New car

I got my new car today. It's the new proton saga. After much pestering from everyone, I finally got a car. I'm not really into cars. To me, cars are just an utility. I'm more into gadgets and PC's.

Anyway, the car's okay. Instead of filling it up with the normal Shell Petrol (green), I used the Shell V-Power (the red one). The car's pickup is way too powerful now. I'm not sure if its the car of because of the petrol. I hope it's the petrol, because when I test drove the car the first time at the showroom, it didn't pick up with a kick like how it is now. The one in the show room was quite smooth. It kind of reminds me of the old car I drove, the Nissan Sunny which was a manual.

For a month plus now I've been driving my mother's Wira. I had to park the old Nissan Sunny at my house and borrow the Wira because the Nissan Sunny just had too much problems. The suspensions were making noises; the engine was leaking oil and other problems. That was the main reason I decided to trade it in for the government's RM5,000 rebate for old cars. It looks like a good car from the outside but it wasn't economical to repair anymore.

Though I have to say, compared to the wira, the Nissan Sunny was much more fuel economical. For 40 litres of petrol, I got about 450KM. For the Wira, I only got 350KM. Now all this is just city driving. I think it's mostly to do with the Wira's auto transmission which wasn't very fuel economical.

Last night when I came to check on the old car, I found out the engine oil leak was so bad the car could have caught fire. It was leaking oil on to the exhaust and the oil was smoking. Luckily, my mother knew a mechanic and we called him over to have a look. He actually offered to buy the car from me for his daugther to use. I told him it was too late since I've already signed the papers with Proton. It would be nice actually to see this car be of service to someone else. Ironically, this was the same mechanic that my mother when with when she bought and tested the car.

The mechanic came in the morning to take the car to his workshop which was near my house to spray some sealant to stop the leak. My instructions to him was specific, fix it so I can drive to the proton dealership, as they were going to scap the car no need to do any extensive repairs. My mother's neighbour who drove the same car took some of the other parts of the car, like the hubcabs.

As I drove the car to the proton dealer this morning, I was really worried that the car would break down. However, it made it in one piece. While driving it, I almost forgot what fun it was to drive an old manual car. The pickup for the Nissan Sunny is pretty good, especially from 1st to 2nd and to 3rd gear. Somehow, driving an old manual like this car always made me feel like a rally driver.

I was seriously considering getting the manual version of the proton saga but my wife talked me out of it. This car is going to be with me for at least another 10 years and by then I probably won't have the energy to drive a manual anymore. So, I thought I better drive an auto from now on.

I'll miss driving manual... but I'm already having fun driving this new Saga. The pickup and handling is fantastic. I can take corners a lot faster then I used to do with the Sunny. It didn't feel like the car was going to turn over. The seat is higher too, just like in the Sunny.

The only thing that really bugs me is that the car doesn't have a USB port for MP3 playback on the radio. In my old Sunny, I had a radio that I bought with a USB port. I took the radio out and I'm going to put it in my wife's car. I can't change the radio that came with the Saga because there's a 5 year warranty so I got to stick with it. I'll probably consider one of those MP3 players that transmit over the FM frequency.

It would be nice if actually could find a way to integrate the radio with my Iphone. The wira I was driving had a mini stereo jack so I hooked up my Iphone to it and I've been listening to the tunes on it. However, I think I'm going to try listening to the radio for now just to see what I've been missing.

I've transferred some of the old stuff to the new car, like my university alumni sticker. It's old and worn out but it's the only one I have. I should write to my university and see if they can mail me a new one. It's free publicity for them anyway.