Those New Lotuses Previewed All Look The Same Don't They?

Yes they do. New models that, aside from the 4 door Eterne, look too similar to one another. I suppose rich customers, some of which want individuality would rush out buy an Esprit (one of the cars above) for about 150,000pounds then someone coming up to him and saying  " Allo Guv, isn't that the new Elise you just bought?". Wouldn't they be slightly miffed?

Click here to read about my thoughts on the Lotuses. Posted on myautoblog.org, written by yours truly.

More on the W124 Featured Earlier and What Can Be Expected over the next few months.

The Mercedes Benz W124 200E I wrote about earlier has basically undergone a very thorough transformation. I decided to get it posted over at CarThrottle.com. Click here to read Part 1 of the article. Part II has also been posted. Do check the articles out for a total write up on the W124.

Update On What May Be Coming

I had the opportunity to drive two icons recently. One is current and already a handling icon, made by Mazda and is a Roadster. The other car is another three pointed star saloon  that I think is the best 4 door saloon in the world, albeit in the year 1992 that is. These two test reviews may take a while as I do have a day job too, remember? And great work cannot be rushed, so they say.....

You guys also should be reading soon about what I think about the slew of Lotus cars that were recently on display at the Paris Motor Show. That will be over in myautoblog.org soon.

There will also be some stuff on myautoblog about a recent trip to Ipoh. Some travel stuff to get the people over at the Lion City to start exploring Malaysia instead of driving around that City state only. I haven't started this yet and like the two test reviews above, greatness cannot be rushed........

One of two other articles are also planned. It also involves a shocking discovery at the local Toy'r'Us. A toy which I think is pretty sad in my opinion.

Hari Raya Verandah Talk, A Morris Oxford, The Proton Saga and An Old Fiat

I responded, “It looks like a Morris Oxford.”

- Somewhere behind all the MPVs, national cars and a Toyota is a tiny Impreza 1.6TS-

Eid Ul-Fitr. Or for the normal Malaysian Hari Raya Puasa. A time where the whole of Malaysia goes on leave. Somewhat like Chinese New Year, but with more shops open. A time where a lot of people make that big trip back to their hometown or go on a holiday. Roads are jammed but people are generally happy. Millions of Ringgit flow within the country and also out of the country. It doesn't matter, what matters is that there are a lot of family gatherings during that point of time.

I happened to be at one of those family gatherings. My own family gathering of course. Hari Raya eve was basically a Hari Raya event all by itself. If you were in a small town somewhere in the heart of Malaysia like I was, a lot of things were happening. In the kitchen a majority of the womenfolk are busy preparing various forms of food for the big day tomorrow. Outside in the garden the children are busy with sparklers and other forms of (illegal) fireworks. The men are also outdoors, sitting on the verandahs, having a cigarette or two, talking about local politics and then suddenly, about a little Malaysian car.

The 2^nd Generation Proton Saga to be exact. “It has a very high roof doesn't it?” mentioned Uncle O as he strummed his guitar. “And it looks kind of familiar....like a car from thosa days.”

I responded, “It looks like a Morris Oxford.”

Uncle A agreed “Yes it somehow does. With its high roof, thin sides and all. Very funny looking”

The Saga became a conversation piece that night. I suppose it was because there was one parked in the garage at the rear of the house that day. That Saga belonged to my aunt, and it was about a year old but due to its slightly awkward looks it became something two fifty-somethings, a thirty-something and a university student wanted to talk about. How interesting.

“The Morris Oxford was a very British car, hence the high roof. It was made at a time where Englishmen wore hats everywhere. They had trilbys, fedoras, top hats and so on. In fact cars like the Oxford and the London black cab was designed with a high roof so that gentlemen could keep their hats on when they are in the car.” I continued. “So why does the Saga have such a high roof in a day and age where no one uses hats anymore?”

Uncle A mentioned in Malay/English “Saja aje. Proton apa.” which basically means 'For fun I suppose, as its a Proton'. Of course, this cynical view is actually shared by most Malaysians. So it is nothing new.

Of course Uncle A knew that the Saga was born from the Proton Savvy. The Savvy's chassis was massaged and stretched to accommodate a boot instead of a rear hatch. It basically kept the same roof height so that the costs can be kept down. Things like the front windscreen and everything from the B-pillars forward can be shared with the Savvy. Certain panels like the bonnet, fenders aside the Saga does share the same basic floorpan as the Savvy. So in keeping costs down, the Saga is basically a tall, narrow car with small wheel arches. And so, because of this is looks ultra dumpy looking. It is a car for transport and nothing more.

There isn't an ounce of styling flair in it. Every panel looks like it has cost in mind. The less cost the better. If cost weren't so much as an issue, the Saga wouldn't have shared the same roofline. In fact, most cars that are derived from a hatchback look slightly ugly. The Proton Persona being an exception. The ugliest hatch to sedans these days are the Nissan Latio sedan, the previous Honda City (which is the ugliest post-2000 car in the whole universe) and that upcomming 207 sedan, which looks like a 207 hatch with a rear end designed by someone with the aesthetic values of a baboon holding a paintbrush trying to emulate Sergio Pininfarina.

The Proton Saga is therefore a souless, style free car for the masses. One that for some reason is liked by people who wish to convert them into Subaru Impreza clones even though it does not look like one. Even if you had too many spiked drinks or taken a couple dozen anti-depressants it still does not look like one. It doesn't even look like an Audi for Godssake, but that doesn't stop the Proton Saga owners one bit. Someone should anyway.

So it looks like a Morris Oxford. Or so I thought during Hari Raya. But then I remembered another car that had the same narrow chassis, a square body that is slightly rounded off at its edges, small wheelarches with the rear tires close to the wheel arch and a high roofline. Something Italian, but budget Italian, and still a car for the masses. It looked like a 1950s Fiat 1100.

 -blue Saga image from Paultan-

Yes it does. Take a look at the pictures. The Fiat 1100 does have the same stance as the Proton Saga. Amazing. A design that basically draws similarities to a car five decades ago. The only thing was, fifty years ago there was a reason for such a high roof. Today, the only reason for the high roof is out of cost. And the fact that some people (here in Malaysia) tend to view roof space as important in a car. They view this fact more than having legroom sometimes. An illusion of space is better than actual space.

If you've been in a Saga you'd know that it is all headroom and not so much legroom (at the rear). A Myvi has better legroom in my opinion. A Perodua Myvi is a hatchback, hence the high roof also makes sense as you can actually load tall stuff through the hatch. In a Saga, it is all about cost, keeping the same roofline of the Savvy. You cannot carry any tall items from IKEA in it. And check out that Fiat's headroom. Familiar isn't it? If you checked out the plastics in the Saga you'd find them as hard as the steel and bakelite that is on the old Fiat's dashboard. Fifty years and you still get hard materials everywhere in the Saga.

So what is the actual point of this article then? Nothing serious actually. This is just to tell you guys out there that the Saga was designed with cost in mind, very little soul is involved in designing it and its sole purpose is to become a cash cow for a company. And it also looks like cars are being designed like the cars fifty years ago. And it shows. But the old Fiat 1100 looks more characterful in these old ads, even though it is also a car for the masses. Things were more soulful those days.

Anyway, Hari Raya was fun. Everyone ate, slept and were merry. Topics changed mid-way and soon we were chatting about food, the education system and politics. The Saga's high roof was forgotten, as was its lack of passion and soul.  

Audi's Quattro Concept Car and My Thoughts About It.

....... It's not that my views will actually make people in Audi have nightmares or have a negative effect on the general public's perception of their latest, greatest and maybe production capable Ur-Quattro replacement. But do click here to read about what I think.Published on-line via myautoblog.org

Joy is Irritating. Part II

I did this article for CarThrottle. This time BMW's marketing men have decided to start a Reverse Psychology campaign by starting a 'Don't blog about this' website and what not. Basically in this age of viral marketing, i.e the internet and its various networking sites, such a thing will never ever happen. I suppose BMW knows this too and decides to be a little clever. Supposedly clever. Stick to building them cars properly, and people will buy 'em. There is no need to try so hard.

Click here to read about it.

What has a Pandan/Mengkuang Mat have to do with the interior of AC Schnitzer's 5 series?

Alot. If you're a cheapskate and cannot afford real carbon fiber trimming. I may have come up with a novel new idea. Should I copyright it? hmmmm.....

Read here for what I think about AC Schnitzer's upgrade of the F10 BMW 5 series. Especially the interior.

What You're Actually Missing If You Travel By Highway All The Time

Travelling by highway in Malaysia is convenient, but at times utterly boring. This is especially so during festive holidays and long weekends. The traffic gets congested, if not jammed and you cannot really cruise at the 110km/h speed limit in peace, or it becomes a 100km/h car convoy of a few thousand cars. And then you fall asleep at the wheel.

This was what I think happened to a Proton Gen2 driver on a trip back from Muar, Johor recently. We were 2 cars behind and for no apparent reason the car veered off to the right and into the crash barrier in the middle of the highway. Luckily, the car just hit the barrier, bounced off and the driver managed to recover and pull over to the side of the road. It was most probably festive fatigue that set in, and I have to say, the utter monotony of highway driving. Note that the scenery is pretty bland, unlike the secondary routes where sometimes you can find gems in the middle of nowhere.

Click here to see what classic cars that surprisingly, were being sold in the small town of Bagan Serai, Perak.

A New Take On Rear Doors

I fancy this automotive designer's interpretation of what a new De Tomaso should look like. I hope his design, which is a pitch for him to work for the reborn De Tomaso car company, will be chosen as a new De Tomaso. The rear doors are pretty fresh looking and looks workable in a real car.

This was part of a short piece of news I did for MyAutoblog.org recently. Click here to look at more pictures and more of the story on the design study.

Lorinser Mercedes 450SEL 6.9....How They Did It Those Days

A Lorinser bodykitted 450SEL 6.9. It is quite interesting to see the press photos and write up on this old Lorinser Mercedes. This car integrated the bumpers of the twin chrome bumpered W116 450SEL 6.9. It looked like an early prototype of the classic W126 S-Class. Slightly weird as we know where it came from but quite an upgrade from the original. It's like those old Mercedes and what ever older car we see going around Malaysia that their owners have put newer bumpers in place of the original's chrome bumper.

Remember the trend where every other car you see was running the Proton Iswara bumper? You used to see that car on a Datsun 120Y, Mazda 323 (like the one above), Ford Econovan (Yes, I saw one using such a bumper before) and various other old Japanese cars. Of course, the Iswara owners had moved on and bought those super modified BMW M-technic or Nissan  GTR look bumpers.

 I wouldn't say that this is the same thing as it was from a time when chrome bumpers were the norm. And THIS was really something unique in the late 1970s. This was posted on MyAutoBlog. Click here to read more about this.

Mazda photo:mudah.my