SHORT TEST DRIVE: THE JAGUAR F-PACE 3.0 Supercharged R-Sport - The noise, I love the noise it makes

I must say that this compact luxury SUV is a surprise. The thing about the F-PACE is that it sits on a special to Jaguar-only platform. It uses the same platform as the new Jaguar XE and C-X17 Concept SUV. When it first came out I thought Jaguar Land Rover was going to take the Range Rover Evoque chassis, slap on a Jaguar nose and change the plumbing so that the car sounds like a growly Jag instead of a subdued Landie or Range. But no. I was wrong.

3rd Gen Proton Saga open for booking,Teaser Pics & SHORT TEST DRIVE of all variants

The Proton Saga. A Malaysian icon. Like Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai and Fried Mamak Mee. A symbol of something affordable for the masses. It has been awhile since PROTON started selling the 2^nd generation Saga BLM and now they've come up with a replacement which will be prices from RM37,000 to RM45,000. The car is scheduled to be launched very soon and here you have some teaser pics of the car, some technical details, some other details and my very short test drive of ALL of the variants that would be on sale 

UPDATED (16 August - press release & feature list) : All-New Proton Persona is now officially available for booking!

As I mentioned in a previous article, the all-new Proton Persona is now available for booking at all authorised dealers at an indicative price of RM47,000 to RM61,000 in Peninsular Malaysia and RM49,000 to RM63,000 in Sabah & Sarawak. With 3 years Free Service (Parts & Labour, T&C applies) for bookings made by 30th September 2016!

Short Test Drive: I've DRIVEN the All-New PROTON PERSONA 1.6 - Manual & Auto Tested. UPDATED with new pics

The all-new Proton Persona will be launched on the 23rd of August 2016. For now it will come in three variants - the 1.6 manual, 1.6 automatic and the 1.6 premium. The order books for the Persona will be opened sometime next week but Proton have not revealed its pricing for the car as yet. According to them, the car will be priced competitively. 

SHORT TEST DRIVE: 2016 HONDA CIVIC 1.5 TC-P - Honda's foray into mass produced turbocharged vehicles & its competitors

Honda Malaysia launched the tenth generation Civic recently. This has to be the most awaited C segment car launch in recent times here in Malaysia. I have not heard so much talk about a C Segment car like this in a long time. This is because the C segment sedan has been a dying market for most car makers here. The prices for the cars in this category are around RM100,000 to around RM140,000 and it actually overlaps a lot of the smaller B segment cars and the larger, D segment, full sized cars in the market. It also has to deal with the popular in recent times B and C segment sized SUVs and MPVs which actually take a sizable chunk out of the sales. So when Honda teased the fact that the new FC series Civic was going to have a 1.5liter turbocharged engine, people started paying attention.

SHORT TEST DRIVE: NEW 2016 PROTON PERDANA 2.0 & 2.4 AT THE PROTON TEST TRACK

Prior to the launch of the new 2016 Proton Perdana (launch article is here), I had written earlier that I was invited to try out the new production ready Proton Perdana 2.0 and 2.4liter variants at the Proton semi-high speed oval track. This was another one of those hush-hush sessions where we were not allowed to take any photos. So the photos here are the official press photos. This here is the short drive report for you to digest. The longest and most detailed you would see so far on how this car drives.

The hot Volvo S60 T6 officially on sale in Malaysia and we get a SHORT TEST DRIVE in one

 Volvo Car Malaysia launched the S60 T6 variant of their premium compact sports sedan with a very engaging presentation by Managing Director, Mr Lennart Stegland (pictured above - right and below). This event marks his first official engagement with the Malaysian media and he basically explained to us Volvo Car's Powertrain Strategy. This was partly due to the fact that the path of future Volvo Cars has been chartered for at least ten or so years with their Drive-E philosophy taking center stage. 

Short Test Drive: 2016 Jaguar XF Prestige 2.0liter

I tried out the all new Jaguar XF Prestige 2.0 at the Malaysian launch of the XF here in Subang Jaya. This is one of two models available here in Malaysia. The XF Prestige gets 17-inch Lightweight 15-spoke wheels, perforated leather seats, metal tread plates with Jaguar script and multi-function soft-grain leather steering wheel. The other being the XF R-Sport gets a sport suspension, 18” Helix 10-spoke wheels and R-Sport bodykit, R-Sport branded multi-function soft-grain leather steering wheel and R-Sport branded metal tread plates. However, the test units were all Prestige models with different options including larger wheels and tyres. I drove one with fatter 20inch wheels. The one on the left. In that nice Italian Racing Red.

Short Test Drive: 2015 Proton Perdana 2.0 - I get to try out this Civil Service only model and more thoughts on the upcoming model

Lunch today was memorable. It was memorable because the food was good as was the company. I also managed to try out a 2015 Proton Perdana 2.0P. Most of you readers out there would know this second generation Proton Perdana as the badge engineered 8th generation Honda Accord and one that is exclusively used by the Malaysian Civil Service, Government officials including Ministers and senior management of DRB-Hicom and Proton. 

Short Test Drive: The Jaguar XE 2.0 Prestige & XE 2.0 R-Sport

R-Sport on the left, Prestige on the right

Today I wanted to start off this article with something witty and anecdotal but I somehow cannot find anything interesting to say. Well actually I have a lot to say, but then we'd never get to the car that is supposed to be featured in this article.

XE Prestige 2.0 20T 

SHORT TEST DRIVE: MERCEDES BENZ GLC 250 4MATIC

A few weeks ago I was invited to try out the Mercedes Benz GLC 250 4Matic SUV at Cycle & Carriage's Mercedes Benz showroom located along Jalan Tun Razak (incidently my favourite Mecedes Benz showroom to visit - free plug here peeps!). The Mercedes Benz GLC-Class is Mercedes Benz's answer to the Audi Q5 and the BMW X3. It is a long time coming as prior to this, Mercedes Benz had no direct competitor, locally or in right hand drive markets. Before the GLC existed, which was sometime 2015, Mercedes Benz only had something called the GLK for left hand drive markets. This was actually a huge mistake and if you noticed, there are lots of Audi Q5s and BMW X3s around. Of course, now with the launch of the GLC in Malaysia, things are bound to change.