Peugeot 308 Gets A New Nose and Hamann Tunes The F10 5 Series M Sport

The 308 will be facelifted soon. The new nose is slimmer in looks and it loses some of its mouth size. It should. The current nose is so happy and toothy that it makes a basking shark seem tame. Compare this with the current Pug 308 and you'll know what I mean.

Click here to read about it.

HAMANN shoves in its bodykit on the BMW 5 Series M Sport and I do a little rhyme about it.

Click here to read about that.

Both posted over at Myautoblog.org.

The Supposed Hairdresser's Favourite Gets Driven: Mazda MX-5 Roadster

Yes. In my opinion it still is one of the most sprightly traditional open top coupes around. Some may say that it lacks the feel of the 1st and 2nd generation models. Maybe so, but compare it with any other car in the same category or price range it is so much better. Slightly grown up and I believe it is for the better.

Click here to read about it. Posted over at Carthrottle.com.

Last November ......

.......I drove over 200km or from KL to Pengkalan Pegoh, Ipoh (remember this place readers - it is one of the last traditional kampung settlement right smack in Ipoh City) in this...

.it was epic. My hands got tired waving at people who constantly waved at me. Then it rained...things got even more awsome...Driving a 1950s ragtop in a tropical storm halfway to Ipoh......I repeat..IT WAS EPIC.

..and drove this...

from Ipoh to KL. A nicely sorted out Mini 1275GT. The fastest Mini you could buy in the mid-Seventies (That's 1970s to you young ones). Ignore the red car in the foreground people...nothing to see here...move along folks...move along.

I also drove this....

It was more like piloting it as it wafts slowly down a kampung road. Truly the best way to travel. Even today.

And lastly, this crazy original LHD milspec Willys Jeep (export spec with a 2.5liter 4 cylinder engine) that was filled up with avgas (aviation gas)

.... A real beast to drive...sputtering...sputtering....then Powahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Without doors, windows, roof, proper seats, seatbelts (hey, its authentic milspec - like those you see in vietnam, korean war movies!!!!)...oh yeah...no key, just a kill switch and a starter buttom and 24v battery system. The only registered one in Malaysia. It may not have a bazillion horsepower, but without anything resembling safety equipment around...you feel extremely mortal after driving it.

I was chuffed to bits last November. I mean who wouldn't be after all of this?

I will get about and write about all of these stupendous drives and rides...but I have been extremely busy with life.... So it's going to take awhile. Do bear with me...and enjoy the ride as I often cook up something in between writing about drives mentioned above.

Fun Around Muar During the Chinese New Year

The back roads around Muar are fabulous for imitating a WRC type jump. With all those small canals everywhere, there is a small bridge or hump as it crosses these little 'taliair' or canals. A car with long suspension travel, a high ceiling so that your head does not hit the roof or a proper set of racing type harness is all that's necessary. You do not need to go really fast....anything around 100-110km/h and you're airborne so the Myvi I happened to be driving was more than adequate. A Mastercard moment, or about 20 or so moments as I happened to criss cross the whole area running errands and what nots.

Click Here to read partly about it and about the food over there.

Pagani Unveils A New Car, Fiat Rebadges An American Car and Edo Competition Adds More Ugg To The Panamera

Happy Chinese New Year! We have the Huayra.... Huayara? Hiawatta? Huckleberry? Whatever it is we have a  Zonda replacement that does not look that good and a name that isn't as epic. Click here to read about it.

We also have some rebadging. Just like Proton doing an exercise with a Mitsu, we have Fiat doing it to a Chrysler MPV...Now Italian MPVs arent Italian...hence the lack of flair. You can click here to read about it if you're interested in more badge engineering or if you're one of those sad individuals who somehow like MPVs.

Lastly, we have Edo Competition adding a touch of ugly to an already opinion dividing sports sedan. Click here to read about it.

A Tribute To The Great Bugatti...a.k.a. Web 2.0 Is Making Us Lazy!!!!!!

What started off as a tribute to the great Bug turned out into something totally ironic...whereby Yours Truly takes a potshot at the internet. Ironic as the article itself was posted on the internet!

Take a look here, as posted on Carthrottle.com

VW's Supercharged, Turbocharged Engine May Die A Premature Death....

Some news from the automotive grapevine

It seems that VW may stop building that twin charged engine that they call the 'Twincharger' due to costs. This rumor may actually be true. Read here to find out why I think the world would be a slightly duller place without it.

Written by yours truly and posted on CarThrottle.com.

Some Thoughts About Really Small Cars

I had an epiphany recently. Then again I always have one, two....or three hundred or so epiphanies every few days. This is as I think alot....if I didn't, nothing would be written in here.It's pretty obvious isn't it.

Sometimes you read about small cars with supposedly usable rear seats.  But when you actually sit inside one you find that there is no real usable space. Click here to read more about it.

Genting at Sentosa or Genting at the Highlands? A motorhead's answer.

This was something I wrote for myautoblog.org. Singaporeans pay SG$100 before they can start gambling at Resorts World Sentosa (we can get in there and start losing money for free). So I have suggested that they come over to the Highlands and hit the twisties (the Jalan Gombak-old Bentong Road as an example) before they lose more of their money at the tables.

Click here to read about it.

The Recent Malaysian Football Team Cup Win, a Naza Citra Review ....sort of....

And so the Malaysian football (soccer) team wins something and make benefit glorious nation of Malaysia. In non-Borat English, it means we got a public holiday by them winning the AFF Suzuki Cup. Every working individual benefited from this glorious victory. It may not have been winning the World Cup, but it was close. I remember coming home from dinner to the roars and cheers of hundreds all over the apartment complex watching Malaysia play against Indonesia. Of course, being an avid non-footballer but a person that keeps track of local events I knew that the Malaysian football team instead of the Malaysian Badminton Team playing that night.

Hearing hundreds of people at the mamak upfront, the tomyam shop at the side and people in their individual apartment units shouting, cheering and watching the game made me realize that football has actually brought a whole nation together. Malaysians decided to band together in front of their plasma, LCD, LED, tube TV or projector screens to cheer on the national team on towards a 2-1 loss, of which we won the champiohship on aggregate.

It also occurred to me that supporting a Malaysian team has benefits. Like Borat on his mission to actually marry Pamela Anderson instead of actually "makebenefit glorious nation of Khazakstan", supporting Malaysian football has bigger ramifications and benefits to the Malaysian population as a whole.

You see,Malaysian football fans should bloody stop supporting Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, FC Porto and start supporting  local flavour. As I remember stating sometime back (go look through my earlier posting on football) there is no actual benefit in supporting the teams mentioned above. I mean, you don't even buy tickets to watch them play football. You can't basically since you're in Malaysia and not in Old Trafford. A ticket would also mean a flight ticket and hotel accomodation which isn't actually cheap for the average Malaysian supporter.

The only person that benefits from your watching football on telly is the mamak stall owner (if you don't have pay-TV as you need to at least buy a mug of teh tarik) and the person who owns ASTRO as you have to pay for the transmission. The only other person that benefits is the company that prints the team t-shirts, jerseys, caps and so forth of which I can bet you that most of this apparel comes from China. So your staunch support of certain international football teams allow some factory owner in China to buy his Ferrari (since China is one of the most lucrative new markets for Ferrari).

Imagine this, our footballers can't even buy a brand new Honda Civic 2.0 while the Beckhams and Rooneys run around in Bentleys and Lamborghinis. If everyone interested in football really start supporting Malaysian football and the Malaysian football association as well as each team in the Malaysian League start thinking strategically off the pitch we could see massive commercial value in them. The Selangor team seems to have some commercial value that could, and should be milked properly.

I mean, all of the support to English Premier League teams have made them incredibly rich. Too rich for their own good. If you look at things from an economic point of view, supporting a local football team would actually allow Malaysians in general to benefit from it. Imagine if there were two or three teams with the proportions of AC Milan, Real Madrid or Chelsea all due to local conglomerates pumping in advertising and sponsorship, TV coverage, local supporters packing out the stadiums making the stadium upkeep profitable. The burger sellers at the stadiums make more money, the footballers get a large fat salary and with the big fat salaries the burger sellers as well as the footballers get to wine and dine in finer places. Hotels and restaurants get more customers enabling their staff to get paid better too. Car salesmen get to sell Bentleys and Maseratis and earn a fat commission instead of car salesmen in say, Manchester. Everyone actually wins.

Of course, you may then argue that the standard of Malaysian football on the evolutionary scale is only slightly above a sea urchin but if you intend to actually help the Malaysian economy and therefore yourself, you should start burning that Bayern Munich jersey so that you can get some official local team merchandise (local teams should start having OFFICIAL stuff regardless of low demand for the long run). So if you're into football, start being into local football instead of supporting teams thousands of miles away. In short, supporting local football would not only give us more public holidays. Get it?

And on the car front, I recently drove a local family favourite, a two and a half year old Naza Citra (a.k.a updated 1st Generation Kia Carens). It did everything decent and the only thing that deserves comment is that when I drove it I adjusted the seat like I do in every car. Arms slightly bent, seatback upright and legs nicely spaced. My friend who owns it looked at me, shook his head and said "It's a F***in' MPV for God'ssake!".

He drives it in a relaxed, seat slightly reclined manner. I suppose I take driving a little too seriously. He knows I do as a grin broke out after he said what he said above. And that is all I have to say about that.

Naza Citra Engine	2.0 L
Transmission(s)	4-speed automatic
Wheelbase	2,570 mm (101 in)
Length	4,490 mm (177 in)
Width	1,750 mm (69 in)
Height Performance	1,610 mm (63 in) It's a MPV...who cares

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302: Two Ignition Keys Too Many

The 2011 Boss Mustang is a car we won't see here in Malaysia (UNLESS, some crazy person buys one even though its left hand drive). There could be someone as a friend of mine recently sent me a photo of a Cobra GT500 in its full left hand drive glory at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

The reason I wrote about it is that the car has something silly called a 'TRACKEY'. It is basically another key that you'd use to unleash more throttle response, feel to the steering and some power I suppose but I find it more related to marketing crap.

Read the article which has been posted on carthrottle, here.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND A MERRY NEW YEAR...AND ER, CHRISTMAS

Happy Holidays Everyone. It has been a memorable 2010. Lots of nice cars driven, tested and lots of cars criticized as well as lots of theories and ideas exchanged. I look forward to another fabulous year ahead and I leave you with the picture of yours truly on the North-South Highway - Not trying one bit to keep up with the fabulously sounding Triumph Stag up front as the old gal from the mid 1950s that I happened to be driving  was already suffering a tad bit at highway speeds.

Drive save people, and don't go buying crappy MPVs or Toyota Avanzas especially or become like some Mitsubishi Lancer forumers and defend the Avanza as if the car (and its owners) are like Manna from heaven/ a miracle from God/ magic/something close to Ferrari/ angelic/fantabulous or something as 'good' as a Proton Inspira original version in the first place.

I do appreciate the guy who posted it there though. Thank you and may you have a good year ahead too!

Third World Toyota Called the Etios

As the Toyota Vios gets more and more upmarket, a void opens up. If you remember, the Vios started life as the Soluna, a 'world' car for developing nations. This became the 1st generation Vios and then the current 2nd generation Vios. Notice that the car has gotten steadily upmarket and now, the car is supposedly too pricey for markets like India and Thailand, where Toyota have spotted a gap for a basic family sedan.

Wasn't the Soluna/Vios a base sedan in the first place? Now they had to create the Etios. What Etios means is a mystery that only Toyota knows...Short for ambETIOS? I suppose being Japanese means they cannot spell properly. But what does Vios stand for? Short for obVIOS? Another mis-spelt word?
Much like BMW. By making the 3 series larger and larger and larger. They had to put a 1 series there. And now, we're hearing of them coming up with a car that is smaller than the 1 series.

This is never ending. And if you want to read more on the Etios, click here.

More on KLIMS 2010

Yes. My write up on KLIMS 2010 has not ended.

Click here to read about what I think of the concept cars featured at KLIMS

AND

Click here for the report and more pictures of KLIMS overs at SGCARMART.COM.

I have been a busy boy haven't I?

KLIMS 2010: KIA & Hyundai

The Koreans brought out some heavy hitters. Hyundai brought their new Sonata and their newer Avante sedan for us to preview. Not a bad effort but I prefer Kia's design philosophy. Getting that guy from Audi is a coup for Kia. Take a look at the new Optima and the new Cadenza and you can see what I mean. Of course, I'd rather own something else. But if I saw someone driving a new Optima or a Forte, I would never criticize their choice of car.

Click HERE to read more about it at myautoblog.org .

KLIMS 2010: MyAutoBlog articles

.....two articles on KLIMS 2010 posted over at myautoblog.org.

• click HERE for some pics on the show girls - some seem to be from Thailand or even further up North. They understand Sawadeekap and Mandarin better than Malay or English. Hmmmm....

• click HERE for a write up on Proton - The manufacturer threw in everything but the kitchen sink...and that could be at the VIP Hospitality area too. Oh yes..I get to take a picture with Alister McRae.

KL INTERNATIONAL MOTOR SHOW GETS COVERED.....

......And I haven't even begun to write on the previous article yet! It has really been a fantastic few weeks for me....Anyway, do head over to Car Throttle as they have posted my coverage on the matter. Click HERE to head towards it.

I Have Been Absolutely Busy Over The Past Weekend..........

Hello chaps! It has been a stormin' weekend for me. In so many ways.....including driving this....

 ..... for about 200km in the Malaysian sun and unfortunately, the Malaysian rain. Expect a write up soon.....as soon as I can!

Oh yes...I also managed to have a short drive in this....

Its Harry Potter Time Again, The Ford Anglia, The VW Kombi, The Morris Minor 1000 and the Perodua Myvi?

It's that time of the year again. Another Harry Potter movie for us to consume. Another Harry Potter movie for kids from age 0 to 99 to get all excited about. Another Harry Potter movie for the producers, director, stars and JK Rowling to rake hundreds of millions. Another Harry Potter movie to finish off the series.

I have posted once before about good ol', or young, Harry. To me, this chap is the ultimate nerd hero. He wears glasses. He's pretty short. He's all goody two shoes. He still lives with an uncle and aunt that hates him yet does not blast them to oblivion (or to someplace like the Bermuda Triangle) with this magic wand. He has a friend that is equally nerdy, one who has a dad that drives of all things, a Ford Anglia. He has not bonked Hermione after so many sequels even though he does have the hots for her (why Hermione seems to like nerdy ol' Harry is another thing altogether and would need some analyzing). He is also the chap that, with his friends, can outwit all the adults with years (some with centuries or eons) of experience.

The Honda CRZ and One With Totally Radical Mods

I nearly threw up the tea I was having when this photo came up into my laptop. A CRZ with a turbo as big as its engine. And yes, it is still a hybrid. So it still supposedly saves the ozone layer, rain forests, tuna, whales and so on. Amazing. I promptly noted that the car is also Japan's Car of the Year, beating out the new VW Polo. This was of course the highest ranking non-Japanese car in the event, but I suppose, the CRZ had more innovation than the Polo (and that it is Japanese not German).

Click here to go read about this. Posted on Myautoblog.org, written by yours truly.