But never mind that, I want to tell you about my dad's car, the 2006 Toyota Altis.
The Toyata Altis is the 9th generation Corolla in this world, and it is the best selling car with over 37 million cars sold worldwide in 143 countries. Presently, the 10th model is out and with the current COE prices, a staggering, mind-blowing 113,000 Singapore dollars! And the worst thing, the new model isn't worth eighty thousand dollars, let alone a hundred.
The car I drive on a daily basis was the first model to be made in Thailand, and that's where the sloppiness of the *ahem*... locals show. The interior is made of plastic. Everywhere your fingernails "accidentally" scratch, there's this irritating plastic sound - the kind of sound that you hear when you tap your nails on your keyboard, or your remote controller... horrors! Even the porta-potty!!
To drive the car, you need to be backward looking - by that I mean you need to make sure the drivers behind won't be sounding their horns at you while you decide that an overtaking manuver is due. For some reason, the power of the car kicks in at about 4000 rpm to about 5000, and when you're in third gear or so. No one in their right mind in Singapore will rev to that kind of limit, with petrol going at 2.15 per litre!
Basically, it sports (I should find a better term for that cause it ain't no sporty.. how about mounts? Giddy-yups?) a 1.6litre DOHC VVT-i engine, with retractable side mirrors! Apparently cars of that that year (2006) that's competiting in the subcompact car market doesn't have retractable side mirrors! Even my girlfriend's 2006 Sonata's side mirrors need to be manually retracted. How terrible troublesome. Imagine that your the only person and you drove off. When you exit the expressway at 110kmph you look left, only to see yourself staring at well, yourself! HORRORS!
I'm not entirely sure of the specs, but I believe the engine churns out 110 bhp, and 150 nm worth of torque. (ahh, this explains the powerband of 4000-5000rpm). When you drive it, you feel like you're in a racing simulator, when you turn left, your body leans left. That tells you alot about the chassis.
Ride comfort I must say is something. If you can sleep all the way to KL and back, it's good. However, the sound proofing leaves something to be desire - better sound proofing. Probably like the Lexus, so muchso that you won't hear the dying screams of a man being run over by your car whilst you drive. That my friends, is good sound proofing.
Good thing is though, it is a car made to last. Toyota knows how to make cars last, even though when you see them you want to gourge your eyes out. That's probably how Toyota became the most popular car maker in the world, it found itself a niche. When everyone around you breaks down and start dropping like flies, know for certain my friends, a Toyota will bring you to the moon and back in one piece. Just try not to crash.
