postcard from singapore

[JAPCAB]

hey all,

I'm currently in singapore on holiday. Up here for a $40K car, you need to pay about 100K in taxes to get it onto the road because the government discourages people buying cars and wants them to use the MRT (light rail) system. Anyhows, lots of average cars around. Before coming here i was wondering what jap cars they would have here; anyone owning a regular car would be pretty well off and anyone with a nice jap car (skyline/rex/evo etc) would definately have to be in some serious money.

2 days ago walking down the road i hear a noise....a very familiar noise -HKS SSQV BOV! i look behind me to see a blue WRX STI booting it past...nice i thought, this STI was followed by another blue STI ripping SSQV aswell - made me feel right at home!

last nite on the way to zouk one of the local clubs i was at an intersection, and something caught the corner of my eye...straight away i recognised this thing in the corner of my eye as a front badge of a GTR, turned out to be a black r34 gtr, sick deep dish rims. Thats the only skyline i've seen here so far, otherwise only a handful of STI's (about 10 odd) and about 2 normal WRX's. I've seen a couple of civic's with extendable spoilers/fully stickered etc.

The laws up here are tighter than a crabs arse - u can get fined for jay walking ($100), littering ($500-2000), smoking in a non smoking zone ($500-2000). The speed limits are pretty tame - 50km/h around most streets. Majority of the cops are in plain clothes too! so you never know where the cops are. Smoking a ciggie on the balcony of the hotel room I caught a glance at a EVO 6 booting the f*ck outta it down the road, the blow off busting on every gear change. i guess no matter how strict the rules are you still get the hoons!

oh well nothing interesting really i thought i'd type something cuz i'm bored in the hotel room and its pissing down rain and i miss my car!

[(B1) MR_fanny]

singapore rocks!! bit of a concrete jungle though...hows the humidity:D:D yeah when i was there the majority of modified cars worthwile lookin at were evo's and wrx's. skylines are rare as there. managed to spot a white r34 gtr on the freeway on the second last nite there but that was it. good old zouks:D its crazy how people pay 100k for a 20k car back here. if u wanna see riced up shitters go to malaysia, oh man, and the way they drive there is crazy!! makes me appreciate my care more when i come back from countries like those.

[GT-400R]

hello-hello i'm from malaysia :wassup: yeah singapore's a nice place to visit, but dont expect to own a car there! it'll cost a bomb, the GTR u saw would have cost $150,000 and add another $100,00 for COE which is the on road cert. Malaysia however gtr's go for the same but minus the 100k for COE. Insurance though is the killa, try finding an insurance comp. to insure your skyline .... and the way they drive down there ..... woo-hoo .... 100% fully sickkk... sickk i say... cars go up in :flamed: all the time!

[JAPCAB]

yeah the humidity is a pain in the arse....the air is wet! when it rains it doesnt cool down...just gets more sticky! i've been here a week so i'm starting to get used to it but its a drainer...after walking around all day browsing the 10 billion shopping centres come the night ur knackered! 2 mins outside and your already starting to sweat. i've already blown my 2 weeks spending money.....its a terrible place here! you go for a walk and end up buying something or other that 'was a deal too good to walk past'. Nice place none the less, got another week then back to melbourne. I'm a bit pissed off because you guys are apparently getting good weather in vic at the moment...just my luck! as soon as i leave all the good weather comes! Its been hot here but everyday its rained in the afternoon. With the r34 gtr i imagined the car+ORC would be some ridiculous figure......what about some of the AMG mercs or BMW 7 series that are rolling around on stupidly big rims?

[martydaman]

I know how you feel. Went to Singapore a few years back (2002 in fact), damn the humidity hits you in the face every time you step outside. Air Conditioning runs 24/7 in that country, every cab there had em on full blast (but public transport is better - TV's in Buses )

I stayed on Orchard Road, more shops than you poke a wallet at. Where abouts are you staying??

Check out Sentosa Island if you havent been already, theres a place called Dolphin Park, you can literally swim with dolphins if you got enough $$$.

In regards to cars, not much to see there. Taxes make up 150% of purchase price for any cars and i didnt see anything special... you were lucky to see a skyline

[krzysiu]

Yeah marty we didnt see anything special. We only manages to see the new Lancers before they came out here :| nothing special

Oh and regarding to fines. You can get fined for chewing gum in the street :|

[6pistons]

hey JapCab...

I am a Singaporean.. and yes, the cars are very expensive... There is more of a variety here in Australia...

Mod-up cars in Singapore appear mostly at night... So look out for them if you can.

Are you there on a business trip?

Go try all the local dishes at the coffeeshops... They are cheaper than Melbourne... :wassup: Man, that makes me feel hungry.

Enjoying sweating your balls up there man!!!

[JAPCAB]

martydaman- hehe yes orchard road is a very bad place! it was there that i blew the most cash! Things are a bit cheaper, a lot of on the spot 'oh its so cheap! must buy' but on return to the hotel you realise that you haven't really saved that much and you've spent too much! the money is like monopoly money over here. I'm staying on a place called the Bencoolen residence, its about 3 stops away on the MRT from orchard road. Been to sentosa island, very nice but the humidity killed me and after a few hours i was moaning and groaning to go back into the comfort of my air conditioned room. I went to this new place called 'snow city' today which is an indoor snow thingo, about the size of two basketball courts. stepped from 30 degrees outside into -5C, stayed in there for an hour. Back outside into the heat. Felt a bit lightheaded for the next few hours!

6pistons - Yes i've noticed the guys up here like going for cruises at nighttime when its more quiet on the roads apart from the STI's which were having great fun the other day busting the blow off valves at any chance they got! (much like a lot of you vic blokes yer? hehe) I'm not on a business trip thank god, my parents work up here this is the first time i've been up here since they have started working up here so we'll see coming up here might become a more regular thing. yeah the food up here is great, a nice selection and depending where you go the prices can be really good value! I've been guilty of pigging out at various places, the maccas is definately a no-no because for the same price in AUD you get twice as much! And yes the sweaty balls has been a problem havent managed to overcome that one yet...no chaffing luckily haha

f*ck i type too much....sorry for the essay guys

[funkymonkey]

used to live in singapore when I was a kid, still go back to see relos n stuff. Used to hassle the f**k out of the shop owners in Mohammed Mustafa building.

All my mates from there these days drive VIP style mercs n beemers, they have some wierd laws about car ownership up there which makes it ver expensive to own any car older than 3-4 years. Similar to NZ I guess.

Orchard streets evil, too many ways to blow your money. If you can, take a trip to Santosa Island, its something you'll never get to experience anywhere else in the world. Also catch the steam train to KL, it stops along all the major tourist spots, including an aviary which had like THE biggest collection of exotic birds n stuff.

[INASNT]

Had a bunch of internation student friends from singapore and malaysia when i was at siwnburne uni. They told me about how expensive cars were there and thats why they all drove around brand new cars when they were in aus coz they were dirt cheap here and they were all loaded anyway.

2 friends actually bought 2 new jags and were to send them over back there after keeping them in aus for atleast 1 year.

[Evil]

i wish i was in singapore now... lucky plaza, far east plaza, sun tech city... there is just so much shopping to do..!

[INASNT]

But singapore is expensive now aint it?

I was gonna stop over in singapore for a few days on my trip at the end of the year, but going to bangkok and hong kong instead

[Horus]

japcab, if you want defis get em from SG, they are pretty cheap there

[Sai]

i wish i was in singapore now... lucky plaza, far east plaza, sun tech city... there is just so much shopping to do..!

went mid-year, hopefully again in jan/feb!

Ngee Ann City...the most expensive/high class stores from collins, chapel, chaddy, crown..all in ONE place!

their MRT system is awesome - wonder why we didn't implement their ticketing system a while ago, but looks like it'll be similar when it gets overhauled in the next couple of years.

Most public toilets are CLEAN as anything, and the girls!..singlet-tops/short shorts as the temperature and humidity is so high ^_^

The amount of mercs is amazing, and a lower number of BMW's and lexus. Awesome placeee

[JAPCAB]

inasnt - hrmm depends certain things are expensive. I found the designer clothes (gucci/versace/prada) were the same price if not a bit more expensive, but you could expect this. I bought some sunglasses; i checked these out in sunglasses hut in melbourne and they were selling for $320. I was walking through suntec and found the same pair for $190...not so bad so i scooped em up. Diesel clothes are cheap up here, diesel shoes cost me $120 for the same pair i've seen selling for $280 odd in melbourne. Electronics and things are marginally cheaper, for example a nokia phone selling for $640 in melbourne you can pick up here for about $500. Taxis and getting around is cheap. Eating is cheaper but you can spend some serious cash - went to raffles restaurant....its bout $30-50AUD for a course, the servings are miniscule, and you'd probably have to have about 5-6 courses to be full. We bailed out after about 3 courses and headed to the pancake parlour lol. heading off to Bintan resort island over the next few days....hopefully the rain holds off and i dont get swept away in some sort of monsoonal downpour! I guess also with going anywhere overseas it really depends on the exhange rate your getting...the aussie dollar isn't so bad at the moment but with USD or pound u'd be laughing.

[6pistons]

Sadly, I am piss poor!!!!!

Still driving a beat-up R32....

Had a bunch of internation student friends from singapore and malaysia when i was at siwnburne uni. They told me about how expensive cars were there and thats why they all drove around brand new cars when they were in aus coz they were dirt cheap here and they were all loaded anyway.

2 friends actually bought 2 new jags and were to send them over back there after keeping them in aus for atleast 1 year.

[EVONUTS]

SG is NOT the place to own a car; stroker kit? Forget it; the road tax is based on the displacement of your engine, hence why you don't see many V8's around, and also why you'll face criminal prosecution if you're found out[and you WILL be found out; there are inspections of vehicles every year, made mandatory by the government and carried out at the owner's expense.] Turbocharging? Forget it; alterations to the induction system are considered HIGHLY illegal by the authoraties and will land your car in the impound yard. Heck, even header kits are illegal, together with exhaust mods[dont believe me, check out the systems of the stickered up cars there, chances are you won't find anything larger than 2" because anything more is too obvious. Yes, the cops do know exactly what to look out for.] Sanctioned motorsports? Trackdays? Forget it; there are NO official tracks in SG; you want to do a rackday, go to Sepang or Pasir Gudang, both of which are in Malaysia[no probs though, they're only a short drive away] Want to compete anyway? Well, there are rallies.....wich are held in a...carpark. Which is smaller in total area than Chadstone's.

[Ait]

Not all of us Singaporeans here can't afford new sports cars sadly. There are of course exceptions, as well as the indonesian or honkies students who drive expensive cars in Australia.

The typical common car range in Singapore are usually - 1.3/1.5L+ runabouts (Ignis, Vitz, Corollas), IS200s, Mercs. Strangely I could never figure out why with car prices that high, the populous could still afford such luxuries. The whole point of doing this (by the govt) is so that we don't become another KL or Bangkok. With such small landspace, pollution and traffic jams would be exceptionally bad. Everyone's encouraged to take the clean and efficient public transport and owning a car is...quite a luxury actually.

It's not 100K in taxes. It's having to buy a piece of paper called Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which gives you the 'right' to own a car. And that paper sometimes costs more then the car itself. Put it this way, a friend of mine bought a brand Mazda 323 two years ago for nearly $70K SGD. That's how expensive cars are. At that time it's probably $25K for the paper and 40 - 45K for the car. Something like that. COE prices vary monthly and are divided into two categories depending on cylinder displacement.

RE: Car park rallying at Kallang Stadium - Hahaha, I remember watching the sunday morning motorsports section. All these EVOs and Wrxs duking it out at a stadium carkpark.

There's quite a popular car parts shop on Geylang Road called Gan Motorsports. Prices are reasonable for brands like Blitz, HKS etc etc.

And do remember to check out Sim Lim Square

[foznice]

yeah singapre is GREAT place, i hope to live either there or japan after uni. Usually go to malaysia everyear to see relies, then take a bus down to singapore to see more rellies. omg MR_FANNY talk about riced up shitters in malaysia, hahahh how funny is it? the malaysian government taxes the living shite outta any car manufacturer importing into malaysia so that for the average person, foreign cars are too expensive and therefore have to buy PROTONS!!!! So because everybody drives the same cars, people like to be different and do the most ridiculous things. I could go on forever about it, the best i probably seen tho was those tiny little kancil things with like 6 people inside with bullbars!! like what are you gonna hit in malaysia monkeys? And I also saw a 34gtr vspec II !!!! I think anyways cos it had that little hole in the bottom (that’s a vspec II thing isn’t it?) well anyways I’ve seen like 3 34gtr’s in my entire life so seeing one was a massive highlight, they sound SO awesome.

January this year Dad went to Singapore partly to catch up with some of his old school mates (I went with him) and now they are all like CEO’s and MD’s and stuff and are loaded to the shit. So I went with one of his mates for a night drive in his Beemer 330i convertible (I think) and someone already been said how much money you need to own just a POS in Singapore. When it was starting to get late at night he just turns around to me and goes “do you wanna drive?” and I was like yeah……. Before I went to Singapore I had only been driving here for a week in aus on quiet suburban roads, so I went from that to driving in multilane highways in BM. It seemed pretty smooth, not that I really had another experience to compare it to. Looking back now all I can say is that I’m lucky we never ran into cops probably would have been in pretty serious shit, considering that if your caught with a bag of weed you get hung – according to flea from the chili peppers when they had a gig there a couple of years back they were told if any article of clothing was removed on stage the show would be stoped and cancelled along with a whole lot of other ridiculous stuff. But that aside there’s stacks of good stuff about Singapore, nearly everybody’s really helpful and polite, there’s a low crime and unemployment rate ect ect… not to mention that amount of cheap stuff you can get, orchards road is defiantly the killer….

[beefy]

Hi to all the fellow Singaporeans!!

Yes it is very expensive to own a car in Singapore and if you ever want to own an apartment geez is it expensive. Singapore laws remain very strict and therefore quite restrictive to the quality of life in some aspects. On the other hand it is a very safe place to live.