Mastodon

A Week With The Big-Assed Sharan

I had a really good time with Volkswagen’s largest MPV, the 2-litre-engined Sharan.

Being a station wagon owner myself, I am partial to large movers of people and sporting equipment. My first car was called a “sports car” by my friends because of the large number of sporting equipment stashed in the rear – not because I was sporty, but because I was too lazy to clean it out.

The first task was to play a prank on my unsuspecting mother-in-law who had been away in her native Taiwan for a week. She called to inform us of her arrival time and (but) told us not to pick her up because there wouldn’t be enough space in the car for both her and half of Taiwan’s edible produce.

We told her not to worry as our car would be big enough. When it came time to load up (after the customary dinner at the airport after arrival – which is a very Singaporean thing come to think of it – where else do you dine at the airport AFTER arriving?) the mother in law was blur enough not to notice that the car had completely changed from a blue five seater max station wagon to a brand spanking new seven seater black sliding door with sun-roof big assed MPV.

Kai was in on the prank, and punked his grandma that we had traded in her German marqued sedan for another German marqued MPV.

Suspicious, the mother in law inspected the car closely, looking at the speedometer and realising that it was indeed a new car – and that it had space to contain half of Taiwan’s edible produce.

She then interrogated us at length on why we bought the car, and our answers:

Cos it’s big
Cos it’s only $208.8K before discount
Cos it’s big
Cos it’s a true MPV, not a mousy little one where people ask, “hey, is that an MPV?” And you go, “You Wish ah!”
Cos it’s big

Volkswagen’s loan was timed very well too – I had a show to put up at the Drama Centre, and so we had to load up production crew as well as costumes, props and other production paraphernalia. We made it in one go. There’s never been a time when a piano stool was transported in more glamorous circumstances.

Apart from it being really useful in theatre productions, I would seriously consider the Sharan if we needed to carry more people, and if we could really find a way to trade in my mother-in-law’s car.

Think about what your use would be, cos there’s a contest on Instagram – take a pic and tell us why you think you’d need a Sharan in 100 characters. Mine will be “I like Big VDubs and I cannot lie”. You might get to enjoy the big-assed Sharan like I did, for a whole week!

#INEEDASHARAN

To participate, simply post a picture (on instagram or on the #INEEDASHARAN facebook app) showing why you need a Sharan, along with the has tag #ineedasharan.

The top 10 most voted will be selected and judged by the Volkswagen SG panel, and the top 5 will be selected winners.
The prize? A week drive with the Sharan.

Anyone is free to participate, but ultimately, the winners will have to be 24 and above and have a driving license.

VW014T13_INEEDASHARAN_Banner_800x600_v1

Backing out of our parking lot with camera assist and a chirpy back seat driver
Backing out of our parking lot with camera assist and a chirpy back seat driver
Fully loaded at the Drama Centre stage door
Fully loaded at the Drama Centre stage door
Yup, that's a piano stool. And we didn't even take out the child seat!
Yup, that’s a piano stool. And we didn’t even take out the child seat!
Production crew on board too!
Production crew on board too!
Perhaps the best reason to need a Sharan for a week!
Perhaps the best reason to need a Sharan for a week!

Voicing The Beetle

Put a brand new car on public display, get one comic actor and one comic writer in a control room that allows them to talk to the occupants of the car, hilarity ensues. That was the formula the organizers thought of the past fortnight, and they were right. Chua Enlai and myself had so much fun we fought over the microphone on Sunday at Raffles City.

I’m quite certain members of the public who ventured into the 21st Century Beetle to fiddle around with it had fun too – especially the couple who brought their two dogs which barked when the Beetle “barked”.

Check out photos of other people who sat in the Beetle.

UOB Mobile App lets you send cash to people

Quite a while ago myself and a bunch of people were treated to a preview of UOB’s mobile banking app. Most banks in Singapore have adopted mobile banking in one way or another. (There are some banks which still haven’t grasped this, or are unable to – and their idea of mobile banking is to make sure you are mobile enough to run from branch to branch).

UOB’s great bell and whistle is to enable users to send cold hard cash to other people, even if they’re not UOB customers, and even if they don’t have an ATM card.

The recipient has to have his/her IC No. registered in your list of transferees on your internet banking first, so you can’t add someone on the fly and send them money. This puts paid to my main concern that loan sharks and other undesirable people might use this to their advantage.

The one scenario where sending cash could be really useful is when you forget your wallet, together with cash and ATM card, and you really really need to buy something before going home. You just have to send yourself money. Problem solved.

The blog Fash-Eccentric has outlined the steps needed to do this, so I won’t go into the details.

What’s quite fun to play with, however, is the app’s augmented reality UOB card promotions finder. If you’re out about town, you simply turn on the feature, use your phone like a scanner to locate eateries with UOB discounts:

As you can see, Li Bai Restaurant is in my cereal box, and The Song Of India is sandwiched next to my bread bin.

UOB Mobile Banking App is available for iOS and Android.

Elmo finally announces the winner

There’s seldom a time when I don’t say I’m completely swamped with work and other obligations.

So I’m saying sorry to those who’ve waited and waited for an announcement on who’s won a Let’s Rock Elmo from my Let’s Rock Elmo Contest several months ago, and offering even more apologies to those who’ve waited, forgotten and now have been reminded that they’ve been waiting almost three months. (And sorry to Hasbro too).

But today’s a special day, and I’m declaring a winner! Have fun, little man!