As an university student, acquiring a transport for locomotion is a wish comes true, so did mine. I requested my parents to give me my bike , for my daily usage at campus; to ride to class, grab some food , and perhaps ride all the way to Genting Highlands for fresh air. To my surprise, they let me to drive, drive a Kancil EX850, final batch of its model year.
A little background on its specification, a kei car, could carry 4 of my close friends, maybe 5, a 3-cylinder engine producing merely 30-40hp (LOL) but a very, very economical car. I used to fill fuel worth RM10, and it will last me for a week. Back then the RON 95 was RM1.80/liter. THE car could do 120km/h (don’t ask me its 0-100 please) at max and some drivers will push it to 150km/h (not recommended-you might experience resonance due to engine vibration).
What was most exciting about mine, it was a 5 speed manual transmission car. The car was not equipped with EPS, ABS, EBD or SRS. It was only a package of steel containing plastics, rubber and cast metal. No sway bars, means you will sway or drift at high-speed-corners or worst you will end up in opposite lane, which I did once. Some of these days drivers will have difficulty to control its rack & pinion steering wheel and it had very bad turning radius so you either make a 3 point turn or force to climb a road divider, I did that too.
Now, like everyone else, first car is always something special to the owner, and same goes to me. My friends and I had a lot of trips for food hunts in the ride. We drove 600km from KL to Penang via old route only to attend a friend’s birthday party. We did our monthly hostel-hold purchasing, weekend getaways, and so on. The Kancil never failed us. Never had it stopped halfway on the road due to technical issues, never ran out of fuel or battery as far as I drove it and most importantly I can drive back to anywhere , anytime without having to queue to purchase public transport tickets (Never a public transport fan).
3rd July 2017, after a long Raya Break, I was about to leave to UNI in my car. Two days before that, I had its engine head overhauled due to a broken intake valve and it drove better than ever afterwards. An excited me pushed the car to a limit that I hadn’t tried before and it impressed me for the drive scheduled the next day.
Driving to UNI, my feet felt itchy to floor the accelerator, only to overtake a slow-moving truck ahead of me, and I did. It was dark, about 6 am. I was so “aroused” by the pull from the engine that, I did not see another truck coming on opposite lane. Pressing hard on the brakes, maneuvering to off-road to avoid collision, but it was too late. DANNGGGG! I hit the truck. I totalled the car. Frontal end deformed ultimately.
After the accident, a few months later, I had only one thing in mind, Kancil had no safety features, but looking at the condition of it after the crash, it was a miracle that I survived. Had to go through traumatic moments, sleepless nights and for almost a year I had never crossed 100km/h in any car or bike I ride.
Finally, take care of your cars and it will take care of you. As an automotive engineer, I do talk to my car when I get emotional, laugh in it, cry in it (men do cry). For some, car feels better than home, so stay home guys.
DV-Drives 