One of the oldest Automotive blogs in Malaysia. Since 2006 and going strong.
Motoring-Malaysia.blogspot.my is an award winning Malaysian motoring / automotive / car news & reviews website or auto blog. It is where we rant and rave about cars, trucks, buses, motoring, motor vehicles and any interesting automotive industry related stuff. Unswayed in our point of view and darn proud of it! It's not about the numbers...it's about passion.
Many, many moons after its debut on 12 December 2018, Proton’s first SUV has finally been facelifted and upgraded. The popular and now facelifted Proton X70 SUV, a C segment sized SUV, has been unveiled at the Marriott Hotel, Putrajaya. This facelift is about time, and adds a nicely revised exterior, new interior styling bits, new equipment and an upgraded ADAS 2 active safety technology too. But those that want added connectivity to their phone, the X70 is now the first Proton with Apply CarPlay and Android Auto to come with the car.
Hello folks! This is the latest preview and test drive together with our thoughts on the upcoming 2025 facelifted Proton X70 SUV. The popular Geely based SUV has finally been facelifted and it has a lot of new stuff inside as well as new looks on the outside. The exterior gets a new bonnet with power bulges, a reworked front end with new bumper and grille as well as new headlights. The rear gets a reworked bumper that makes it look wider.
Sometime in early November 2023 we were invited by PROTON to try out their new C segment sedan, the 2024 Proton S70 1.5T sedan. This is their first all-new sedan since Geely came into the picture. Based on their BMA platform, this B/C segment car is based on the Geely Emgrand but we now think of this as a full C segment sedan as the car is actually nothing like a B segment sized car. It is as wide, and as long as a C segment sedan (think Toyota Corolla size – Corolla has an overall length of 4,630mm while the S70 is 4,638mm on a slightly shorter wheelbase).
Anyway, this video presentation is divided into four videos - Parts 1 to 4
Here is our preview and first opinion on the soon to be launched in Malaysian 2024 smart #1 BRABUS variant. This is built on the smart #1 Premium variant and adds twin electric motors to give it supercar levels of acceleration 0-100kmh in 3.9seconds. This is our second meeting with this crossover EV. The first was at the Proton Test Track in Shah Alam when it was all stickered up. So we got to drive it then but could not film or take photos of it.
smart Malaysia made its official Malaysian debut at the Electric Vehicle Expo (EVx) 2023 in Setia City Convention Centre in Shah Alam, where they had an exclusive sneak peek of its all-electric vehicle, smart #1 that was displayed on the show stand of Mercedes-Benz and smart Malaysia, for the very first time in Malaysia. smart, these days is a joint venture electric car designed and manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and Geely. This has been possible when Geely entered into partnership with Daimler (holding company for Mercedes-Benz) in 2019 and from just a very compact city car, smart is still a compact city car, but is now fully an electric vehicle brand.
Yesterday, the 28th March of 2023 PROTON previewed the long awaited X90 SUV to the media over in its Shah Alam styling studio. This is a 7 seat mild-hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) model. This is PROTON's entry into the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) market and starts them on their path to reducing carbon emissions by adopting green engine technology towards setting a new standard in sustainable mobility.
This is one unique looking scooter! BMW Motorrad Malaysia today announced the arrival of the New BMW CE 04 electric scooter. This is the first fully electric scooter in its local Urban Mobility portfolio and this is how the brand wants to showcase their electrification ambitions for not only the passenger car segment but the two-wheel landscape in Malaysia. This unique, boxy electric scooter was previewed at BMW Group Malaysia's preview of the facelifted BMW 3 Series and their 2022 performance report. No solid pricing as yet, but they are expecting somewhere in the RM60K region.
Hyundai-Sime
Darby Motor Sdn Bhd (HSDM) today officially launched the full sized Hyundai Palisade SUV. Priced from RM 328,888, it will be available in 4 variants: namely the EXEC 7 and EXEC 8 for the Diesel engine variants, and LUXE 7 and LUXE 8 for the petrol engine variants. The 7 and 8 here takes after the two seating options, which are the seven seater and the eight seater options respectively. It also brings a whole lot of SUV for the money as well as making us have another choice in the market.
Alright folks! The All-New 2021 Hyundai Elantra (CN7) C segment sedan has been previewed in Malaysia and we had a chance to attend the media preview. Thanks to Malaysian distributors Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors. So as usual, we made a video about it. These are our thoughts about the actually gorgeous looking compact sedan (which actually isn't so compact these days as cars have gone larger by a fair bit). Malaysia is getting only 1 variant, the 1.6liter normally aspirated SmartStream engined variant with a Hyundai IVT (CVT for you and me) 8 virtual speeds transmission. It is fully imported, open for bookings and whilst prices have not been announced yet it should not be around RM120K but more closer to the RM140k mark as it is fully loaded with a lot of features.
This is a hot lap around half of the Sepang Circuit. Actually, it is more of a 'warm' lap of the South Track (half track) Sepang Circuit in the Proton X50 1.5TGDI Flagship variant compact SUV by Ex-Proton R3 (Motorsport) Driver Mr Fariqe Hairuman. It wasn't stomach churning dramatic or anything as the nasi biryani I had for lunch stayed inside my stomach and did not come out the same way it came in. This exercise was part of the 2nd Media Preview of the new Proton X50 featuring Active Safety & Performance Features.
Here is our video on the Proton X50 after the first Media Preview. Forgive me if I do not sound enthusiastic in the video. It was made last weekend and the reason was that I had not have enough coffee as I slept late, woke up early. Usual weekend stuff. Anyway, got this out for you folks out there! This is our thoughts on the upcoming Proton X50 Compact SUV. Well, actually I was lazy. Enough said!
Videos - 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe preview - 2019 Proton Iriz Facelift Test Drive - 2019 Proton Persona Facelift Test Drive- 2019 Proton Exora Launch, Prices & Details
Selamat Hari Raya AidilFitri...Maaf Zahir & Batin. No updates here but we have not been quiet during this month of Ramadhan. We did quite a few videos over on YouTube folks so while we have been taking a break from writing, we have not been stopping doing videos, which is why I do suggest you people subscribe to the Motoring Malaysia channel over on YouTube.
I have to say that YouTube is the future as more and more people like moving pictures. It isn't as easy to produce compared to writing but both have their challenges. Personally, writing is nice as it allows your poetic side to use words to convey a picture within one's mind. As for video, it is easier to record, but on a personal note, I prefer to make our videos have better production values rather than just doing one long take and talking about a certain vehicle.
Note that I do like editing my videos so that it becomes somewhat like a mini documentary with a lot of B-Roll showing the vehicles rather than just a hand doing a walkaround.
Anyway, here are some of the videos which I have not updated here as yet. There is one on the facelifted Proton Iriz & Persona and on the newly available for sale here in Malaysia, 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. Not forgetting we have the launch video of the slightly revised 2019 Proton Exora 1.6 Turbo
We should be active again after hibernating during this fasting month!!! Stay tuned for more videos!
The 2019 Proton Iriz and Proton Persona facelifted models have been revealed to the general public at this year's Malaysia Autoshow yesterday. The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had the honour of doing so during the official opening of the Autoshow. The two cars will be on display throughout the Autoshow which will continue till 14 April (this sunday).
Bermaz, the authorised distributor of Mazda here in Malaysia have announced the exclusive preview of the Mazda CX-8 at the upcoming Malaysia Autoshow 2019. The now annual motorshow will be held on the 11-14 April 2019 at MAEPS. The venue is super suitable for a motorshow as it actually has a massive indoor and outdoor exhibition area for visitors to enjoy looking at the cars inside the halls and test drive the cars outside the exhibition halls. So while you catch a glimpse of the Mazda CX-8 inside the Mazda booth/pavilion, you can test drive some Mazda cars situated outside.
The 2019 Proton Persona facelift was officially unveiled to the Malaysian media yesterday and we also managed a test drive of the Persona 1.6 Premium CVT. This comes about eleven days after PROTON unveiled the 2019 Proton Iriz facelift. The whole preview process was held at PROTON’s Malaysia Design Centre and test track in Shah Alam. It was deja vu. Except this time the Iriz had become a Persona, which is essentially an Iriz with a boot. Since this is a facelift, the changes were down to the exterior styling, the addition of the voice command GKUI Infotainment system and some minor changes or quality improvements to 303 parts inside the facelifted Persona.
