Tun Mahathir: The Raw Hatred For Proton

There is a good write up about Proton by former Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Mahathir over at his blog (this is his mirror site link as the chedet.cc site seems to be down at the moment). He states that a heck of a lot of journalists seem to harp on and on about Proton, that it should be closed and that will reduce the price of foreign cars so that Malaysians can buy them.He also states that Proton has actually paid back all of its loans and Proton did even receive 3 billion Ringgit recently.

That article by Tun Mahathir needs to be read to those Proton bashers. I am not a Proton basher at the moment for the following reasons.

News pursuant to the recent hoo-haa made by some Volkswagen owners as regards warranty issues

Volkswagen Group Malaysia has decided to take more remedial action pursuant to the recent protest by a group of VW owners on the 13th of March 2014. Aside from the earlier announcement that service centers will be opened on Sunday, owners can now look forward to voicing out their EXTENDED WARRANTY grievances when ever they feel like it during 9am to 6pm on weekdays begining 17th of March 2014. 

In short, VGM has a call center so that you can inform them directly on how you are being treated by the service centers as regards the Extended Warranty or whether you have any other complaints to voice out. The hotline (which isn't so hot as it is only during office hours - but a good step) is 1-800-88-8947. Call them to try exorcise your haunted Volkswagen. Do not call a coconut holding shaman as he wouldn't know nuts about how to exorcise your faulty DSG transmission. This is the better way. 

Sunday Car Porn: Gestation of the Mercedes 'Baby Benz' W201 190E in pics.

Mercedes Benz took the end of the 1960s up till 1982 to finally come up with a Baby Benz, the Mercedes Benz 190E (W201 series). Being a very traditional brand who only built high end cars, it took its sweet time in coming up with an 'entry level' car. And that wasn't what really happened too. 

Since Mercedes Benz never built a small car in a long, long while, the 190E was over-engineered and was still priced at a premium compared to a similar sized Ford Escort or even a slightly larger Mazda 626 of its day. It had the same 'thunk' when you closed the doors. It brought along the first production multi-link suspension in a road going car as well as many features that you now see in cars today. It was so good that it stayed in production till 1993 with over 1.8million units built.

A group of VW owners meet up with Volkswagen Group Malaysia to voice out their concerns...and more.

.A large group comprising of various Volkswagen vehicle owners had gathered peacefully yesterday afternoon in front of the Volkswagen Group Malaysia headquarters in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.  The crowd was large, but well behaved and backed by other Volkswagen owners driving their cars honking their horns as the passed by the Volkswagen Headquarters. The purpose of the group was to voice our their lack of satisfaction towards various warranty, reliability and other grievances relating to their cars.

TOYOTA AND HONDA HAND OVER KLIMS13 VISITORS’ LUCKY DRAW GRAND PRIZES

Congratulations to the lucky winners - Mr Lee Min Foong from Perak who won a brand new Toyota Prius 1.8L Luxury and Mr Poopaladurai Selvadurai from Melaka who is now the very lucky owner of a brand new Honda CR-Z. 

On another note, about 302,700 people attended KLIMS 2013 over the 10 days it was open. Not too bad at all.

PRESS RELEASE

Sunday Car Porn: Aston Martin Vantage N430

The limited edition Aston Martin Vantage N430. Recently launched at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show and built so that customers can buy into the heritage and pedigree of the Vantage's race history especially at the Nurburgring 24Hour race as well as the 2013 win of the Vantage GTE in the FIA World Endurance Championships.

Spotted For Sale: Nissan "GTR" a.k.a How to oversell your vehicle improperly

My friend Firdaus has pointed me to another great prospect on mudah.my. What we have here is marketed to the buying public as a Nissan GTR. Yes, you motorheads would know it as a bloody fast car but not in any way like this. This one surprisingly looks like a truck. It is a Nissan nonetheless.

Of course putting 'GTR' in every Nissan adds some sort of mileage or marketing stunt. Or so one thinks.

The original advert is here (until mudah takes it down of course)....ad details are below:

Lori nissan 2.0 manual petrol.
Tahun 2002 .
1 owner.
Untuk di jual segera.
Rm22800...boleh runding...
Call zh automobil ent.
013 706253xx.
012 72502xx.

In defense of: A local REBADGED Tiger from a Diamond instead of a Toyota or a Honda or any B segment Car

2.0liter variable valve timing 4 cylinder engine, 148hp (150ps), 197Nm, 200km/h, 0-100km/h in around 10.5secs or faster, multi-link suspension at the rear, CVT (with optional pedal shifters), fully equipped cabin and all for around RM90,000 (and Japanese technology too). The Toyota Vios pictured above has a 1.5liter vvt 4 cylinder engine, 105ps, 141Nm, 180+km/h, 0-100km/h in around 11secs, beam axle rear suspension, ancient 4 speed automatic, even more plasticky materials in the cabin for around RM90,000 if you're crazy enough to buy the TRD specced Vios at RM93,000 or RM88,000 for a G spec model. Madness isn't it? Why are you buying this??????

More Volkswagen Tales of Woe - Facebook community survey results and some comments

There is a Facebook group that was started by a group of Malaysian Volkswagen owners who are extremely disappointed (to say the least) by the supposedly appalling after-sales service quality over at Volkswagen Malaysia. I am not surprised as I have written a couple or so times as regards how unreliable VW cars have been in recent years. you can have a look at the group here.

Geneva 2014: Subaru Viziv 2 Concept - Subaru is showing us again how their future will NOT look like

Here is another concept car from Subaru. They've been showing us the Viziv Concept last year and now this one is called the Subaru Viziv 2 Concept. This concept showcases "environmental friendliness and driving pleasure" as well as "design and utility" at the highest level. What this plug-in hybrid crossover vehicle actually tells me is that THIS IS WHAT SUBARU WILL NOT BUILD FOR US IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Why am I saying so?

Geneva 2014: The Rolls Royce Ghost Series II unveiled

I love how Rolls Royce is marketing this new Ghost Series II. They are claiming it to be an "an oasis of calm in a frenetic business world". Of course, this may be quite true in every sense of the word. 

Press Release

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars UNVEILS GHOST SERIES II TO THE WORLD AT 2014 GENEVA MOTOR SHOW

Geneva 2014: 2015 Audi TT unveiled

2015 Audi TTS 

The Geneva Motor Show 2014 is on-going at the moment and automobile manufacturers are quite busy previewing new cars over there. Audi has decided to use Geneva as its place to unveil the all new Audi TT. Although this is the all new and improved TT, people who aren't car people may think it is the same car. 

Like recent Audis, the TT has a evolutionary design (which in my opinion needs a little bit of a shake up as it still looks similar to the outgoing one and to other more bread and butter Audis out there) which features the usual large hexagonal grille and LED daytime driving lights (with optional LED main headlights too this time around). The only difference is that the four rings Audi logo now resides on the bonnet instead of on the grille. Ooooo...Audi, what prominent changes you have made to the TT.

2015 Honda Civic Type-R launched at Geneva - Here are some leaked photos

There will be an all new Honda Civic Type-R for all those Honda tuning fans out there. Photos of the upcoming car has already been leaked prior to its official launch at the Geneva Motor Show tomorrow. The car has been confirmed to have something all Honda fans (read as fanatics) have waited for..an official turbocharged Type-R. It's based on the 2 door Civic hatchback and no sign of a 4 door version by the likes of it.

Sunday car pic: Proton Satria Neo S2000 rally

This photo is for Satria Neo owners to dream about when thinking of what the heck should they try to aim for when trying to modify their ergonomically challenged hatchback.

Short Drive: The Mitsubishi Attrage sedan. Does a 1.2 liter three cylinder sedan work?

Mitsubishi Indonesia's idea of what it should be...hmmm.

And so after quite awhile of not writing any car reviews we have one for you readers out there right now. Of course it would be nice writing about the time I drove the Peugeot RCZ (I will, I guess) or the time I where I drove an old Triumph Stag (it happened, but somehow I am not too bothered at the moment too) but I know it makes more sense writing about cars most of you can actually buy, like the Mitsubishi Attrage sedan. 

Now you could actually buy this car but do read on and see if you should (you shouldn't).

Carama Launches Malaysia’s First Car Service Price Calculator

I happened to attend the launch of 'Malaysia's First Car Service Price Calculator' which is located at www.carama.com. There you can reportedly get the estimates for your basic car servicing costs and repairs. Quite easy to use once you have registered and it will give you a rough (I do mean rough) estimate on the cost of repairs and/or servicing. 

There is also an interesting infographic which I have placed below detailing what we Malaysian car owners actually worry or think about when it comes to servicing one's vehicle. It does make some sense and Carama (by Castrol) intends to assist us owners in making finding a proper workshop or mechanic a hassle free experience (or hassle free after you register at the website, that is). Aside fromt he price calculator, Carama ensures its users the chance to tell-all. If one has good experiences at the service center, he or she can actually write a short review so that it can help others. This makes the servicing experience accessible to all. 

Good News Peeps...We Won Best Auto Blog For MSMW 2014!

We won! We surprisingly won. Yours Truly, and this Blog were nominated for the Best Auto Blog at this year's Malaysia World Blogger And Social Media Awards held in conjunction with the Malaysia Social Media Week 2014 (which is currently ongoing). Somehow, with the help of you readers and a bunch of friends we did manage to garner more than a handful of votes and bloody won!!!!!!!

The reason we asked, pleaded and begged for a few votes is that it would be mighty embarrassing if we ended up with just two votes - my own personal vote and my daughter's, who was thrilled that her dad managed to win something. Which to say the least is truly surprising. We were just expecting not coming in last.

Anyway, kudos to the organisers of the event, Social Media Chambers of Malaysia and My Events International for hosting such a splendid awards ceremony.

Oh, those that have been following Yours Truly on Twitter and Facebook would already know. I apologise if this short piece may seem like me parading around this small victory but heck, it's my victory, I can do whatever I want.

More about cars and motoring later when regular transmission resumes right after some basking in the limelight continues.

All-new 2014 Honda City is making its rounds now

The all-new 2014 Honda City was displayed at Paradigm Mall in Petaling Jaya over the weekend. I suppose this is a pre-launch roadshow for Honda's B segment sedan...a.k.a the Toyota Vios fighter. It will be priced around RM70,000-90,000 depending on what spec you choose and it will be officially launched here in Malaysia sometime in March.

How does it look in the metal?

Nissan Sentra, New since the year 2000 - If this were a Proton, Malaysians would be screaming murder

Right now I am watching Ultraman on NTV7, having a nice cuppa tea whilst typing this. The Ultraman episode on TV must be quite new (circa 2008) as cell phones, graphics seem up to date. Ultraman still wears a jumpsuit and still has that blinker on his chest. Some things stay the same. Much like the Nissan Sentra 'Sport' sold over here in Malaysia (see above). Soldiering on since 2000.

Last I checked we are now coming to the middle of the second decade of the 2000s and if you checked the Nissan Malaysia website today, you'd notice that they're still selling a car which was first sold in the year 2000. The Nissan Sentra is still on sale over here in Malaysia!!!! If this were a Proton, Malaysians would say that the local car company is trying to kill us all by selling outdated cars, take our money by not giving us any options, continue to make profit by selling us outdated cars and other stuff. But here we have Nissan still giving us the same piece of dull family transport year after year after year. Of course, some may say that you don't see any on the road and that this is just Nissan wanting to clear stock.

Car Mods: 1st Gen Perodua Myvi Tuning Part V - Lightweight Crankshaft Pulley and some Iridium

Okay, let's return to some 1st Generation Perodua Myvi tuning. The 2010 car is now slightly over 35,000km old and still running as it should. It just undergoes regular oil changes and if you note from the earlier posts, the car has had some suspension, brakes and an air filter / cold air intake mod.

The Myvi technically stops faster, corners better and is a little more refined due to the strut bar / rear beam axle anti-roll bar which allows the suspension to be less susceptible to flex. And with those mods, a little more performance from the engine would be nice. So I've basically got a lightweight aluminium crankshaft pulley installed (the polished thingy to the right of the brakes).