Carroscope, part-1

I have always maintained that we can tell people’s personality from the car they drive. Of course, it is not a concrete instrument to determine the characteristic of each individual. However, I find that my theory is very amusing and sometimes rather accurate, especially when a car speaks about its owner. Quoting from the column written by Jeremy Clarkson that all humankind can be split into a dozen distinct groups, also known as horoscope, I think that instead of grouping people into twelve positioning of constellation, why don’t we group them into twelve cars, or in a simple and rather new definition of word as “carroscope”, in my way obviously. And since I don’t own one of any cars I featured here, so it really is down to my personal opinion about people who drive these cars, which is why if you have different opinions or against to what I write here, please do kindly keep it for yourself. Enjoy.

Audi R8 Yes.. I know, it is basically a cheaper version of Lamborghini Gallardo. But who cares? Motoring world grants it with lots of award over the years; some of the awards were honorable slots for a car to win and it is actually plain to see why. It is an extremely fast car, very balanced and extremely well made (people could think of how ninety five lasers inspect the entire cars in just several seconds to ensure 220 measurements around the car are fitted within tolerated dimensions.) I find it has a fascinating personality, right until I discover that the sat-nav listed some places which a supercar driver least want to go: bus station or even a historical monument!! It is the same story to a person, someone who is good-looking, has tons of great achievements, admired by the others, but lacking sense of humor. People in this category are driven by the need of becoming successful and take life too seriously. They know no chit chat, just a straight forward, precise and tight conversation. That’s it.

Tata Nano The world was surprised when it was first launched back in 2008 due to the fact that people could buy a car which costs only a smudge over US$2000. Of course, some needs to be sacrificed to pursue this cheap price. For instance, the base model only has one side mirror and no air conditioning. But even if customers buy the top of the line, it still has only single windscreen wiper, no power steering, no power window. And I haven’t even gone to the worst bit yet. Ready now? Some panels are made out of plastic instead of metal sheet, and because they are plastic, they can’t be welded together. So, they use glue in some section of the body to join the panel. As a person, it is nowhere near as someone who has only one thing to shout about, but the rest of it is simply inconsiderable. In work, it is a waste of time to talk to someone in this category about achieving work quality. In life, what they care about is how to make money as much as possible without any thoughts about decent value how to obtain it.

Reva G-Wiz A car which looks like a walking corpse, powered by a 400A DC motor which generates a painful 17.6 horsepower, the DC motor was run by eight units of 6V 200Ah battery. In Europe, this microscopic little thing is not listed as a car. Instead it is registered as a quadracycle. Performance? I believe it takes forever to accelerate from 0 to 100kph, because it will never reach that speed. Quite literally, this car is the perfect analogy for people who don’t care about their dignity anymore; they don’t care about what others going to say about driving such an all-round awful car, because in their opinion, the world is a gloomy place and things revolving around them are nothing other than a boredom. People who drive this car arrive at the office late, because it is painfully slow. They might not have friends and just live to serve their biological purposes: work, get married, have children and die. Beyond that, they have no interest in life or whatsoever.

Toyota Avanza If you reside in Indonesia, this car will fill your sight every minute on the road. It should not come as a surprise because it is Toyota’s golden child or perhaps money machine in Indonesia, sold over 100,000 units during the launching year 2003 and still tops the cumulative car sales in Indonesia for three consecutive years from 2007 until 2009. People love it because it is a good all-rounder, it is relatively affordable, carries five or seven persons on board, its engine is frugal on fuel and offers decent punch. As far as mechanical drawbacks are concerned, its rear suspension is as bouncy as a kangaroo’s bottom. Speaking of bounciness, it is almost like someone who is frequently in doubt and fear of uncertainties, but he doesn’t realize that his worries are unreasonable because he has many strong points which others simply love, in such way that people simply forget about his drawbacks. At the end of the day, he manages to distract others from his weaknesses and make others focusing on his power.

Mercedes Benz 300SL Introduced to the public when Bill Gates still a fetus, 300SL is one my favorite cars of all time. Speaking of its design language, it looks gorgeous in a still photograph, right until the moment I saw one in real life, its everlasting beauty and charm which spans over half century time completely won me over. 300SL is best known for its distinctive Gull wing doors; it was the first car ever equipped with fuel injection into the engine; it was the fastest road-going car of its time. Even by using today standard, 300SL is still regarded as a proper-handling car. Drawbacks? It has no boot, but who gives a damn? When a car looks this good and drives well, people won’t grumble about its tiny winy bits of flaw. In my opinion, this is the benchmark of a successful individual, every little ingredient is combined together to create a harmonious mixture. Such people are rarely to be found, their presence is deeply imposing with a hint of charismatic and honorable personality. The work they produced inspire others, even when they are lying beneath the earth, they are still remembered and commemorated.

Nissan Leaf A rather odd-looking car, isn’t it? Leaf is not a bloody hybrid or run on hydrogen. Instead, it is powered a synchronous DC motor which gets power from a fully rechargeable lithium ion battery. Charging socket can be found behind the “Nissan” badge in front of the car, leave it connected to the 220V socket for eight hours, and you will get around 160km of driving range with zero emission on the road. Of course, if you floor the accelerator onto Leaf’s top speed at 140kph, you might need to make more stops to recharge it. Since it is run only using a DC motor instead of a normal engine, Leaf is very quiet and smooth on the road. Well it is almost like if this car comes to live, it would have been a genius or rather nerdy man who does clever bits of stuff, yet also is a very shy and quiet person, or perhaps someone who boast calmness and never heard the word “aggressive” before. Being around with this type of person will get you felt eerie or maybe fell into the cobweb of sleepiness, chiefly because of the incomparable quietness.