New Mitsubishi Evolution To Be A Diesel Hybrid

" Imagine that, a Mitsubishi Evolution like the Evolution X pictured above may not emit a single exhaust drone at the traffic lights as the stop-start function has kicked in and when it accelerates, would sound like a Toyota Prius, i.e no sound at all, or like a Volkswagen TDI diesel accelerating or worse still, like a old Mercedes 240d taxi that is still in use somewhere in Africa."

Sigh, another petrol icon may bite the dust.

Read HERE to read what my opinion is on the matter over at CarThrottle.com.

Steering Wheel Styling Over The Years

I wrote this piece for CarThrottle.com. Steering wheels are something which most of us overlook but it is the part where we use the most to interact with the car. Our hands are alway on them, caressing them, turning them. Some of them look really good, but these days they all have airbags in the middle of them. In those days they looked all slim and slender. This is reason enough for me to write an article on steering wheels.

Click here to read the article and see more photos.

Driving The Best Car In The World, Circa 1992 - Mercedes Benz W140 S-Class

I drove a barge of a Mercedes Benz the other day and it was utterly relaxing, even after half a day of Kuala Lumpur traffic. But whatever you do, do not, I repeat use it to enter small lanes and where everyone double parks. It can be such a pain the the arse. Purely meant for hotel lobbies and for drivers to worry about navigating through tight spots. B-roads in this would be unbecoming as manhandling a barge or an elephant could lead to disastrous results.

Click here to find out how it drives. Posted on Carthrottle.com.

The Supposed Hairdresser's Favourite Gets Driven: Mazda MX-5 Roadster

Yes. In my opinion it still is one of the most sprightly traditional open top coupes around. Some may say that it lacks the feel of the 1st and 2nd generation models. Maybe so, but compare it with any other car in the same category or price range it is so much better. Slightly grown up and I believe it is for the better.

Click here to read about it. Posted over at Carthrottle.com.

A Tribute To The Great Bugatti...a.k.a. Web 2.0 Is Making Us Lazy!!!!!!

What started off as a tribute to the great Bug turned out into something totally ironic...whereby Yours Truly takes a potshot at the internet. Ironic as the article itself was posted on the internet!

Take a look here, as posted on Carthrottle.com

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302: Two Ignition Keys Too Many

The 2011 Boss Mustang is a car we won't see here in Malaysia (UNLESS, some crazy person buys one even though its left hand drive). There could be someone as a friend of mine recently sent me a photo of a Cobra GT500 in its full left hand drive glory at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

The reason I wrote about it is that the car has something silly called a 'TRACKEY'. It is basically another key that you'd use to unleash more throttle response, feel to the steering and some power I suppose but I find it more related to marketing crap.

Read the article which has been posted on carthrottle, here.

KL INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW GETS COVERED.....

......And I haven't even begun to write on the previous article yet! It has really been a fantastic few weeks for me....Anyway, do head over to Car Throttle as they have posted my coverage on the matter. Click HERE to head towards it.

Lotus’ New Lineup & Why I Feel Shortchanged

I wrote this editorial piece for CarThrottle.com recently on Lotus. News from Autocar said that Lotus is planning to build only the Esprit after previewing 5 cars at the Paris Motor Show recently. I feel slightly shortchanged as it's more about building hype than actually building cars. Not to mention the fact that the Lotus Esprit concept isn't that light in the first place even if they claim it is. Click here to read about it.

How To Name A Successful Sports Car Company

I have put my theory about naming a successful sports car company in writing over at Carthrottle.com. I believe the correct name is very important if you don't have heritage like Ferrari, Porsche or Maserati. Click here to go directly to the article.

More on the W124 Featured Earlier and What Can Be Expected over the next few months.

The Mercedes Benz W124 200E I wrote about earlier has basically undergone a very thorough transformation. I decided to get it posted over at CarThrottle.com. Click here to read Part 1 of the article. Part II has also been posted. Do check the articles out for a total write up on the W124.

Update On What May Be Coming

I had the opportunity to drive two icons recently. One is current and already a handling icon, made by Mazda and is a Roadster. The other car is another three pointed star saloon  that I think is the best 4 door saloon in the world, albeit in the year 1992 that is. These two test reviews may take a while as I do have a day job too, remember? And great work cannot be rushed, so they say.....

You guys also should be reading soon about what I think about the slew of Lotus cars that were recently on display at the Paris Motor Show. That will be over in myautoblog.org soon.

There will also be some stuff on myautoblog about a recent trip to Ipoh. Some travel stuff to get the people over at the Lion City to start exploring Malaysia instead of driving around that City state only. I haven't started this yet and like the two test reviews above, greatness cannot be rushed........

One of two other articles are also planned. It also involves a shocking discovery at the local Toy'r'Us. A toy which I think is pretty sad in my opinion.

The Last GT-Four

I recently did this piece on the Toyota Caldina GT-Four for CarThrottle.com. The last of the Mohicans, the last of its kind for the time being maybe. All in all, the Caldina is a nice looking station wagon, and that's about it really. The rest is very typical Toyota. Smooth, linear in its power delivery, long lasting reliability and quality. It makes easy cruising at 150-170km/h (higher speeds are possible but the 4 speed autobox limits refinement a tad bit) . But do not expect it to be like an Impreza WRX or a Civic Type R or a Lancer Evolution. Do not even expect it to be as sporty as a Celica GT-Four. Which actually isn't that mind blowing also as its smooth, linear and feels too refined to be an all out sports car - a sports tourer maybe. Even though it is a rally special.

I should know as I have driven both. Do expect it to be a refined, grand tourer, fast enough to take out those pesky MPVs that litter the highway during festive occasions as well as those seemingly impatient Honda Accord and Toyota Camry drivers that flash their headlights as if they are the only cars fast enough on our roads.

Anyway, I am babbling a bit. Click here if you want to read the article.

The Future is the Automatic Transmission

Hello people.... This here is an editorial piece I've written especially for CarThrottle. Click here to read it.

The Audi A4 Gets To Breathe, and Fart a Little Easier....

As what the owner said, "It Ain't Rocket Science". That being said, the mods do work very well. Read it in CarThrottle.org.

Two Articles of Mine on CarThrottle.Com For Your Reading Pleasure

I've got two new articles of mine on carthrottle.com. Click here to read about Lady Gaga, Too Much Money and Mad Cars and here to read about Why I am not too keen on  Hybrid and Electric Cars. Of course I have written about this on myautoblog before, but this is an expanded and a little more detailed article than before. Enjoy.

A Peugeot 308 1.6 Turbo review for CarThrottle.com

Hello people. This is a review on the Peugeot 308 1.6THP Turbo auto that is sold here in Malaysia on a UK based website. One important point I have to state is that the review was written from a Euro-centric point of view, where car prices make sense and you don't get a 308 turbo selling for the same price as a Lancer 2.0GLS or a Civic 1.8 or much cheaper than a 1.6 Golf Mk5 that sold here for RM150K.

In our market, I guess you HAVE to live with its major handling shortcomming as no car in the RM115K price range would give you a corker of an engine, overstyled French design, a decently large interior and high speed cruising pleasure (not windy road pleasure, mind you). If you were to compare to the others in the price range, you may be swayed by what the Peugeot 308 offers.

The Missus and I are trying to poison my sister-in-law to go get the 1.6 normally aspirated version that costs around RM95K. RM95K for a French car against a RM84K Kia Forte, RM90K Honda City, RM80K Toyota Vios, RM85K for a Mazda 2 hatch, RM99K for a Hyundai i30 and a RM92K Nissan Latio sport hatchback. This is one of the most confusing car markets around as car classes overlap like crazy.  Hopefully this would mean that I get to try that version too.

Have a read guys and gals. The article can be found in detail here. Feel free to comment.