Of Timor Leste, about the Fiat 131 and A Comparison of Different Eras.

Now the newest country on Earth is Timor Leste. It was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century and upon the Portuguese leaving, it was then invaded by Indonesia in 1975, which occupied it until 1999. Following the United Nations sponsored act of self-determination in 1999, Indonesia relinquished control of the territory, which achieved full independence on 20th May 2002, becoming the first new country of the 21st century. There, one fact for all of you to digest while I cook up an opinion about something as it has been a slow week in the automobile scene as far as I am concerned.


Let’s talk about how the average small family sedan has advanced from the mid 1970s to the current crop of Proton Wajas, Toyota Vioses, Honda City and so forth. In the 1970s we didn’t have Proton to contend with; and as such, reasonably priced cars were diverse. People would decide to buy either the Datsun Sunny 120Y, Toyota Corolla or the Honda Accord if they wanted a Japanese ride, which in those days were pretty cheap (with the exception of the Accord which was actually pricey for a Japanese car in those days). Now if your dad was a middle ranking Government servant (eg. A teacher, an officer in a Ministry), which most dads were at the time as the Public Sector employed most of the people in Malaysia at the time, your dad would have bought himself either a Ford Escort 1.6 Ghia, a Fiat 131 1600 (see the pic), an Alfa Romeo Alfetta 1.8. These were some of the cars that your dad would have bought in those days without much thought as they were firstly, European and secondly, they were reasonably priced with some style in them. Along with their afro haircuts, bell bottom pants and funny sunglasses I guess.

If you looked at a period Datsun Sunny, you’d wonder how they came up with such a dull looking car and dared to put the words ‘Excellent’ on its rump. If you looked at a Toyota Corolla you’d fall asleep as there’s nothing duller than that in the world. So you wanted some semblance of style, you purchased a supposedly decent European branded car.

So you dad went and bought himself a Ford Escort. He found out that the car looked pretty good with the vinyl roof and the fake wood trim of the Ghia model. It had that chunky feel lacking in most Japanese cars at the time. It was pretty decent actually, and was a very wise choice at the time.

If your dad bought either the Fiat or the Alfa, he’d get a car that was livelier than the Ford. It had a great soundtrack from the engine and the exhaust. It was a little nippier than the Escort and actually looked much better than the Escort (and didn’t date as fast as the Escort which had a sloping rear boot instead of a straight one). However, with these cars came the dreaded Italian electrics and rust. These cars rusted like how cats shed their fur. They rusted faster than your dad would be able finish the instalments for the car and by the time he finished paying for the car, he’d have the engine and the drivetrain left, together with swiss cheese for doors and roof. These were the Italian jobs. Nice to look at, fun to drive but full of extra ventilation holes and a temperamental attitude when it came to anything with wires and fuses and electricity. But in those days, they were a good drive. They were rear wheel drive and felt solid most of the time. Even when they were flaking off rust everywhere they went.

Nowadays, with the advent of Proton in the 1980s, a normal reasonably priced car would be the Proton Waja. At approximately Ten Thousand Ringgit higher up the price range we get the Kia Spectra and then further up the Toyota Vios and the Honda City. All these cars are a million times better than the Fords and Fiats of the old. But they are extremely boring to drive. The comparison is as such:

1970s

Handling RWD - very adjustable for the experienced driver

Noise Much more burble - you would be able to recognise a Fiat or a Ford Escort passing by

Character By the bucket. Of course they were square designed cars, but somehow they don’t look dull

Reliability Nothing with style was reliable at the time. Toyotas and Datsuns were reliable but looked rubbish.

2000s

Handling FWD - safe and cheap, where’s the fun in that.

Noise Quiet and boring due to legislation

Character Unless you categorise a Nissan Sentra as having a personality. Nil.

Reliability Very. But there’s no style at all. There is nothing really stylish at the reasonably priced sedan range nowadays.

And while things like reliability and build quality has shot up tremendously, we now lack items like character and soul in the reasonably priced products nowadays. If you look at a Proton Waja, it just looks like a shopping trolley with doors attached to it. This is the same if you looked at a Honda City. It looks like a tadpole on stilts. If you buy it you’re telling the world that you fancy space and practicality over style. i.e you’re as dull as dishwater. Maybe in the age of fast paced we need to sacrifice style for practicality and reliability at that price range. But in turn, it’s making us soulless by the minute.

I do wish manufacturers would sit and let their designers loose sometimes, but not until they design something totally impractical, but just enough to do so. A recent effort by Proton on the Satria Neo is a good example where design priority made headroom suffer. It can be done properly. Take for example the Ford Focus, Fiat Grand Punto (not a sedan but a 4 door car with style) or the Honda Civic. But those cars are not cheap in Malaysia where tax and anything imported gets to be stupidly expensive as they all cost more than a Hundred Thousand Ringgit and because of this, there are no soulful reasonably priced sedans in Malaysia anymore. Of course if you were a citizen of Timor Leste, which has has the lowest GDP per capita (Purchasing Power Parity adjusted) in the world, of only USD$400 per year; owning a reasonably priced sedan or in fact any sedan would be the farthest from your thoughts right now. You may just wonder whether you have a decent meal or will there be another uprising when you wake up tomorrow morning.