Volvo Owner’s Club Singapore Desaru Breakfast Drive

On Sunday 10^th June, the first stroke of sun rays broke in the horizon to find a conspicuous group of cars as they assembled at the petrol station after the Tuas Checkpoint. Those 20 cars and their owners have not assembled there by sheer luck or coincidence: as heralded proudly by their cars, they are all members of the Volvo Owner's Club Singapore (VOCSG), and the reason they gathered on this fateful morning was to have breakfast in a change of scenery. 

Desaru Malaysia was deemed as a nice place to go to, garnered with the sheer motivation behind the breakfast was the splendid drive to the resort itself.

At 7:15am, all members were gathered and the convoy comprising of Volvos ranging from the C70 convertible to the mighty XC90 SUV and a fleet of S40, S60 and S80 hit the highway, accompanied by more friends driving cars from other makes. I quickly jumped into the silver C70 driven by Alex Hong, and with the top down, we lined up in the convoy heading to Desaru.

The well organised convoy leaders and sweepers, co-ordinated by walkie-talkies, ensured no one was left behind during the whole drive, and everybody was able to enjoy the road and scenery without fear of any incident. Driving at the break of dusk was the perfect combination for low traffic and reasonable temperatures that allowed the engines to suffer less from the sun’s heat, gas conservation by not overloading the cars' air-conditioning systems, but also allowed me and Alex to enjoy the fresh, cool morning air of the uncluttered Malaysian roads as we cruised from East to West in the only convertible car of the convoy.

One of the highlights of the drive was a magnificent new road that the group coveted to experience, which might have been, in my opinion, the main motivation behind the whole episode, was the new E22 highway to Desaru.

The two-lane wide expressway was made readily for a faster ride, although some of the drivers commented that when experienced through stiffer aftermarket suspensions, the E22 was a bit too bumpy to be properly enjoyed.

About an hour after leaving the meet-up point, the bridge that crosses the Sungai Papan was in sight and all drivers began to decelerate to enjoy the breath-taking view of that magnificent sky-scaping suspended bridge that added life to the scenery before their very eyes.

A quick quarter of an hour later, the convoy reached the Pulai Desaru Beach Resort and its sumptuous buffet breakfast with a scenic view on the sea.

There, the members of the VOCSG indulged in an International-cuisine Breakfast, relaxed and exchanged stories about their love for cars and each other’s valuable life experiences.

Once everybody had their blissful and filling breakfast, the group of non-Volvo owners headed off first, leaving all 20 Volvos and their owners through an exercise of being described as “car-contortionism” to fit all the cars in the minute car-park space available in the hotel vicinity for the group photo. The vehicles were slotted in place, and, after the moment was immortalized, all got behind the wheel of their Swedish rides, all set to head west back to the small, sunny island of Singapore.

A few grey clouds threatened to ruin our top-down ride, but the sun seemed to have taken a liking to the Volvo convoy and made sure the trip back was basking in its golden light.

Once again, the bridge over the Sungai Papan carried the cars across the river and then waved a last goodbye to the Volvo Owner’s Club as it disappeared into the horizon, leaving the Swedish rides raving over the open roads and taking the E22 again, the opposite way this time.

There was a clear difference between the way to and the way back from Desaru as the drivers, now fully awake and satiated, let their Volvos stretch their strong legs on the still empty roads. This allowed me to experience not only the stability of Volvos at high speeds, but also the power that lurks under the hood of these modest-looking cars. 

Even when riding with the top down, the C70 was shielding us so well from high-speed winds that me and Alex could have a conversation without screaming at the top of our voice to hear each other.

Without me even realising it, the Volvos ate the kilometres back to Singapore with a bigger appetite than their owners preyed on the breakfast buffet earlier, and within a bit over an hour, the group was stopping at the last petrol station before the Tuas checkpoint for one last fuel stop, before parting ways to reach home in time for lunch.