My OperaCheap cars and jumped-up politicians
Friday, April 6, 2007 2:36:19 AM
Just been trawling through the BBCi text service and came across the mind-boggling news that Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson has been criticised in the Malaysian parliament for blowing up a Perodua Kelisa, with some foolish politician suggesting he doesn't know what he's talking about.
Well, I doubt that Mr Clarkson gives a tuppeny hoot about some pompous Malaysian politicians (who are doubtless welcome to their Peroduas), or that he needs me to defend him, but I venture to suggest that as he's been testing cars for decades he knows good ones from bad. Also, while I've not driven a Perodua, the fact that they're sold locally by the garage which used to be the Lada dealer, who moved into Protons and Peroduas later, makes me suspicious. Everything else the place sells has the sole merit of being cheap, so I guess that applies to Peroduas too. Certainly they're ugly little boxes, which doesn't encourage me to investigate further.
But what's annoyed me is the complaining politicians. If Perodua wants to avoid criticism, it's up to them to make better cars. Politicians should really have something better to do, frankly.
Edit: What makes this even funnier is the claim that Perodua hasn't received a single complaint from UK customers. Well, the kind of people who buy the things are the kind of people who don't care if it's good as long as it's cheap, so where's the surprise?
Well, I doubt that Mr Clarkson gives a tuppeny hoot about some pompous Malaysian politicians (who are doubtless welcome to their Peroduas), or that he needs me to defend him, but I venture to suggest that as he's been testing cars for decades he knows good ones from bad. Also, while I've not driven a Perodua, the fact that they're sold locally by the garage which used to be the Lada dealer, who moved into Protons and Peroduas later, makes me suspicious. Everything else the place sells has the sole merit of being cheap, so I guess that applies to Peroduas too. Certainly they're ugly little boxes, which doesn't encourage me to investigate further.
But what's annoyed me is the complaining politicians. If Perodua wants to avoid criticism, it's up to them to make better cars. Politicians should really have something better to do, frankly.
Edit: What makes this even funnier is the claim that Perodua hasn't received a single complaint from UK customers. Well, the kind of people who buy the things are the kind of people who don't care if it's good as long as it's cheap, so where's the surprise?
