I Love My Car – Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

When I ask my wife what she thinks of my Kia Forte, she’ll usually have something not-so-nice to say about it. It would rankle me because I really like the Forte.

But then, there’s always something I say in this blog site about the cars I review that would rankle someone somewhere – like the guys who are so angry with me for rubbishing the Mahindra Scorpio, for instance; or the people who don’t like how I extol Kia while rubbishing Proton (directly or indirectly).

Regardless, folks, there are only two things that matter in the end when it comes to cars. If we’re really honest about the subject, these two things are beauty and affordability.

Reliability? Yes, well, it’s interconnected with affordability pretty much – you can’t afford to lose too much time and money fixing a badly produced car after all.

And between the two, beauty is far more important than affordability – you can afford a whole bunch of cars within a certain price range, but you only go for what you think is the most beautiful among them.

For me, at the time of buying my Forte, I had also considered other cars like the Peugeot 308, Chevrolet Cruze and the Mitsubishi Lancer. But I chose the Forte because, features aside, the tipping factor was its beauty.

That is to say, to me, the Forte had been the most beautiful car I could afford at the time.

I still feel greatly satisfied when I look at my Forte these days. When the light hits it just right, when it’s sitting low and pretty on its 17-inch rims, my Forte – to my eyes - looks far more beautiful than the most fanciful Mercedes or BMW, or Audi or VW.

So, all you guys and gals out there? Don’t feel bad if someone (like yours truly) rubbishes your “beautiful” car. Take pride in your beauty of a car.

It may be a piece of junk to others, but it’s your beautiful “piece of junk”. In the end, that’s all that matters.

Among the cars that I’ve considered beautiful includes the Proton Saga Aeroback, Mazda 626 Hatchback, Volvo 244 GL, Proton Satria, Mercedes 250 (1982), Datsun 120Y, Peugeot 404, Morris Minor, and Proton Waja – cars that have been in my immediate family.