My review on the newly launched Mazda 2 sedan is out.

Hello again. The review on the Mazda 2 sedan has been posted on myautoblog.org.  Click on the title or the highlighted part earlier to see what I think of it.

The blue Evo above and two articles on myautoblog.org: the ST185 Celica and about car electronics

Hello. It's a pretty nice Sunday today. Nice as that it's 11.00am and I've just woken up. It has been a pretty good week as far as motoring is concerned. Nothing fancy like driving any cars like what I did last week. Just a nice Teh Tarik session with the boys from LMY snails on Friday night. LMY snails (named after theshape of the turbo) is an unofficial group of us that frequent a fantastic Subaru (all types), Mitsu (a few good ones - a Makinnen, few 7s, 8s and X), Nissan (some 350z, V35 Skyline) etc. all in one tuning/workshop/bodyshop/paintshop and gathering spot named LMY located in a 'secret' building in Subang Jaya.

 One good example of a car exclusively tuned by LMY is the blue car in the opening picture on top, a Mitsubishi Evolution 7 that has 460Nm of torque. I am not telling you the horsepower as yet. But that isn't that important as when you drive this car you'd find that turbo lag has been banished and off-boost response and power is amazing. On boost, it was fabulous, scary and epic, yet still very controllable. Never has that much power been so efficiently put down and still so drivable, with the exception of getting used to the racing clutch. I shall write about the driving experience of this car soon. Do not ask me how soon but a drive like the one I had in that car means that it is worth keeping a record of.

Anyway, lets see two of my recent articles posted on my myautoblog.org. One on the Toyota Celica GT4 ST185 and another about electronics in cars.
Click on the highlighted links of each subject to go directly to it.

Do read these articles and any others. And if any of you out there who frequent this site (with the exception of the regulars I happen to know), please leave a few words in the comments section of this blog so that I know you guys are out there.

Proton has gone bonkers: RM115K for a Satria Neo? (UPDATED)

Yes it has OHLINS for dampers and AP Racing for front brakes as well as Carbon Fiber for its bonnet. 125bhp to 145bhp. But RM115K? This is what you get when you spec Rolls Royce grade parts in a Perodua...or then again a Proton.


When they came out with the earlier Satria R3, I commented on zerotohundred.com that they spent so much money on the seats that it cost half of the extra amount of the price. I.e RM63K to RM78K and RM8K for the seats. The boys at R3 joined in the thread, and were miffed, a little. Now, they’ve basically binned the RECAROs for normal seats and threw in a lot of goodies. Looks like I was quite right in the end. Now, after a few years, they've come up with a street tabby cat that wears a diamond studded collar. Going by the cost of the parts in this new car that's exactly what it is. No doubt the parts are fab, but the price?

"My 1-series is front wheel drive" say 80% of BMW 1-series owners

Yes. BMW are miffed by the fact that their 1-series customers think that the front wheels drive the darn thing. Click on the title above to read the article. It is posted on myautoblog.org.

I was bored earlier today....and look what happened because of it.

Today I was a little bored. I was bored so when I arrived at Jalan Pahang from Kelana Jaya in Petaling Jaya I decided to take the long route to my office near Wangsa Maju; Jalan Pahang – Jalan Gombak – The Old KL-Bentong road – Genting Sempah/Karak Tunnel – Karak Toll – Middle Ring Road – Wangsa Maju. It took 45 minutes. Half an hour of hairpins and bends, albeit a little slippery since it rained heavily the day before.

I love this stretch of road. It is narrow and extremely challenging if you're wringing it. I wasn't. It was wet so I took it easy. Pushing it when its slightly damp and when you're alone on a road that does not have barriers and ravines on one side you tend to take it easy. But this is MY level of easy. So it still is a little fun with the little Impreza TS  about to lose grip on the more slippery corners. A slight understeer informs me that I'm overcooking it. Slight understeer is good when there's a ravine right beside you. So being sensible I slowed down.

Anyway. 45 minutes was all it took. About 30 minutes to Genting Sempah, and about 15 minutes back to Wangsa Maju. Which was decently fast, owing to very little lorries and traffic. I only encountered three going up to Genting Sempah.

When I was 19 and first started driving, I used to drive along the old KL-Bentong road on quite a regular basis. It was way quieter then, no houses past the twelfth mile (Batu 12) Jalan Gombak. There was even a steel Bailey bridge somewhere after that. The bridge doesn't exist anymore due to development. The same with the Ulu-Yam stretch. But I never actually finished either stretch, both led to Genting. It was usually a 15 to 20 minute slow drive in the evenings for me during those days where I'll hang out with a friend or two somewhere in between Gombak and Genting Sempah and just pass time. In those days, the early 1990s,I used to live in Gombak and then in Ampang. So these roads were like a short 'makan angin' drive for me. It was my playground. As was all the roads around Selayang-Gombak-Ampang-Cheras.

In those days the Middle Ring Road 2 was just a dual carriageway. It was actually a proper B-road if you wanted to put it mildly. After Taman Melawati there were no development till Ukay Heights. So this road was basically a river to the right (If you came from Melawati) and the jungle to the left. The road had some sweeping corners but nothing drastic. But people still had accidents there. As with most dual carriageways but that's beside the point. So traveling from a friend's house in Gombak to my house in Ampang in the early 1990s was a somewhat serious B-road jaunt. Many impromptu car races were fought by me and my little 2nd Generation Honda Civic there. Some I won, some I lost. So when I basically grew up and started work I couldn't see the relevance for me to keep hitting these roads for the sake of driving as they were my playground before it became a motoring pastime. It was only in the last five or six years or so I've actually took up driving purely for the pleasure and returned to these roads. It is a back to basics thing for me. And it has culminated into this latest trip and into this article. A Mastercard moment. Ergo, extremely priceless.

I met with only three lorries going my way...

pretty tight and slippery...you can't tell from the pics.

Karak Highway somewhere down below

...Genting Sempah....and NO I did not stop for a burger

..back through the Karak Tunnel...

A white Mazda 3 taking the downhill sweeping corners at around 120km/h. I was doing a relaxing 90km/h.

Odd ramblings on the Alfa Romeo Mito, the Mazda 2 sedan and my own Subaru Impreza 1.6TS

I recently had the opportunity to go try the Alfa Romeo Mito and the Mazda 2 sedan recently. The reason I wanted to try the Mito was that I was itching to get my hands on a new Alfa as I basically love Alfas. I tried the Mazda 2 sedan because the wife and I have decided to go look for a second car again as the need for one has arisen. No, the Alfa is manual and waaayyyy beyond what we intend to spend on a car.


Firstly, I loved the Alfa’s look and if it were down to looks I would buy it without a thought over the BMW Mini. However, as I wrote earlier, it handles like a high mileage shopping trolley from TESCO. The chassis is unresolved, steering vague and uncertain at different speeds and a chassis that does not work with the driver as well as I would have liked. So, I was disappointed. Another RM155K sporting car that I cannot buy. The reason I said that was that this figure is around the amount that I am willing to spend on any car if I wanted to upgrade from my trusty battle scarred Millennium Falcon like Impreza 1.6TS. It basically is a basic family sedan with some custom mods that, like the Falcon could do the Kessel run under 12 parsecs. If you are a Star Wars fan you’d know what I’m babbling about here. Actually its not that fast. It just handles simply sublime. Anyway I am just babbling here.

Secondly the Mazda 2 Sedan or Hatchback will sell for RM80-85K depending on spec. I tried the Mazda 2 sedan 1.5 auto with the R-Spec rims, 195/45/16 over 185/55/15 and a different front shock settings. It is a decent car to own with very high front end grip. In fact, the little family sedan here has a chassis that is slightly more resolved than the Alfa above although it is a much slower car. But the thing is, it somehow does not have the refinement of the little Suzuki, or even a Nissan Latio at that. Another beautiful looking car, especially the hatchback but it is lacking in some important areas like engine noise and wind noise at higher than normal speeds. Not something good for a family that happens to go on a lot of drive-to holidays like us. Of course we still have the Impreza, but what if we wanted to for the fun of it take the other car?

No, this isn’t about me getting old and that I cannot stand the lack of refinement anymore. Its just that if I went and drove a Nissan Latio to Penang and back I would come out of the Latio feeling better than if I did it with the Mazda. If I drove the Swift to Penang, I’d feel better also and be smiling as there is driving pleasure found here too.So there you have it. The two good looking cars I tried recently have faults.

Expect a longer review on the Mazda 2 sedan sometime soon either in here or over at myautoblog.org.

Personalize your Cygnet in any bizarre way you want says Aston Martin.

I find this new 'Aston' intriguing. Which is why I wrote about it on myautoblog.org. Something I've written about brand marketing of this sort is in the pipeline. I will post about it in here soon. Hope you enjoy this short write-up and my opinion on what I think actually arose based on a business decision to reduce average CO2 emissions of a certain brand.

Oooooo, look here, my review on the Alfa Romeo MITO is on myautoblog.org

 Ah. Looks like my review on the Alfa MITO is out on myautoblog.org. This is a car that looks fantastic for a supermini but drives like a shopping trolley. A disappointing drive, but a beautiful car.

The argument against electric cars of the near future

Yes. Another one that I wrote on myautoblog.org. This time about all-electric cars of the near future. I am not buying one anytime soon if you get my drift.

Toyota needs to rediscover their fundamentals and stop building Unclemobiles

Hello chaps! Another interesting posting for you to read on myautoblog.org by yours truly. This time about Toyota and how it has lost its plot in trying to be no.1. Actually its nothing new. But this is my take on the matter. Enjoy!

How to choose a car like you're James Bond......

“Mr Bond, I've been expecting you.” I think this must be one of the most remembered line from the movies. The other would be “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” But that is another matter as right now I just want to share with you how you should choose cars according to rules laid down by the everyone's favourite super spy, James Bond.

The cars have to have a certain criteria. Firstly, if you go by the fact that he's working in an agency (MI6) the car would be a company vehicle. But as we all know the agency he works for does espionage as its core business, the vehicles are a means to an end; i.e. a form of transport for travel, to tail a suspect, to escape from enemies and to seduce women (if the opportunity comes). So, while an Aston Martin is what is usually issued by Q branch when good ol' James goes on assignment it isn't always the car he uses. In some cases where he has to fly somewhere on short notice or where there isn't an MI6 office to procure an agency car from he has to make do with rentals. Notice that in Casino Royale he drives a Ford Mondeo and in Quantum of Solace he makes do with a Volvo S40 and some 4x4s too in a few Roger Moore movies. So the rules for cars used by James Bond would be as follows:

A recap on the soon to be outgoing BMW E60 5 Series

Hello readers. I had recently tested a friend's 530i recently and have posted the article on myautoblog.org. Have a read. In the mentime, here is a summary of the car which I didn't post on that site.

Good:
The Driving part especially with traction control disabled. Very balanced when you do so. Very grippy chassis. The only thing is that those who have graduated from Front Wheel Drive may get into an accident. In fact recently a family was killed on the orth-South Highway in a 5series. Rear Wheel Drive requires a different set of rules when driving at the limit. Namely, do not fully lift off the throttle in mid corner or else....

Bad:

• Rubbish Run flat tires that are hard but made no contribution to handling. So much better on normal tires.
• The I(diotic) Drive is what it is. Really user unfriendly.
• Interior isn't as good as a Mercedes or an Audi. But I wouldn't care if I'm driving it.

Now we get a photo of the rear underside of the 5series (together with the head of a tireshop assistant who looks like Elvis in the 1970s - albeit a Chinese version). This photo is something for you readers here. I have to state that the whole floorpan of the 5 series is quite flat and I think this contributes to the high speed stability of the car. Look to the right of the pic and you can see claddings beside the middle muffler. This is not in the article. Something special for you readers here.

Enjoy the article!

Those Porsche fans out there. Look what I've posted on Myautoblog

To those who think that Porsche are doing a great job in designing or those who think that Porsche have the laziest buncha designers in the world can go to my posting at Myautoblog.org on Porsche's designs.

See what you think about it. Feel free to give your comments (and brickbats) there. As in here in motoring-malaysia.blogspot.com its my domain. Here I am King. I can say whatever I want. And its not a democracy in here. But hey, if you've read some of my posts there I still write what I feel like writing.

Oh yeah. Happy Chinese New Year to all!

20 Years of Motoring. In those days there were no MPVs in Malaysia.

I just realised one thing. I got my driving licence at the age of 18 and I have been driving for 20 years. This basically shows that I am almost an old fart. Motoring throughout the years have been fun. And surprisingly, it is after nearly 2 decades of driving and motoring that I started blogging about most of the experiences. Well, those days the internet was a real 28.8kbps slow moving piece of information technology compared to the Gigabytes that we get these days from broadband. Nowadays everyone can access information and buy stuff off the internet. Something we didn't have those days.

In those days there wasn't much info on-line about modifying your car or about anything much actually. Computers were basically the same size but speeds were tortoise levels. I remember starting off on the internet in 1990 on Bulletin Boards. These was the forums of that era and information was limited to those with slightly more than basic PC knowledge. The PC I had was a 486SX-33mhz and 4mb RAM. Now, I'm on a notebook with about 2.6Ghz with 1Gb of RAM. I think. Streaming video was a thing that was never thought about. Streaming audio was already fabulous at the time. And back to cars, everything we had to find out about our next purchase or next mod were from magazines. It was a month to month thing waiting for the next issue of Performance Car or Fast Car to come out. Usually shipped a month late from the UK to Malaysia. Boy, we were backwards then.

Cars in 1990 were still light and nippy, and expensive aside from Proton. A 1.5 Saga Automatic cost around RM33,000.00 and the Honda Civic EF was the car to own, at around RM10,000-15,000 higher. I was driving around in a 1981 Honda Civic and, having any car was good enough. A car meant freedom, and I cherished it. When I didn't have the car around me, due to various reasons (it was actually my mum's car which I took over) like dad needed to use it as his car was in the workshop, things was slightly dull and depressing. You could impress the gals with any car those days.

These days, things are faster and so much more refined. People are so much more demanding and a 20 year old banger wouldnt get you through 1st base most of the time. Unless you pour alot of money into the ride of course as even a basic entry level car can handle decently and post a faster laps that 200bhp cars from 20 years ago. Technology has made things so much better. Maybe the only thing missing is soul. Everything is digital and there's not much place for analog. Even in cars. For example, cars have electric motors ruining steering feel for the 1% fuel economy. Cars have electronic everything that someone limits the car and driver interface. Everything goes through a single button to scroll aircondition, radio, cd, mp3, lights and so forth. Those days 1 switch operated 1 item. Not anymore.

But one good thing last time was that no one even heard of the concept of using MPVs. People could survive with just a 4 door sedan and travel places with it. I think we are spoilt for choice nowadays. And its making us make all the wrong choice. Those were the days. And aside from no MPVs on Malaysian roads, I think things are better nowadays.

The most pathetic mini MPV in the world

Note the marketing blurb below and check out the picture of the CM8.

"Two Chana Era models – CV6 and CM8 – made their debut in the Malaysian market yesterday. The vehicles, distributed by Changan Berjaya Auto Sdn Bhd, have a combination of Italian designs, Japanese technology and German engineering and come with an affordable price tag."

It doesn't look so bad from the side view doesn't it?But what I can tell you is that this is what the marketing team wants you to think. Italian design; think Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo. German Engineering; think Porsche, Mercedes, Audi. Japanese Technology, Honda, Toyota. Wow! This must be one fantastic mini MPV. So much so you wonder why you haven't seen anyone driving one of these 'fabulous' minivans around KL since its official launch sometime in January 2009. The reason is the shape of the really ugly awkward overall shape of the vehicle. It's purely horrible.

Even this picture of it is flattering. The next one is from Motor Trader. The photo wasn't touched up in anyway by yours truly. It really is a tall skinny, unbalanced, unproportionate looking vehicle. Now which Italian design house drew this? Giugiaro? Bertone? Pinninfarina? It must be the  drunk janitor at the design house who scribbled a drawing of a car and somehow convinced the Chinese that he was a car designer. Or that the Italians were conning the Chinese out of their Yuan so that they can have a nice bonus for almost no work done.

I'd rather get the flu than test drive one of these.

Now the amazing thing that I remember as clear as it was yesterday (which it wasn't) was that I was at a shopping mall and this horrid looking vehicle was being promoted.

"Abang, this car is okay Bang...macam mini Alphard"

I was by now trying extremely hard not to burst out laughing. I pity the sales rep. I hope he's now selling Peroduas as no person in his right mind would buy a Chana.

A Nissan GTR if you had RM500,000.00?

I recently met two old friends at a house of one of them. This house belonged to the chap who owned the Nissan 350z and the Mercedes W115 I tested recently. The other chap who came works as a journalist and now writes for a Naza in-house magazine for their Mercedes Autohaus customers. If you are aware, Naza has a Mercedes dealership in Klang which is doing quite well. I suppose selling genuine new Mercedes to Klang’s millionaires is a very profitable thing to do if you can afford to have a magazine published for your customers. The sad thing is, he’s not allowed to simply test drive any of the grey import cars that Naza brings in. Tough luck.

Aside from that, it was a very automotive related few hours where we basically talked about cars. Topics like how incredible the LED lights of the newly facelifted Audi A6 looked at dusk to what car would any of us buy if we had RM500,000.00 to blow. The journalist chose a Nissan GTR. The chap who already owned a Nissan wants to buy a Porsche Cayman. I wanted what I always wanted. A grey import SL55 (only for the sound the V8 makes), which I believe could be bought at this price now. If it still can’t be bought at this price, I’d settle for a 1^st generation CLK55 or a stock 996 Porsche 911, which I surely know could be procured at that price.

The Ferrari 355 vs GTR - I want the slower, red car.

The argument on why I chose those cars over the GTR even though we’ve all heard fabulous things about it is simple. I was born slightly before the Playstation age in that my wall poster heroes were the Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsche.  The Playstation generation would go for the GTR, but my dream cars were never Nissans. So there, a GTR would be bought after my Ferrari, my Porsche, my Alfa, my other Ferrari, my other Porsche etc.etc. . In other words, I may drive it one of these days, but I’d never own it.

New posts on myautoblog.org

I've made some posts on myautoblog.org under the pseudonym Rigval. If you readers have the time, stop by over there for some laughs.

(edited as I'm now posting under my name!)

Crap.

The Toyota Avanza. Where do I begin. Maybe I shouldn't as its totally rubbish. Only people who do not like cars buy this supposedly mini MPV. It looks like it was styled by a 1 ton truck designer and it shows. It is not very nice to look at due to the design specs for interior space and for the lower end of the market. But the main point is, supposed motoring enthusiasts should not buy this Van. If you enjoy the thrill of driving, what in the world made you buy an ugly looking van in the first place?

The worst reason that you'd give is that "I bought it 'cause its a Toyota". I'd rather take the bus.

The most irritating fact about Avanza owners is that they must have bought the van without really test driving it or realizing that it is crap. Its a Toyota means that its something good."Good" isn't the correct word here. It is rubbish, but it is a form of transport. That is the only reason to buy anr Avanza.

Another strange fact about Avanza owners is that I always read in a Sunday motoring pullout of a local daily that posts SMS questions for the editor or the tech advisor for the paper to answer. Questions like the following are usually posted for people to laugh at the bad decision the Avanza buyers make.

1. My Avanza is uncomfortable to drive. It rides too hard. Is there any way to soften its ride?

Let me answer this question for them. You bought the wrong car you fool. Can't you tell that it is a van in the first place? It was designed with a budget in mind and for people with limited budgets. What do you expect? Multi-link suspensions in the rear? Air suspension? Self Leveling? The ride of a Lexus? For Godssake its a car designed for the Indonesian mass market. That should tell you how competent the ride is. Stop posting SMSs like these on that newspaper okay? It's as pointless as flapping your hands and trying to fly.
..
2. I want to improve the performance of the Avanza. What can I do to make it better? Its a mini MPV. Do not bother, you should be following the same speed limits are busses on PLUS highways. If you wanted to act least think like you're driving a Subaru Impreza then you should do like what some Proton Saga owners, add Subaru Wrx Sti scoops to their ride. Maybe you should sell your supposedly 'better status than a Proton' Toyota for a Proton. At least they now make a proper proportionate looking MPV for the same price.

3. I want to put a DVD player in my Avanza. Will it affect the power of my Avanza?

This was the stupidest question I've ever read about Avanzas anywhere. I suppose anyone adding a small DVD player stereo head unit would make any vehicle lose 200bhp. If that were so, no one would be selling or buying aftermarket sound systems for their automobiles. Where did people like these crawl out from? I really pity the people editing that daily sometimes.

In conclusion, I may sound like a person who does not respect other peoples choices. But making wrong choices sometimes allow people like me to seem mean. It's their idiocity that needs helping. Do not buy Avanzas. You may be as clever as the people who posted the examples above.

SAAB - Going extinct, does it really matter to any of us?

Hello fellow readers. I'm now getting paid to write articles for myautoblog.org. Click on the link below to read it.

http://www.mycarforum.com/blog/myautoblog/76/saab---going-extinct-does-it-really-matter-to-any-of-us/

Of Formula 1 and statements made by a certain Malaysian

The Formula 1 silly season or 'of-season' circus is going at full swing at the moment. Recently we read that Brawn GP was bought by Mercedes, Lotus and Malaysia are F1 team mates in a certain sort of way, Petronas has decided to sponsor the newly formed ex-Brawn now named Mercedes Petronas and Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement to race for them. I am looking forward to seeing Schumi race again.

But I think the news that made my grey matter spin a little is the fact that Alex Yoong is ashamed that Petronas isn't sponsoring Team  Lotus F1. In all honestly, what was he thinking when he made that statement on his Twitter account. We also know that with Schumi back in F1 and with Mercedes, I can easily state that all TV cameras will spend alot of screen time on the Mercedes Petronas cars and with that, Petronas has actually made an advertising coup. On a company level, they've actually made the right choice. We'd now see two big Malaysian names on two teams now, one, Mercedes Petronas and the other Lotus F1, with Malaysia and maybe Air Asia plastered all over the cars. Isn't that bigger mileage for the country?

Then again, people who like posting instantaneous messages on either Twitter or Facebook usually do not think of the repercussion when they post on these sites. Then again, the word Twitter is derived from the word TWIT:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A twit is an idiot.

The term may also refer to:

• The TWiT podcast network TWiT.tv, or a fan of it
• The weekly TWiT.tv podcast This WEEK in TECH.
• The Roald Dahl children's book called The Twits
• Acronym for Teenage Women In their Thirties
• A user of Twitter

Hence, if we look at the origin of the word, we now know what is in the mind and the person of Mr Alex Yoong when he 'twitted' about Petronas sponsoring Mercedes. Most probably nothing. The moral of the story is that do not be an overzealous updater. Think before typing. All it takes is some patience, and maybe in the case of Mr Yoong, a PR officer to go over all postings.