Car talk, and was there careless talk by ASEAN's secretary-general?

Spotted by KA...

...I agree absolutely. I used to drive a Swift Sport manual. Even though it was "normally aspirated" (ie, no turbocharger or supercharger), it could sprint to 100km/hr in 8.9 sec.

Of course, if you really want a super-maniac scorcher, try this mane of steel...

 

But, here in Singapore,  you'll have to fork out S$1.17 million without the COE just so you can boast a 0-100km/hr acceleration figure of 3.2 sec. My 1600 cc 125bhp Swift cost me (car and COE) around that of a current Cat A COE alone.

And if you peruse a recent issue of the AA Singapore's Highway magazine, you will be told that this clunky van-like Mercedes (S$150,000 with COE) below, with a miniscule 90bhp engine can sprint even faster than the million-dollar Lambo!...

Alas, the review itself shows otherwise:

Just another case of no one bothering to carefully proof-check the pages for errors!

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Still on cars...

If My Body Were a Car

If my body were a car, this is the time I'd be thinking about trading it in for a newer model.

I've got bumps & dents & scratches in my finish & my paint job is getting a little dull... But that's not the worst of it. 

My headlights are out of focus & it's especially hard to see things up close.

My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip, slide, skid & bump into things even in the best of weather. 

My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins.

It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed. My fuel rate burns inefficiently..

But here's the worst of it.

Almost every time I sneeze, cough or sputter, either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires!

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South China Sea watch

Now ASEAN's secretary-general, a Vietnamese, has really riled the Chinese (ST, May 20)!...

There's also an interesting letter from Taiwan's "representative" here...

Okay, Mr Hsieh, you have made your case above (note that the PRC refers to those disputed islands as Diaoyu while Taiwan calls them Diaoyutai). Now perhaps you might want to follow up with a missive on Taiwan's position on the disputed South China Sea islands too. After all, Taiwan's South China Sea claim appears to be parallel with China's, and it also embraces those famous "nine dashed lines":