Summary:
You know you’re a good driver when you can handle it
Faults:
Doors couldn’t open sometimes. Very easily fixed.
Rattling sound at 2500rpm.
General Comments:
This is a utilitarian commuter car that I use for my transport everyday. Being my first car and given the nature of my job, I needed an ultra-reliable and very cheap car, and this car seemed to be the answer.
It is extremely cheap to run. I am an aggressive driver, but this car delivers between 14-16 kilometres on a litre of petrol even after being driven using its optimal powerband between 3500 to 5000rpm all the time. The powertrain is very rough, NVH is obviously not suppressed at all, but this car seems to have been built with very wide tolerances, it never seems to break down or give up, whether you like to drive with frequent gear changes, or you if love driving extremely quickly over bumpy roads, this car obliges willingly.
Objectively, it is extremely easy to do a burnout on this car, especially in the wet, with its very basic tyres, and the suspension is virtually non-existent, the ride is choppy. Gearshifts can be jerky as well, the clutch has an extremely narrow biting point where a slight movement of a toe can send you plummeting into the car in front. This car must be driven with your eyes wide awake.
However as a first car, I’d still recommend it to anyone who’s willing to practice driving a manual well. It takes a very skillful driver to “tame” this raw thing, and what’s more, it’s so cheap, and with only 50 horsepower, who needs an airbag hahaha! The engine’s well designed for areas with poor road conditions, air intake box’s located very high up in the engine bay for places where flooding is frequent. Suspension is rock hard, and woolly, but I’ve accidentally driven this car up and down a kerb at my workplace a few times and it’s still as tough as ever. The gear changes may be jerky, but it makes good practice for double clutching. The way it skids ever so easily on a wet day (which is frequent in Singapore), makes drifting it such an effortless affair.
I’m not being sarcastic, I really love this car a lot. Who says cheap things can’t be fun?
