Transformers

I was caught up at a traffic junction on my way back from an appointment this morning. While waiting for the lights to turn green, I heard this really loud, growling sound. Sounded like a monster truck coming from behind. So, I looked up the rear view mirror and lo and behold, 4 "muscled up" Kancils stopped beside me. I looked with intense amusement over the details they added onto their little monsters. Full spoilers, skirtings, alloy sport rims, full black tinting and those "must have" tacky stickers with taglines that doesn't make sense to me. :-P Oh! Forgot about the stainless steel gigantic terowong type exhaust pipes. Otherwise, how to create monster truck sound, right?

Well, since this happened in Klang, seeing these cars zipping around and terrorising motorist is quite common lah. I guess the Ah Beng Syndrome is still very much in the hearts of many pure Klangites. XP

What I later found out, which further amuses me is that all the cosmetic make over on the car is well, cosmetics only. Most of the time, the engine is left untouched. Hence, no additional tuning or modification to make the car more powerful. Now, I know why I hear those loud noises, but I can still see the car crawling. I guess these Ah Bengs forgot that all the additional accesories and cosmetic face lifts also adds on weight to the car. So, with only 850 cc and 1.3 (for those Satria lovers), the car struggles to pick up speed lah! It looks really funny when you hear the engine revving so loudly but the car is crawling at snail speed!!! Hahahaha!

Another "must have" for these cars are lowered suspensions. They make the cars look really sporty and they're supposed to handle better too. More stable mah. That's what people tell me lah. But then, they also forget that Klang is the land of plenty. Plenty of potholes, that is. And also speed bumbs that can probably rival the Great Wall of China. I've trailed behind these lowered cars before and saw how stressful these drivers get trying to manouver past each speed bump so that the undercarriage (along with the skirtings and the terowong exhaust pipe) don't scrap on the speed bumps. Honestly, I really don't see the point of spending all that money to so call beef up the car and then later suffer on our wonderful roads in the Klang Valley.

One of my best friend went through a phase with his Ah Beng car as well. Added all that bling bling and of course lowered the car so low that the 16" sports rim is almost touching the wheel arch. After numerous repairs over muffler bocor and skirtings yanked off from the speed bumbs, the grand finale came in the form of a broken gear box. That was the last straw that broke the camel's back. He's now driving a Vios with all the original parts and accesories. Talk about an expensive lesson!

Anyway, to all "transformer" lovers out there, don't get angry over my musings ah! There is really nothing wrong with this passion or your need to express your individuality by having a modified car. But do it sensibly and more importantly, have safety for yourself AND others in mind. Cheers and Happy Deepavali!