If you bought a new flat, how often would you stand in the corridor admiring your apartment from outside? You’d probably use the corridor as a lift lobby connector.
The same goes for a new car. You like its exterior styling, of course, but ultimately you’re going to spend most of your time inside the cabin, doing all the motoring that your motorcar is designed/meant to do.
And it would motor for up to 10 years if you keep it till its COE (certificate of entitlement) expires. Assuming you clock an average of 50 kilometres per day, the car would have travelled over 180,000 kilometres in those 10 years. Admittedly, most local motorists don’t keep their cars that entire period, but a mileage of 20,000km per year is typical for most cars in Singapore. This is why the usual warranty coverage for a new car is either three years/60,000km or five years/100,000km. Put another way, the typical driver here spends up to an hour or two behind the wheel each day.
Now, imagine how many times the doors of your car are opened and closed in the course of a year, or five years, or 10 years. The windows, too, would be lowered and raised countless times. The seats are occupied, vacated and re-occupied ad infinitum. The dashboard, switches and cabin fittings are used/reused/abused over and over again. Parked under the harsh Singapore sun, the cabin can get as hot as 80 degrees Celsius.
It’s a real torture test, and it’s really difficult for your car’s interior to last as long as its COE.
