Magic Bean

Our senior writer pays tribute to his bean-shaped Mitsubishi i, the first car he owned.

- Jeremy Chua

FOR the past two years, I have had the pleasure of being able to say that my car is turbocharged, mid-engine and rear-wheel-drive.

Upon hearing this description, other journos assumed that I was joking about being the owner of a Porsche 718 Cayman or 718 Boxster.

After I confessed that I own a Mitsubishi i, it would take them a moment to remember the model. There are very few of these left in Singapore, so the rarity added to the joy of owning one.

How did I end up with an i? When the missus and I started thinking about getting a car, we had very different priorities. She was concerned about prices and running costs, whereas I had more “important” considerations, such as performance and handling.

Naturally, my better half said that we should be able to buy a car outright and not have to deal with monthly payments. Our options became even more limited than our budget.

One night, while browsing Sgcarmart, I chanced upon what would become my first car – a 2009 Mitsubishi i that had only one owner and 56,000km on her odometer.