Sunday Lite: I Miss Suzuki Cars - Someone Should Start Bringing Them In Again.

I miss Suzuki cars. Sometime in 2016 Suzuki decided to pull out of Malaysia after deciding to enter into some sort of joint venture arrangement with Proton. They were to pull out of the Malaysian market and let Proton rebadge their vehicles starting with the Suzuki Ertiga. Of course, by some horrific twist of fate, they got snookered as Proton was forced by some unseen hand to quickly find a foreign partner which they did in the form of Geely.

Spotted for Sale: 1989 Suzuki Swift / Cultus GTI - A pocket rocket in the truest sense

This is another interesting car that has recently been put for sale recently over at mudah.my, the favourite place for Yours Truly to trawl the want ads and dream a little. This is a gem of a car, the original Suzuki Swift GTI. Also known as the Suzuki Cultus GTI (as it is called in Japan), it is one of those cars that garnered a reputation for those of us who started dabbling with cars from the mid-1980s and throughout the 1990s. 

Suzuki Swift Sport CVT - THE One to drive if you cannot do the shifting yourself

Fun to drive cars have always been a priority over here on Motoring-malaysia.blogspot.com. We thrive on driving cars that are fun. They may not have to be superfast but they have to have an emotional attachment with the driver when on the move. The thing about 'soulful' cars is there they are usually expensive here in Malaysia as we suffer, yes, suffer from obscene taxes and other whatnots. You need good credit rating with the bank or you must have a really fat monthly salary to indulge in such cars here in Malaysia. But occasionally you have the Suzuki Swift Sport to give you a rush at a price of around RM100,000. Hey, RM100,000 is affordable for a fun car in this day and age. Sad but true.

Happy New Year People!!!!! And a Picture of a Ferrari Dino to end 2011

2012 beckons! I hope it will be another fruitful year for all of us.

Anyway, I do not wish to be retrospective as too many other websites, facebook and twitter postings would want us to sing Auld Lang Syne and other nostalgic stuff. I did nostalgia recently already remember?

But let's end 2011 with a photo of what a new 'small' Ferrari will never ever be like again. Small and totally curvy for the sake of being curvy. The Dino 246GTS. Spotted around Petaling Jaya early this year and that little car sounded great too. Oh yes, it wasn't equipped with a V8, but a 2.4liter V6. It was actually marketed as 'almost a Ferrari' back then as this was supposed to be the budget line for Ferrari. But everyone calls it a Ferrari Dino. It is actually worthy of the name, even without the supposedly required V8 engine that a Ferrari should have.

But it is small, and if it's small you don't really need such a large engine. Especially in those days. Check out how small it looks next to a Suzy Swift. Dainty isn't it?

Happy New Year people.

The 2012 Suzuki Swift Sport Is Finally Revealed

Suzuki has finally revealed the new Suzuki Swift Sport. Based on the recently launched new Swift launched early this year it should be equipped with the same 50mm longer wheelbase and lots more size and space. And we in Malaysia haven't even received the new bread and butter Swift to date. The reason we are not getting a new Swift when Singapore has already got the latest Swift models is that we assemble out Swifts locally. I suppose CKD packs of the current Swift have not run out to make it economically feasible for them to bring in the latest model. Boo Hoo to Suzuki Malaysia.

Anyway, aside from the small rant above the new Swift Sport should be going on sale sometime next year. If it is brought here we should get the 5 door version instead of the one pictured above which is certainly a Euro only variant as even the Japanese got the 5 door version of the previous Swift Sport.

It will get a revised 1.6liter DOHC engine that'll put out 134hp instead of 125hp. It also gets 160Nm instead of 148Nm torque. I suppose this is to offset the slight gain in size (and bulk) of the new car. It also gets a 6 speed gearbox  and 17 inch alloys too. I suppose the alloy wheel upgrade is necessary considering the car is slightly larger now.

Whatever the case is I hope that it'll handle like the earlier car, which was bloody good (aside from having a slightly tallish sitting position which is actually typical in all modern superminis). I rate that car as one of the best affordable drives around. You can click here to go to read about what I thought of the soon to be replaced Suzy Swift Sport.

New Layout and a Test Drive: 2008 Suzuki Swift 1.5

As you can now see, I've finally learnt more about making this blog looking better than it was before. It has taken me a few months to actually decide on whether I should make such a change or not. Mainly as I was a little too preoccupied with other matters like raising a kid, drinking Earl Grey tea at home or going shopping with the missus. I think this new format does wonders to the outlook of this site and if I was a little less lazy, it would have been done sooner!