liliputian cars

It's the kinda car you'll never see on Singapore roads. The first time I saw this moving bundle before us, I was thinking, "what's this toy car doing on the road?" Well it does look like a toy car at first glance. Everytime I see these cars on the roads here, I have the impression that it's missing its second half. But no, that IS the whole package. They call it voiture sans permis (car without permit). And what does that mean? Well it means exactly that... you don't need to have a license to drive this car. It's a small quadricycle (mostly around 2.6m long) - just like a smart car but with different technical (and legal) characteristics. Driven on a diesel engine, its maximum speed is 45 km/h and it comes with very restricted regulation. For example, you're obviously not allowed to go on the highway with this machine. So what's the use of this car then? Well it's particularly useful for those without license (duh!) or who has had their license revoked or suspended. This car offers an undeniable advantage over a 2-wheeler sans license like the moped, because of the safety of the driver on the road, a better comfort (possibility of transporting a passenger or cumbersome objects) and a good protection from bad weather.

Anybody (as long as you're 16) can drive it. Having a car here is more a necessity than a luxury, unless you live in the big cities where they have better public transport system. So while waiting to obtain a driving license, les voitures sans permis can be used as a temporary means to get you moving on the road. But don't think this car cost mere peanuts just because it's tiny. It's priced at over 10,000€ for a brand new one.

Speaking of cars, let me tell you that Europeans are big on small cars.. probably due to the demographics of their home market and the topography of their towns. This is especially apparent for a first-time tourist to this continent. Like how an American couple who once asked us for directions and got into a small talk, remarked, "The cars here are really, really tiny!" That was my exact reaction the first time I came to Europe. If sedans and SUVs are a common sight on Singapore roads,.. superminis, hatchbacks, compact MPVs, run rampant on the roads here. The obvious advantage of a small car is that it's real easy to park, especially when you have to do a parrallel which is common on the streets here.

Cars here are dirt cheap if you were to compare it with Singapore. A brand new car costs around 10,000€ to 30,000€ max (double the numbers for a rough amount in Sing dollars). Second hand cars go much lower than that. You can get yourself say, a Peugeot 307 for 4,000€. Just the other day, we saw a car at a mere 500€ on the net.. what? only 500€?! You can buy those in bulk of tens. But of course with that kinda price, it's probably third or fourth (or fifth?) hand.. and also old, ugly, dirty, smelly and with over a hundred thousands of mileage clocked in. Seeing how the cars here are cheap, I guess that's probably the reason why most people don't bother cleaning their cars as frequently as Singaporeans with cars do, cause if the car's really pricy, we'd want to baby it more often. And also, Singaporeans wouldn't wanna be seen driving around in a dirty, bent-up car.. we always want to look good on the road, don't we? Status, baby, status. But here, people won't even bat an eyelid if you drive a car with dents everywhere or with dirt thick enough, you can finger-write on your car.

A small, cute car is fine if you don't have a big family. I wouldn't mind having a smart as a second car (if we have the extra means, of course) cause I find it oh-so-very-cute!.. a girl-car, I'd say :)