Singapore Auto Show Photodump

"Tapas" (tapas) 01/21/2016 at 11:38 • Filed to: None

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Yes thats right. The country that’s the equivalent of car purgatory (for normal people, at least) has an auto show :)

I live here now. Still can’t believe it.

The lines to get in were ridiculous. It took me 30 minutes of standing in line to get in the show. Granted, I went on a Saturday evening but I never expected this many people. (It turns out, they were giving out discounts and free services for 4 years, etc if you purchased your car there.)

To my disappointment, not all car manufacturers that have a presence in Singapore were putting on a display. And even those manufacturers that did show up didn’t have their most exciting cars. It was really more of a sales event than a show.

Also, apologies for not having the best pictures. There were way too many people and after a while, I just stopped waiting for 15 minutes to get a clear shot.

But I did get to see some cars that aren’t sold in the US at all. So that was neat.

For example, Mercedes brought a CLA Wagon to the show. Their sales guy kept correcting me and saying its a “Shooting Brake”. Fuck you Mercedes, I know a wagon when I see one. When I asked him why they didnt bring the CLS “Shooting Brake” (which have seen about on the roads here) and other cars, he said he wont have a CLS in stock till September. September!

I’m still scratching my head as to why they went with the childish boy-racer graphics on the car...

And there was the A45 AMG.

Being in Asia, there were no shortages of mega vans. Toyota and Nissan had a bunch of them. I liked this one...

Subaru brought a nice surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see any concept cars, so this was a treat :) The Subaru Viziv2

But I’ve learned to not get my hopes up every time Subaru makes a concept. This is what happened when they promised something exciting the last time...

Renault decided to tell people that they make rugged vehicles. I mean clearly, CUV on pebbles - They mean business.

This was nice - first time sitting in an R8. And that too, the new one. The engine compartment does look nice with the cross-member and no plastic covers.

I loved the interior. It is sharp and somehow seems to have gone up in terms of build quality (which I didnt think was possible)

The R8 also won the second largest glove box I’ve seen. Pictures don’t do it justice because of horrible lighting, but this thing was cavernous.

Also sat in the new TT. I’m a fan of the new interior that Audi is bringing to their cars :)

I’m glad someone decided to bring a base-as-fuck-truck

....and then I discovered that they also had actual trucks on display.

Here’s some more forbidden fruit. I also sat in the new Miata for the first time. I fucking loved it :D

And the Mazda 2 here will have hatchback and sedan versions.

Wandered down to the Peugeots.

The new ones all have massive screens now

And I sat in my first Cactus. I have to say, I don’t mind it. Its weird and quirky and nice...I wonder is its good to drive too.

And that brings us to the largest glove box I’ve seen. Even King Kong should be able to fit his boxing gloves in there with ease...and charge his phone while he’s at it.

This made me feel like all this walking had somehow made me a midget....when did Golfs/Polos get so huge?

But wait, its a SportsVan! ._. Really VW?

Really?!

Also, no diesels were on display...I wonder why lol

EL_ULY > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 11:45

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WAAAAAAAAAAAANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tapas > EL_ULY 01/21/2016 at 11:46

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Duuuude.....reclining seats with foot rests that come up. It was awesome!

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 11:54

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I had watch a MCM episode where they go to Singapore to see its car culture - in addition to the cost of the vehicle don’t you need to pay something silly just to get a permit to buy a car (or something along those lines)? I just find it upsetting that you guys get the Mazda 2 that I want but you'll probably end up paying the equivalent of what I'd pay for a BMW here. The Canadian dollar is on par with the SGD, and a CLA that costs six figures is laughable.

Tapas > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/21/2016 at 12:16

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Yea, I saw that video too.

There are a whole bunch of millionaires here and I’m living in the CBD for now. So I see all kinds of cars. (I need to do another photo dump).

And yes, you need to buy a “Certificate of Entitlement” to buy a car. For cars that have engines up to 1.6 litres, the current price is SG$55,000. And its just recently dropped $5k.

The COE is only valid for 10 years. If you want to keep your car for more than 10 years or if the used car you’re buying is 10 years old, guess what - you gotta pay for another COE. It wont be as expensive, but still.

Otherwise, they crush your car.

After you pay the COE, you also pay a premium to buy a new car, because there’s some import duty attached to the price.

I moved here from Texas and I really miss driving :(

And its turns out, 1 CAD = 1.01 SGD.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 12:45

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It must be quite a shock if you’re coming from Texas. So that CLA 200 you posted would be the $166,888 price + $55,000, and I’m sure there’s extra fees associated with licensing. Then there’s insurance on top of that as well.

Also, I did see that .01 cent difference between the currencies but didn’t think it was that big of a difference, so I called it on par. In a weeks time the exchange will probably favour the SGD since the CAD is not so good right now.

On a side note, do you like Singapore (apart from the inability to drive)? Anytime I see it in travel shows it looks so nice, and the food looks great - the mish-mash of so many Asian cultures has to inevitably result in a lot of great eats.

Tapas > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/21/2016 at 12:53

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Its a shock alright.

Although I’m not sure if the price includes COE or not, in either case even $100k is too much to pay for any CLA in the world lol

Yea, didnt mean to point out that 0.01 cent as a difference. I was just saying that both currencies are surprisingly the same.

Singapore is an amazing place to visit for a few days at most. Its not large place, but its nice. You don’t need a car to get around. Almost everyone speaks english and its clean. It has good food, shopping, a theme park and a zoo and thats it. I would say that a 4 day trip should cover everything. If you even end up coming over, let me know!

If you live in Canada, you won’t find anything in terms of shopping here that you dont have at home. But the food is still good :)

In terms of living, I don’t like it very much. I miss driving, having friends and its expensive as hell.

Rent for a good 2 bedroom apartment is around $2700. A bottle of Jack Daniels is $60. A 6 pack of cheap beer is $16. You’re looking at spending around $20 bucks a person minimum if you go to a restaurant (but they do have very clean and really good hawker centres, where food is really cheap)

CALUSA > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 13:02

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SportsVan used to be named Golf+, mainly built for the elderly. I guess.

Tapas > CALUSA 01/21/2016 at 13:05

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Lol Golf+ is a fitting name. Its really just VW putting the designs through the copier with a 10% enlargement.

CALUSA > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 13:15

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It looks so dreadful, this was the last gen

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 13:19

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Wow. Sounds like it would be a nice place if you have a lot of money (which I don’t). Hopefully I can visit Singapore in the future but I don't really want to do so much when the CAD is so low.

Tapas > gin-san - shitpost specialist 01/21/2016 at 19:25

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Yeah, its definitely a place people come to “to ball” lol.

Look up Marina Bay Sands. Its a new hotel/casino they built and its amazing. And there’s a hotel next to where I live that has a football (soccer) field on one of its terraces. The only reason I know is because my serviced apartments have multiple decks all the way up to the 60th floor and I can see people play soccer lol

And the entire city is full of places like that (not quite as staggering, but really really nice).

I hear ya. If I still earned in USD, I’d like this place a little more because the currency difference softens the hyper inflated cost of living.

Tapas > CALUSA 01/21/2016 at 19:26

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Oh wow that is quite horrible....this looks like a sex egg had a baby with Sadness from Inside Out lol

Vicente Esteve > Tapas 01/21/2016 at 20:08

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This interior is s perfect.

CALUSA > Tapas 01/22/2016 at 05:18

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LOL!