1990s Honda Impreza - Just found these photos from 2010 on my PC

This is a Honda Impreza. No joke. Neither Honda nor Subaru ever made these before. This is just the ingenuity of one of our fellow Malaysian. I actually had these pics taken from mudah.my in 2010 but I promptly forgot about this super modified Honda City who wanted so much to be a Subaru. Scoop, goalpost spoiler and all. It was hidden away somewhere and I managed to find them as I was looking through some older files from my hard drive. Boy. I'd like to give these people another A for effort. And another A for allowing the friendly neighbourhood fiberglass shop to make some money.

J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2015 Malaysia Initial Quality Study (IQS) - Honda, Perodua and Toyota comes up tops

J.D Power Asia Pacific has released their latest survey for the Initial Quality Study (IQS). According to them, as our cars get more sophisticated and filled with tech, the actual knowledge of how to use the equipment affects how the owner perceives the quality of the car. Imagine that, if you were an idiot, who does not read the (now extremely very thick) owner's manual, you may end up thinking that the car you just bought is a dud. So what JD Power adds is that the salesperson can make sure the owner is comfortable with the technology thus significantly reducing the number of problems the owner experienced with their vehicle. Wow. Now you know what manufacturers must deal with most of the time when trying to sell a car.

Honda City SX8 into a Honda Impreza from years ago. Malaysia Boleh.

Now speaking about Subaru Impreza GD series (here called V7/8/9) clones, I have to say that the first generation  ASEAN only Honda City SX8 (not counting the two earlier Japan based ones) I saw five or six years ago is the best that I have seen so far. The Saga BLM, Waja clones aren't as good as this. Of course, there were those who bought the Hyundai Accent with the locally made RXS (stupidly using same logo and font for its badge as a Yamaha RXS motorcycle sold years earlier in Malaysia) and rebadged it as a Subaru.

This 'Honda City was only sold in South East Asia and is based on the then recently discontinued Honda Civic EF chassis. That chassis was actually quite good and even though the City came with a SOHC VTEC 1.5liter engine, it could handle the hotter Twin Cam 1.6liter VTEC used in the hotter SiR EF Civics easily. So those days we had some of these Cities with at least 160hp instead of 102hp.

Honda gets 10,000 bookings within a month for the All-new Honda City.

Fuiyoh. But what do you expect with the Honda City? It is a Honda and therefore its badge carries some weight. The all-new Toyota Vios seems like a rehash of the earlier one with and basically has a new suit (I have come to the opinion that Honda seems to have won this round as it has more tech, equipment and is unpretentious - I mean check out the Vios' interior fake leather stitching made out of moulded plastic for heaven's sake!!!!). The Nissan Almera seems to be downright dowdy in terms of styling. And everyone who's badge conscious, and there are many here in Malaysia, would not want to be seen in the quieter, more refined, sometimes faster (when turbocharged) Proton Preve and Suprima S.

So do read onwards to the press release if you are interested folks.

In defense of: A local REBADGED Tiger from a Diamond instead of a Toyota or a Honda or any B segment Car

2.0liter variable valve timing 4 cylinder engine, 148hp (150ps), 197Nm, 200km/h, 0-100km/h in around 10.5secs or faster, multi-link suspension at the rear, CVT (with optional pedal shifters), fully equipped cabin and all for around RM90,000 (and Japanese technology too). The Toyota Vios pictured above has a 1.5liter vvt 4 cylinder engine, 105ps, 141Nm, 180+km/h, 0-100km/h in around 11secs, beam axle rear suspension, ancient 4 speed automatic, even more plasticky materials in the cabin for around RM90,000 if you're crazy enough to buy the TRD specced Vios at RM93,000 or RM88,000 for a G spec model. Madness isn't it? Why are you buying this??????

All-new 2014 Honda City is making its rounds now

The all-new 2014 Honda City was displayed at Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya over the weekend. I suppose this is a pre-launch roadshow for Honda's B segment sedan...a.k.a the Toyota Vios fighter. It will be priced around RM70,000-90,000 depending on what spec you choose and it will be officially launched here in Malaysia sometime in March.

How does it look in the metal?

All-New 4th Generation Honda City launched over in India. Gee.... didn't we just have a motorshow for Honda to launch something like this?

Honda has just launched the 4th Generation Honda City in India and the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show 2013 has just finished. What does this tell you? Whilst we are important enough to get the all-new Honda Odyssey two weeks after its Japan launch we aren't important enough to launch Honda's B-segment car. But then again, what's a high tax, price controlled market like Malaysia compared to a market with a billion people like India? Pretty obvious isn't it.