小黑 has been a faithful, simple 4-door hatchback. Initially bought as a revised off-peak vehicle, I used him only to fetch Iris and myself around during the weekends and in the evenings during week days. It has brought us to places, and definitely has changed our lifestyle ever since we were only reliant on public transport until a year into our marriage when I've spent Mondays taking my driving lessons.
Being a Kia Picanto, 小黑 was not very different from the rest except for these few trademarks:
- A rear welded spoiler (that looks like a duck tail), untypical of the common rear spoilers.
- 4 sporting rims (a larger and wider wheel size which gives more stability and smoother ride).
- 3 hoot meters (that measures water temperature, battery voltage, and gear vacuum).
Over the past 4 years, 小黑 has brought us to many places that were not easily accessible. For example, many of the cafe hot spots (i.e. Wimbly Lu), shopping malls far and away (i.e. IMM), buffet places (i.e. Punggol end), JB (i.e. KSL, City Square Mall, and other food / massage places) and of course, to church and cell group meetings.
And 小黑 has ferried not just Iris and I only. It has given rides to many other people, including our heavier friends (even to JB!), cell group members, parents, etc. It has ferried furniture (when we first moved in to our new Buangkok flat), a foldable bicycle (which I bought for Iris) and as well as baggages to JB (during our staycations there at Hotel Jen, Hotel Renaissance, or Double Tree.
小黑 was easy to maintain too. For the 4 years that I had him, I had only required annual servicing, a change of the time belt (which cost me a $1,000), 4 tyres (for a flat tyre which was also wearing out on the outside together with the rest as well), headlights and unfortunately, the rear signal light cover which I reversed and knocked it into pieces. So, maintenance cost was almost minimal, other than the $4,000-plus that I had redeemed 小黑 to convert it to a normal vehicle.
Other than that, the real plus point was that 小黑, though he has only a 30-plus litre fuel tank, it could take me 500km thereabout on a 30-litre fuel pump. For a manual car, though fuel-saving, this 500km-journey on a almost full tank is almost unmatchable and unheard off. So even though we had traded in 小黑 on 22 Feb 2016, I've kind of missed the long distance journey that it could bring me about.
So, thank you 小黑, for all the fond memories and safe rides.
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| Our last photo with 小黑. |
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| Our sexy black 小黑. |
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| The numbers don't really came up, but we love it anyway. |
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| My first bump on the side of chassis. |
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| 小黑's sexy butt. |
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| The unfortunate bump at the rear right of the bumper. |
