Pre-Launch Preview: The Mini Souffle

Small just got smaller

 

Because we’ve seen too many good looking chicks with Minis in the past.

 

Enticed, we took the opportunity to be the first few to have a look at the new Mini Coupe. (That’s right, in Singapore). Far away from it’s Habitat at the Sungei Kadut Eurokars showroom, the black Coupe stood amidst a menacing Rolls Royce garage like a hobbit in a royal wedding.

(That’s really too huge a sight for the grandest car around)

 

Smaller than any other Mini we’ve ever seen, and to much dismay, this one didn’t have a chick in it either.

 

Much of the first impression-al mental mockery ceased when Dan the man pressed the engine start. A thundering low rumble assured it ain’t no Louis Vuitton Chihuahua carrying-case as it seemed. Our attention quickly turned to it’s ass – anticipating the display of the retractable rear spoiler, and it wasn’t disappointing. So for 1/10th the price of a Lexus LFA, you have atleast something that the LFA has. Pay the remaining 9/10th and you may get a Gal Gadot in your lap (see Fast Five).

 

Wings at last

The girls at Redbull finally have a new set of wings to ride on – just that you can’t fit as many girls in this than the Cooper. Plenty of boot space however makes up for it as an ideal resupply vehicle.

The wings can be controlled as desired – otherwise they auto-emerge once you hit 80km/h.

 

Great for preventing booty-shake in public.

 

 

 

 

Another cool feature was the ambient lighting switch – allowing you to change the cabin light colours according to your mood. Plenty of hidden compartments are also accessible by subtle buttons – leaving the dash less cluttered and making it feel more spacious. Typical Mini.

 

Purple light… in the mini…

 

 

Bourne wanted it

The Coupe is well, practical for city drive – more interesting than the Swift, more fun and lively, seats less so your pesky free-riding friends can take the bus or fight for your heart (and passenger seat).

It even has active diagnostics to tell you if everything was allright – for example,  in case of a flat tyre, how much further could you go (since there wasn’t any spare tyre in the boot).

 

 

Fit for females?

First – for the males considering to get the coupe, we advise that it is one of the best buys if you’re a newly rich single. It prevents you from showing off with the top-down, it keeps you faithful by limiting the number of girls you can carry and you don’t have to get to Pasir Gudang to track your car – Kartright would do. That way, you wouldn’t gain a membership into the “Newly Rich, Quickly Poor Club”. The Coupe is simplistic, easy and remains true to what every Mini is known for – fun.

 

For the females – while Autojo prefers women to drive bigger cars, if you’re the good looking kind who gets out a lot and is constantly chased after by men with Porshes, this will definitely help to zip past em. Besides if your dad is the kind who’ll give you an island for turning 18, then this is the ideal first car to get once you get your driving license. Accelerate too hard and the Coupe whips your delicate legs off the pedal with it’s torque, preventing you from eating into Camry boots. Accelerate too slowly and the Porshe guys catch up, take their time whistling at both you and the car and smashing into the same Camry boot instead of you. Either way you’re safe.

The downside: it’s almost certain that you’ll be pulled over by TP and asked for your license and a can of red bull

Expect to spot the first few Mini Coupes on the road by early November.

Pocket Tank

What has an Iphone 4 or a Griffin Survivor Case got to do with motoring?

Precisely this.

Checkout the full video at: http://www.griffintechnology.com/armored

Any product that had the balls to face up to being run over deserved to be in Autojo’s Hall-of-Fame.

After seeing the case being touted as most undestructible – citing surpassing military standards (even though we blokes can’t bring it into camp), we finally got our hands on the Iphone 4 Survivor case by Griffin. If you’re one of those lucky ones who bought an Iphone 4 during the discovery of the Death Grip – and then compensated with a free Iphone 4 case – that’s probably one of the best times to own a Griffin product for free and feel its quality.

While having bought the Survivor case at a fraction of the cost and tossing it around when showing off, we completely forgot that the Iphone 4S is just around the corner.

Despite the number of Iphone 4S pre-orders, and knowing that we’ll be holding on the Iphone 4 for a few more months, there’s no way this brand new survivor case deserves decommissioning once we upgrade to the 4S. Fortunately, this comparison chart should help you to realise that this case could actually be forward compatible.

With virtually no change in dimensions, except for slight positional differences for the buttons, the survivor case should be fitting on the 4S. Pretty much any Iphone 4 case should work actually.

But will it blend?

Surely Griffin would be coming up with an Iphone 4S Survivor case – having had such success. However, previously it remained too pricey for comfort (plus Shipping to Singapore) – considering further loss of comfort when sliding a tank into the pocket. For now, this Mark I suit has already seen a huge price drop anticipating the 4S and that feels like a really good deal.

You’ll thank us when you stand out of the crowd not treating your new 4S like every other wuss. Besides, It’s a guarantee that you’ll fall in love with Siri and can’t bear a physical “break-up”.

Now toss it on the dash and do a handbrake turn. You don’t have to fasten the seatbelts Siri.

Gymportation

You workout, not your car.

So you’ve got your ride – now you’re planning to get a Gym membership so that you can tire yourself out like in the good old MRT and bus days, without the glamour losses. Ever noticed that you will end up paying a lot more for ERP and parking on top of your membership fees? Worry not. We’ve compiled a list of the cheapest branches from the 4 most common gyms in Singapore. To be eligible to benefit from this guide, we’re guessing you are the above-average regular Joe (or Judy) who spends at least an hour plus working out.

Fitness First
Cheapest at Fusionopolis aft 5/6pm:
ERP: None
Free for 1^st 2 hours, $0.50 per half hour thereafter

California Fitness
Cheapest at Velocity, Novena Square after 6pm
ERP: None
$2.20 per entry

 

 

 

True Fitness
Cheapest at Parkway Parade, after 6pm
ERP: None
$1.50 per entry

 

Amore Fitness

Cheapest at Liang Court, after 7pm
ERP: None
Free ($3.21 between 5-7pm)

 

Ofcourse, you jokers can promote the Condo gym, the Clubfitt gym or even your local park as cheaper than saving a few dollars off parking and ERP. Very smart indeed. For most of the smarter affluent lot who have signed up with the above gyms to feel the pinch of losing money in order to work out, try these branches instead.

Tachy

Casio’s launch of the range of racing-themed Edifice watches couldn’t have been better timed. With the F1 heating up the calendar, the watches went on sale and even the limited edition remained very comfortably affordable, as much as anything with Casio on it. It wasn’t just stunning in design, but it came with a reasonable multitude of features that still retained what Casio was well known for – functionality. However nice it may be, there were just too many choices to choose from and there’s the unavoidable after-purchase feeling of “hmm, maybe I should have bought the other one.”

Unless you’ve bought the limited edition Sebastian Vettel watch (only 100 were made and were available at a ridiculously cheap price), we’d suggest you pick something more unique, more automotive related and exclusive. After all, Singapore’s one of the leading nations with the highest number of horology enthusiasts – and we have a reputation to maintain.

But first… opt for the rubber or silicone strap

It’s a shame to wear a magnificent piece that reeks of sweat and leather straps are known very well to quickly reach that stage. You’re lying if you think you’re not going to sweat in Singapore. Metal straps are practical, but they stand out far too much than the watch and ruin the presentation. Worst case scenario – get one from Burlington Square custom-fitted to your watch. Your passengers will appreciate the difference in air quality passing from your air con vents to the cabin.

Know thy Tachy, forget the Chrono

When was the last time you timed something on a Chronograph? Besides reminding you of Schumi racing a golf ball shot by Tiger Woods for Tag Heuer, Chronos never quite displaced the digital stopwatch. You also run the risk of running into local blondes who think your timepiece is fake or faulty seeing a stationary second hand. The Tachymeter however is relatively more useful, though it only stood as a cool term that made the watch feel more functional.

Firstly, you need to know the distance you’re covering, say a kilometre. The second hand will point to a metric number (that decreases clockwise from 500 to 60 – depends on watch). Once you start the tachymeter and stop at the 1km mark, the reading corresponds to the average speed. Ofcourse, it’s useful only for stuff that covers the distance under 60s (I knew you were planning to use it for your IPPT).

We suggest you make use of the rising Singapore dollar and find a suitable racing watch from www.watchismo.com. Not that we don’t trust Sincere Watches or Mustafa, but it has a larger range of interesting models, some of which are reviewed at Hodinkee. Between free-shipping and having to pay $40, it avoids the local watch salesman’s biased pitch and gives you more time to read up on proper reviews online.

Ofcourse, if you’re at Sincere watches, except a recommendation living up to the store’s name.

What to expect

The articles at Autojo may not be completely Automotive in nature. Anything that doesn’t involve cars, but look good with it (even the neighbour’s daughter) will still be eligible for a topic of interest.

Autojo’s got a keen interest in Horology as well, given that hey – Singapore is well known to be a watch appreciation hub. If Brietling can put a John Travolta on their ads and connect Aviation to Horology, we don’t see why Automobile shouldn’t be linked somewhere.

That aside, everything that can be linked might be linked and end up at Autojo.

Don’t expect the neighbour’s daughter… yet.