Log 19: Drive (Polo) Every Day
Following the rather expensive incidents with the vacuum hose and the ignition pack going kaput within a few short weeks of each other, not to mention having the misfortune of being rear ended by a tailgating cock, the little Polo seems to have finally acclimatised to it’s life down south and thus far has become a reliable daily driver.
Christmas is over and gone are all the Christmas tree lights on the dashboard. I no longer have to bask in the warm glow of a warning light and can now fully enjoy the benefits of living in the sticks down south. Hailing from a big (congested) city to a land where the highways are at your doorstep and are perpetually empty, it is a dramatic and more often than not, way too tempting change of pace and driving style. However I can satisfactorily report that the tiny Polo does manage to provide sufficient enjoyment in these vast stretches of emptiness.
Editor’s note: Drive Every Day does not condone speed running in any form.
More surprisingly still is that the little black pocket rocket still manages to sip fuel while performing its duty as personal transport for a (mostly) broke university student. Sure it doesn't even come close to the claimed 18km/l (Liars the whole lot of them, the auto industry I mean) but 12-14km/l is a realistic ballpark figure. Considering that this is with a teen with lead for feet and empty three lane highways at his doorstep, I think its not too bad indeed.
So with the Polo running well and some free time on my hands over the ever so cheerful new year period, it was worth taking a moment to reflect on my relationship with the Polo, and cars in general. Both as an object to transport one from A to B and as a passion and a hobby (bordering on an addiction).
Spoiler Alert: I predict that there will be many a discussion on this topic below. Just a quick note saying that this is the opinion of the Editor and not of Drive Every Day, and yes there will be a more soppy emotional version to come in the coming months focusing more on the Polo instead of just cars in general.
An Ode to The Car
For most people, a car is a tool. A tool specifically designed to transport one (or more) people from point A to point B, without having to wait in the rain or under the hot sun for a bus or catch a disease from the person sitting next to you on the train. And if we’re being honest, that’s one of the best things about cars.
People who know a bit more about cars often associate cars with the word “freedom”, and I don’t disagree. Cars, like all personal modes of transport, offers the freedom to the driver to go and venture forth into the great unknown world before him (or her). However, the word “freedom” in my opinion should be tagged to every mode of personal transport, not just the car but motorcycles, boats, and if you’re rich enough your own plane because each of these modes of transport offers you the freedom of adventure. So “freedom” wouldn’t be the word I use to associate the car with, instead I think the word “control” is a better fit.
Cars, in its base form offers us freedom to explore the world and also freedom from this world, and it does that by allowing you to be in control of your own little isolated world within the car. If you’re reading this while being stuck in a traffic jam (and I am legally required to say that I discourage anyone from looking at their phones while driving), look around you into other people’s cars and you’ll notice that in every car there exists a small world tailored to that particular person(s).
Deep down, everyone likes that feeling of being in control. That’s why there’s so many self help books about how to be in control of your own life. When you’re driving, you are in control of the environment within the confines of the car. Apart from the usual being in control of the driving part, you are in charge of the internal temperature, the music choice and even to the extent of the passengers you allow into the car. You, the driver are master of your own little domain. Even if there are other passengers in the car, you were the one who allowed them into your little world. You, and you alone hold the keys to your little kingdom isolated from the outside world.
This feeling of being in control brings me on to my relationship with my little Polo.
It’s only been a few short months with the Polo. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; but the little Polo has always been there. A night out downtown with 4 other burly, lanky friends. No problem, just get in the Polo. An impromptu night tōuge in Bukit Ampang (more on this in a future POLO Log), the little black pocket rocket is up for it. A banzai dash back to KL for a wedding, just top it up with fuel and *ahem* hours later, I’m at the reception. A reliable(-ish) tool to get me to and from uni, well sort of.
On a more personal note though, if I ever needed a place to vent, or needed some time to collect my thoughts, the interior of the little Polo will be my own little world where I can do so. In joy and in sorrow, a drive in the little black pocket rocket would always lift my spirits up. It may be spirited with upbeat music as a distraction, or a slow cruise with mellow music to collect my thoughts, or just sitting in the car in silence to allow myself to get lost in my own little world, it is up to me, and me alone.
Friends and family often ask why I don’t fly back from JB to KL since for a majority of the time, I travel alone. One of the reasons is I have a tendency to compulsively overpack hence why I always lament getting a car with a postage stamp sized boot, but the main reason is that I enjoy the drive. Not only in the petrolhead aspect, speed running = wide open road, wide open throttle. Again, Drive Every Day does not condone speed running in any form, but it is more to do with comfort of being isolated from the world in control of your own tiny bubble of bad music choices and your own thoughts and ideas running wild in your head. There I am in my car, where I can sing my heart out to my unique (I’m being nice to myself) music choices blasting from the six speakers or drive in silence just staring at the diminishing horizon, its just relaxing. Flying may be cheaper and some times a little bit faster and definitely safer (from a plane crash vs car crash statistics point of view), but the control and isolation that the car offers is something I enjoy, and you can’t put a price on that enjoyment. (Well you can, its about RM110 to drive back from JB to KL, including fuel and tolls, but still the cost margin between driving and flying or even taking the bus is negligible in my biased view)
To add to that, the Polo does makes life easier to do these interstate runs by having a reasonably nice interior with good NVH levels at speeds that are within the law(s of what is physically possible) so a 3 hour drive is not too big of an ordeal.
Editor’s note: Racking up 10k km in a year for a student. What does that tell you about me?
As an aside, while writing this soap box piece, the Polo had a little frontal mishap. Mea culpa, it was my fault. I didn’t drive the Polo for a little while now as I was away on holiday, so when I was coming down a slope, I sort of misjudged the distance. That resulted in a low speed prang into the back of a Nissan Serena. The lesson learnt here is to always look at the car ahead of the car I’m following. I may not be a racing driver but the excuses are still going to come: In my defence due to the gradualness of the slope all I could see was the back of the Serena because the polo is so low, hence there was no way this was preventable (well sort of).
The saving grace is that the polo still lived up to its tank moniker. Visually only the number plate needed to be replaced. More impressively still, the Polo managed to drive it up to Ipoh and back on the same day of the prang, but stay tuned to future logs where I discover that this prang was a tad bit more severe than I first thought and I (attempt) to fix more of the hidden cosmetic damage due to this unfortunate prang.
0 - 100:
No more warning lights. Huzzah!
An Ode to the Car. Just give it a read.
A tank of a car, Part 2.