Dad's got a new car - or is it?

I'm a super-smiling guy today, because I found the car I was looking for at a price that I could pay, and so move aside the golden frog/jelly bean (now needing new tyres, battery, power steering unit, wipers, shocks and another aircon service, no thanks) and welcome to something much smaller - the pea. I don't think even a car aficionado like yourself will have seen one - though please put me right here if I'm wrong - but my new, superfantastic wheels are in the form of this, oficially called a Daihatsu Mira Gino Turbo Minilite Special (seems like the Japanese go for short punchy names) - all 659cc three screaming cylinders of it - that's right - a 0.6l car. However, before snorting into your chili cheese macmuffin - bear in mind the following: it's rated as one of the greenest cars you can get (114g/km of C02, if you're into those sorts of statistics) and sports a three cylinder multivalve, turbocharged, with a fat intercooler, red lines at 8,500rpm (proof here if you click the pic), and runs through to a mind boggling 10,000 rpm (it doesn't matter how small it is, something going round that fast has got to move you) ABS, dual airbags, deafness inducing sound system, and as you can see, mint condition – frankly my dream car. Here's the Jeremy Clarkson (younger with a very bushy hairstyle indeed) take on it as a driving experience –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptiMZTm4F34


though in his case the older, non retro model of my now exquisitely designed and finished little beauty. (Mine's predecessor is the red one in the clip, and frankly it's lacking aesthetically). The clip's quite good if you want a brief explanation of what exactly Kei cars are, and why I love them so much. Why you can't (or should I say couldn't when I was there) get them in SA is beyond me - it really is the way to go with oil at U$108 a barrel and climbing. You'll notice that it's good for a trip to the shops too.

Got to love Aiden’s expression. He might only be sub four – but he knows how to keep a bead on the monster, and my oath is he turning into one, your youngest brother is; Ange says it's the terrible twos come early - if she's wrong it's certainly going to be entertaining when they do arrive.