Both you and your other half are young, capable and gainfully employed, drawing nice paycheques and even nicer bonuses. Upwardly mobile, the two of you have finally bought that boutique condominium unit and are now looking to upgrade your transport.
It’s currently a middle-class, middle-of-the-road ride with four doors, a 4-speed automatic and at least 400 other examples in your neighbourhood. In keeping with your hard-earned yuppie lifestyle, the new replacement car should be a two-door with more glamour, more gears and more gadgets. And it shouldn’t cost more than two Vioses.
The three cars gathered here fit the bill perfectly, but which one is more perfect than the rest?
The newest arrival is the Volvo C30, aggressively facelifted on the outside and “progressively” updated on the inside. The smallest and coolest car in today’s Volvo range is safe sex on wheels, so to speak, and it has become even more extrovert now, thanks to crazier colour combinations for the exterior and interior alike.
Less new than the Volvo but still up-to-the-minute is the Volkswagen Scirocco. The reigning Straits Times Car Of The Year might be yesterday’s Golf in tomorrow’s cloth, but it’s undoubtedly a lot of coupe for the money, especially in well-priced yet performance-packed 1.4-litre form as tested here.
Last but not least, we have the Cooper Clubman, MINI’s peculiar pocket rocket with plenty of pockets. If the C30 and Scirocco look like sports shoes, then the MINI is like the box they came in, albeit with dazzling details and special brown paint called Hot Chocolate. This baby estate is just the ticket for the junior jet set and their lifestyle “luggage”.
Triple the bliss, double the income, zero kids, and one winner at the end of the day. Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty…
C30 – Cockpit is lightly coloured, logically laid out and very practical. Driver’s seat has the greatest comfort and best all-round visibility in the group.
SCIROCCO – Lowest, sportiest and “darkest” driving position, surrounded by quality materials and attention to detail. Driver’s seat is superbly supportive.
CLUBMAN – Designer decor guaranteed to delight and assembled with care, but stowage of loose items could be better. Driver’s seat okay but overstyled.
