Be Excellent To Each Other

Ouch.

I've got the MOT to get the Civic through next month!

10% of £40 isn't £2...

No, it isn't.

That's why I said over.

I also said condo.

Cars I can choose from when I move to S'pore:

Brand New
Mercedes CLA180 1.6 Auto
Mercedes GLA 1.6 Auto
Audi A3 Sedan 1.4 Navigation
Honda CRV 2.4 Auto
Toyota Harrier 2.0 Auto Premium
Honda Odyssey 2.4 Auto EX

Pre-Owned
Mercedes B200 1.6 Auto (Year 2013)
Mercedes C180 1.6 Auto (Year 2012)
Mercedes E250 1.8 Auto (Year 2012)
Audi A4 2.0 Auto (Year 2012)
Nissan Elgrand 2.4 Auto (Year 2013)
Toyota Alphard 2.4 Auto (Year 2012)

I quite like the look of the Harrier. Plus, y'know, VTOL car is pretty cool.

Alternatively, I have a 3,000 SG$ monthly allowance, so could presumably get an older Mustang or something.

How much driving are talking about here? Do you need to commute?

I'll be driving from Singapore to Johor over the border two or three times a week. The other days Ruth will have the car.

Probably the CLA, but they're all a pretty uninspiring bunch.

Only Autos?

Alphards are pretty cool.

Just googled them. That's possibly the most catastrophically ugly front end of a car I've ever seen.

So's your face.

The Alphard looks like a rocket ship.

The Multipla says hi.

As does the Ford Scorpio.

It looks like a dustbin laid down on its side. Definitely Malicool though.

You want something anonymous, with a large boot, and decent suspension​.

I saw this at lunchtime.

Get this.

Incredible. Imagine that on the back of an Alphard.

I showed a picture to Helen and she flinched!

Gah. That Toyota thing is reminiscent of an American fridge that's mid-mutation into a bus; that's more uggo than I can handle.

Who honestly puts this thing on a design screen and thinks "...wow that's awesome, I'm proud of my 10 minutes work", and, moreover, who the hell buys them?

Unbelievable.

If I had to choose from that list I'd go with one of the two new Mercs (take your pic), but man, you haven't been spoilt here, chap.
I'd be looking into taking the "I'll run my own car, thanks" option

Congrats; I've always said I could always see something worthwhile in ALL bikes and trikes, from humble 'peds all the way up to corpulent Gold Wings... but I'll be damned if I can see anything good about this shed of a thing.

http://jalopnik.com/edd-china-is-leavin ... 1793498487

Mad Max reboot set in Preston?

I quite like the Toyota Harrier, but I'm a sucker for SUV barges.

Ruth likes the Merc GLA as she prefers small cars. I suspect we'll take the 3k pcm and find something ourselves though.

There is a most excellent MTS, and get a driver to take you out of country. Pocket the rest.

Wait, wait - three thousand quid or three thousand singers?

Read the fucking thread cras. Sing dollars. Three grand UK would buy a fuck of a lot more than a Mercedes rep mobile

That's a ridiculous amount per month. It seems very high compared to the cars being offered.

I think it covers the insane taxation you have to pay on cars in Singapore

I did wonder!

This. My boss out there paid close to 30k for a Suzuki swift. You do basically get the tax back when you sell it on though (i think)

I am going to Johor next week, want me to put in a good word with the locals for you?

So, we've been G's mother's old car. Renault Sport Clio 172. Owned since new, 66k miles, and in very good nick for an 18 year old car.

You'll have a lot of fun in that. Great little cars.

I had a black one, back in the day!
An absolute giant killer, I lurrrrved it loads. Absolute cracking little hot hatch.

I did my PalmerSport track day yesterday. Hard to articulate just how much fun it was really - I was sporting a shit-eating grin for the entire day. Still am.

It was really professional with a wrist-based device that you scanned in on each car that gave you live lap timings, so as one half of the group was out the other could watch and follow the timings as they happened. The instructors had endless reserves of patience and I actually learned quite a bit from them, but you do feel like you're learning to drive for the first time where everything comes at you at once.

In ascending order of awesomeness the events were

Off Roading - boring shite hitting tennis balls and driving on rails - dead slow. I just kept thinking about how much I wasn't Grim... but then how he wouldn't fit in any of the other cars. SO NYER - came 72nd out of 75 on that. GRIPPED, SORTED.

BMW M4 GTP - came at the end of the day after two really light cars so seemed dead heavy and cumbersome and the instructor was a bit shite.

Ariel Atom - good fun but the first car of the day so you're getting used to things at that point - span it twice.

Karts - only because I won my heat

Renault Clio Cup - Front wheel drive, grippy as fuck, actually a lot of fun to drive. Best bit, however, was seeing who stalled it pulling off - the hooligan levels of revs required to get it moving without stalling it was insane.

Caterham - no traction control and a course designed to make you slide around like fuck. Utterly grin-inducing and I was actually laughing as I headed towards a tyre wall sideways to the point where even the instructor watching was shaking his head and laughing when I got out. Pedals are the size of stamps so I caught the accelerator and brake at the same time a few times. Revving to 4000rpm and shooting off at the lights like a missile is a feeling that can't be replicated.

Palmer JP-LM - super light, super grippy and the most beautiful noise. The instructor was just telling me to smash the power constantly but my first go and that just led to a few spins but the sheer sensation of speed and throwing a car round corners was unmatched except for..

Formula 3000 - you're in there, on your own, hunched into a tiny cockpit basically feeling like Lewis Hamilton with nobody to tell you when to brake or what gear to be in. The apprehension as you're let loose in the thing on your own is pretty intense but when you throw it round a corner and it just sticks to the road you really do feel like a God. I came 15th out of 75 for that one despite spinning it a couple of times. It's really hard work though and I've a new found respect for F1 drivers and their levels of fitness. I ache all over today.

You may now laugh at how much I don't stick my foot down - because fear



Only minor complaint would be despite internal comms on the helmets you only hear about 25% of what the instructors are telling you once the engine starts screaming.

Well jel.

Sounds excellent, glad you had a good clear day for it.

Looks great, I've always wanted to do one of those. Incredibly pricy though?

I thankfully didn't pay so couldn't tell you - a newly retired, rich uncle paid for 15 of us to go.

Looking on the website it looks like about £1,000 per person for the day. So yeah - pretty pricey.

I was genuinely sat there thinking - I am so shit at this - Grim... would smash, it whilst laughing manically.

Then 3 minutes later I was sat in a Caterham thinking - there's no way you wouldn't have been able to press any of those pedals independantly without significant foot surgery. Which made me feel sort of better about about my own inadequacy.

The 6'3 member of our team just caught his feet on the pedals constantly in the Caterham.

Should have given me a ring, I was only five miles away.

To be honest, I'd probably be bored too (if I paid attention to what I was being told to do), off roading is about ridiculous hills and rivers and stuff. A good rule of thumb is "can I do the entire thing at tickover", which you can at 99% of off-road sites.

£170 for a fucking battery, plus £50 for an hour of mechanic time as the battery needs registering and coding to the car once it's been fitted, if you can believe that.

NOTHING'S FUCKING CHEAP ON AN AUDI S4.

The old battery was fucked though, it's hardly been able to start the car for the last few days.

Just leaving this here

Batteries don't last forever. The old battery was bust, it has now been replaced with a new one. Which was expensive.

But yes I agree with the astonishing amusement value of both old cheap cars, and more modern pricier cars, being vulnerable to not starting because of a flat battery.