make it".......perfectly acceptable, but you'll always be subject to the "upgrading anytime soon" questions and looks......

For me, though, if I had 150k, I'd be bloody happy with a Subaru Forester in Reddish Blue Metallic - all 177bhp of turbocharged performance;) To hell with what others think. They don't like what I drive they can catch a cab - likely fitted with "MB-Tex" upholstery too - LOL!


The brilliant "Scooby" Forester