VW Group via Audi prepares for new engine technology and I am quite worried

The VW TSI engine

The latest news circulating in and around the automotive world is how Volkswagen Group intends to make electric turbochargers,variable compression ratios, cylinder deactivation (all on engines) and coasting (on the transmission) a reality. 

On variable compression ratios for the engine:
Audi Technical chief Ulrich Hackenberg gave no details on how Audi will introduce variable compression ratio technology, but what this means is that the car's engine can have a high compression ratio of a direct injected petrol engine of around 15:1 and when under high loads especially if it is turbocharged and boost is coming on drops to say 11:1. The luxury of being able to have variable compression ratio depending on the load and power demands makes this something all engineers chase after. It would be ultra efficient too.

Sunday Car Porn: Fiat 131 Abarth

I have a soft spot for everything Fiat, especially the Fiat 131 Mirafiori. This was because the car was one which I had my earliest motoring memories. My father owned one of these and we travelled distances throughout the Malaysian Peninsular before the days of the North-South Highways. I was a good car to own, but it had the dreaded Italian car rust problem of the 1970s. Made from cheap Russian steel they rusted even before leaving the factory in Italy. But today, rust aside, we're talking about the special version - the Fiat 131 Abarth.

TEST DRIVE: VOLKSWAGEN POLO 1.6 HATCHBACK

Hello again folks, now's the time for one of those longer than usual reviews that hopefully would assist you in your quest to purchase the correct car for the time being. Of course this is only for the time being as people change and tastes change along the way. Especially if you suddenly get that promotion and start thinking of cars bigger than the one you're driving at the moment. It happens. And before I start going on and on and on, I've just got my hands on the Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Hatchback and this is what I think about it. Do read on.

BMW launches the new BMW M4 Convertible

The arrival of the new BMW M4 Convertible (fuel consumption combined: 9.1–8.7 l/100 km [31–32.5 mpg imp]; CO2 emissions combined: 213–203 g/km) sees BMW M GmbH making another alluring addition to its legendary high-performance sports car line-up.

2014 Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Hatchback - Short in-car video clip.

We have been spending some time with this little Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Hatchback. We've taken it grocery shopping, on the school run, to appointments, shown it to our family members, friends, gone through some horrendous traffic and the pouring rain with some flooding as well as over to our favourite stretches of roads around Gombak, Selayang and Genting Sempah. Nothing broke. Which is a good thing in a car. Any car.

But before we go on to our full fledged review (which should come sometime soon) here's a short  in-car clip of it being driven over some twists and turns.

UPDATED: The review is already out. Go there by clicking HERE.

Volvo Trucks Launches the Fuelwatch 2014 and Driver Development Programme

Volvo Trucks are an interesting bunch of people in that they build really cool trucks and that they have got lots of value added benefits for their customers. Yesterday they launched the Fuelwatch 2014 competition and Driver Development Programme for their customers. This competition has been going on for about 5 years here in Malaysia and it basically educates the participating drivers (and lorry owners) about how to drive safely in an economical and environmentally friendly matter. Very important as lorries actually make up a whole lot of carbon emissions in any country, delivering goods everywhere throughout the region.

The event was officiated by Encik Mohamed bin Dalib, Director of Automotive Engineering Division and Road Transport Department, Malaysian Ministry of Transport who commended Volvo’s efforts. As the transportation industry expands, it becomes more apparent that we need to also increase the quality of our truck drivers by engaging them through training programmes such as these, so as to enhance overall safety, fuel efficiency, reduction of CO2 emission and optimise uptime. 

The Volvo FM & FMX lorries

April Fools Tale - The Proton Juara

First and foremost, the Proton Juara was not launched on April Fools Day. It was launched on the 22nd of July 2001 and was named Juara, or CHAMPION in Engish. The problem was the mini MPV was hardly a champion and it, and the Proton Tiara was a mega flop for Proton.

The Proton Juara was supposedly conceived in 1999 and was based on the Mitsubishi Town Box minivan, a Japan only minivan powered by a tiny 1.1liter 4 cylinder engine with a 4 speed automatic transmission. According to the official history, Proton brought it out to capitalize on the then burgeoning MPV market. In the early 2000s, Kia, via Naza, was having a boom period selling the Kia Carnival as the Naza Ria and later the Kia Carens as the Naza Citra. Renault was also selling the Espace and was surprisingly selling well. As was Toyota via the grey imported Toyota Wishes and Estimas. Honda was doing well with the Stream too. In fact, everybody was making profits from selling MPVs but Proton, in 1999 was high and dry.

2014 Malaysian F1 Results

#	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Gap	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	1:45.390	1:40:25.974	2
2	Nico Rosberg		Mercedes	1:48.270	17.300	2
3	Sebastian Vettel		Red Bull	1:44.899	24.5	3
4	Fernando Alonso		Ferrari	1:45.663	35.9	3
5	Nico Hulkenberg		Force India	1:48.604	47.0	2
6	Jenson Button		McLaren	1:47.086	83.4	3
7	Felipe Massa		Williams	1:46.950	84.7	3
8	Valtteri Bottas		Williams	1:47.030	85.1	3
9	Kevin Magnussen		McLaren	1:49.665	108.8	2
10	Daniil Kvyat		Toro Rosso	1:50.986	135.7	3
11	Romain Grosjean		Lotus	1:49.006	137.8	4
12	Kimi Raikkonen		Ferrari	1:48.819	137.9	3
13	Kamui Kobayashi		Caterham	1:51.848	177.9	2
14	Marcus Ericsson		Caterham	1:51.624	229.5	3
15	Max Chilton		Marussia	1:48.964	229.6	3
R	Pastor Maldonado		Lotus	RETIRED	1 lap	1
R	Adrian Sutil		Sauber	RETIRED	4 laps	2
R	Daniel Ricciardo		Red Bull	RETIRED	9 laps	5
R	Jules Bianchi		Marussia	RETIRED	19 laps	2
R	Esteban Gutierrez		Sauber	RETIRED	33 laps	3
R	Jean-Eric Vergne		Toro Rosso	RETIRED	47 laps	4
R	Sergio Perez		Force India	RETIRED	47 laps	1

BMW Group DesignworksUSA designs new Siemens metro for Kuala Lumpur.

This bit of news is interesting for the people living in Klang Valley. The scheduled for operation in 2017 Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system for the Klang Valley that is being constructed by Siemens will have coaches designed by BMW Group's Designworks USA. Automobile companies do have their hands in other forms of (non-road going) transports too

I have posted its details as well as the basic specification of the upcoming MRT services over on Motoring-malaysia.com.