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

2010 Peugeot 308 VTi 1.6 Automatic - The tame, slightly toothless French Lion

 I posted this review I did on the 2010 Peugeot 308 VTi on MyAutoBlog.org. I somehow do not like how this car handles, but from a Malaysian point of view, the only thing that makes this car a worthy purchase over its RM100k price range competitors is that:

• It's French. Therefore it is the cheapest continental car you can buy at this price range.
• It's pretty well built and the interior looks good compared to the Honda City, Toyota Vios, Altis and whatever in the price range.
• It is really a whole lot of car for the price. The looks are very modern and nothing's conservative about it when it comes to styling. Compare this to a Nissan Latio sedan or a Nissan Syphilis or a Corolla Altis (the latter two are more expensive than this car) and you know you've got a winner here.
• While I know I mentioned that the handling's a little sad (at least the 308 Turbo has more grip and more power to play around with - but it isn't a good handling example also as it does the same hop, skip and jump over undulations and mid corner bumps ), the car allows some sense of class into a category that's limited in choice. If you're not into driving, or a car for the wife to ferry kids, it'll do that just fine. And you'll look better doing so than in any of the cars stated above.

Please do not throw resale value in here. If you start thinking about resale value, you lead a very dull and uninteresting life. Really. Start living a little.

Click here to read more about it and what I really think about the car.

When a Key is Not a Key or When an Automatic is Called Something Fancy

Yes. We have a key called an 'Emotion Control Unit" by Aston Martin and now Lotus calling the Automatic gearbox an "Intelligent Precision Shift" in the new Evora IPS. It is basically an automatic gearbox. The people in marketing have decided to crack their heads over something so mundane as a normal torque convertor type automatic transmission because they did some tweaking here and there.

Now as a result of this, I hereby declare that the driver's side door of any car be called ........
“The Gateway Towards Speed, Power and Glory”


This makes perfect sense doesn't it? Click here to read the article I wrote for CarThrottle.com.

2011 JDM/2012MY GT-R Has The Seat Color That I've Always Wanted in A GT-R

Something I've always wanted in a GT-R. Sakura colored seats. It should go very well with the blue shirt I am wearing. The 2012 Model Year GT-R specifications have been leaked. I happened to review it on MyAutoBlog.Org. Click here to read about it.

Joy Is Irritating

Ah....The BMW marketing people. How irritating Joy has recently become because of them. Click here to read the article that I recently wrote for CarThrottle.com

Some Interesting Pieces That I Did for MyAutoBlog

Here are some pieces of news that I recently wrote for MyAutoblog.org. Nothing unusual. But they do tell you the latest happenings around.

• Ultra expensive BMW E92 M3 GTS is only fractionally faster than older E46 M3 CSL. Around US$170,000 but only gives you a second faster than the older car. Click here to read it and what I think about it.

• The 'Unclemobile' Toyota Corolla Altis gets facelifted in Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand - it gets s 1.6liter with more grunt and a 6 speed manual -which is very appealing to me but most probably will never be sold here due to a supposed lack of demand for a manual gearbox. Why can't Malaysians want a car with these options so that it gets sold here? They also get a 2.0liter 6speed CVT with paddle shifters - which is what we may get when the facelift arrives. But CVT gearboxes actually aren't nice. They hold on to high revs while the speed catches up instead of climbing up together. Droney and rubber band in feel. Read this here and expect a Toyota Altis facelift sometime soon.

There are other articles of course. All you have to do is go over there to read about it. 

The Last GT-Four

I recently did this piece on the Toyota Caldina GT-Four for CarThrottle.com. The last of the Mohicans, the last of its kind for the time being maybe. All in all, the Caldina is a nice looking station wagon, and that's about it really. The rest is very typical Toyota. Smooth, linear in its power delivery, long lasting reliability and quality. It makes easy cruising at 150-170km/h (higher speeds are possible but the 4 speed autobox limits refinement a tad bit) . But do not expect it to be like an Impreza WRX or a Civic Type R or a Lancer Evolution. Do not even expect it to be as sporty as a Celica GT-Four. Which actually isn't that mind blowing also as its smooth, linear and feels too refined to be an all out sports car - a sports tourer maybe. Even though it is a rally special.

I should know as I have driven both. Do expect it to be a refined, grand tourer, fast enough to take out those pesky MPVs that litter the highway during festive occasions as well as those seemingly impatient Honda Accord and Toyota Camry drivers that flash their headlights as if they are the only cars fast enough on our roads.

Anyway, I am babbling a bit. Click here if you want to read the article.

A Top Performance Tip For This Month of Ramadhan

This is a top performance tip from yours truly.......

The month of Ramadhan is a good time for all motorheads, especially if you're fasting. If you lose 5kgs by fasting, your car will have improved power to weight ratio. Your car will accelerate slightly faster than before. For example -Your car makes 100bhp and weighs 1,000+ 90kg (that you weigh) = 91.7bhp/ton. If you weigh 5kg less = 92.1bhp/ton. See the marked improvement?

A heads up to Mr. Zairul Nizar for the fruitful discussion we had last Saturday night on this performance tip and other really interesting stuff (which was really really interesting, mind you)!

Ramadhan Musings, the Perodua Nautica's a failure and the Daihastu Copen

It’s the month of Ramadhan or the month of Fasting for Muslims all over the universe. Now things usually slow down to a crawl’s pace if you’re dealing with the Government as everyone is tired, sleepy, thirsty and hungry. This happens in a country where there is a large Muslim population. But all the better, the pace slows down. There are less queues at most payment counters, there are more parking spots around my office building, there are also less people on the roads during lunch time too.

There are however more traffic jams at around 5.00pm or so as everyone wants to get home at the same time. There is an increase in sugar consumption as everyone buys kuih that is sold at those “Params”, which is actually short for ‘Pasar Ramadhan’ or the Ramadhan food market. Where Malaysians from all walks of life buy all sorts of Malay food sold there. By Malaysians I mean everyone. Not only those that are fasting mind you.

Anyway, this is also the time where I don’t frequent these places. The food sold there isn’t actually that fabulous. Most are cooked with less passion and soul than the people at Proton assembling the Saga. Most are selling food for the sake of making money. Which is why the food from some of these stalls are truly and deeply horrific. Which is the reason I now refuse to go to these ‘Params’ unless my life depended upon it. Food that is prepared without passion is somehow less tasteful.

 But since you can get food almost everywhere, and if you’re like me, able to whip up food that Jamie Oliver would be proud of and the added bonus of a wife that can really cook. Why bother going to these passionless food stalls. If it’s a restaurant I wouldn’t mind, as they’re in this business for the long run. They’ve got a reputation to maintain.

Yes there are those that actually have restaurants but sell their stuff at these ‘Params’, but why do you want to suffer the haphazard traffic and parking caused by those inconsiderate buffoons who think that they’re the only ones who are fasting and cause a traffic jam? Just cook your own, or buy from a proper restaurant. The food is healthier, better and you know where it is from.

Anyway, have any of you seen a Perodua Nautica (nee Daihatsu Terios/Toyota Rush) on the road lately? Well I haven’t. I suppose Perodua only sold seven of them since 2008. Now I remember the smart Alec people in Perodua at the point of the Nautica’s launching telling the press that we have to import and sell the Nautica at a premium price due to the small volume of sales. See what happened? No one wanted a RM90k SUV that was tiny.

One other really glaring reason was the Toyota Rush. Toyota brought in the Indonesian Rush which is basically a 2WD long wheel based version of the Rush/Daihatsu Terios. This car had more space, better trimming and was almost cheaper than the fully imported 4WD Nautica. While imported, it did feel cheaper as there were no plastic trimmings on the wheel arches and the interior was plainer. Perodua brought in a pretty basic vehicle and wanted people to pay a lot for it.

The Toyota Rush had 2WD. But no one actually bought a Nautica or the previous Kembara for its off-road capabilities. Malaysians wanted a cut price RAV4. This is all. The tall driving position was favored by the women as it enabled them to drive in the city with ease. Unintimidated by other drivers around them. This had nothing to do with the Nautica’s capabilities at all. And then you add the fact that Malaysians think of resale value and branding, where Toyota seems to come up better than Perodua in both areas you now know why the Rush keeps selling and the Nautica didn’t.

So this was niche marketing and product sales that had basically failed. But I am suggesting that Perodua ‘Think Niche’ again. This time bring in that Daihatsu Copen and rebadge it as a Perodua. The Copen has been around for a while already (since 2002) and it is a nice small starter ‘coupe’ for Malaysians. If you think about it that is.

Imagine Perodua bringing this tiny, tiny coupe into Malaysia. Use the Myvi 1.3liter engine like the European versions of the Copen and you have a cheap to maintain little coupe. The mechanical parts are shared and only the body parts are different. Since the car has been in production for a while in Japan, parts for this car could be cheaper already. I mean this little car costs slightly more than the Terios (about SG$95k over sg$85k) in Singapore so it could be sold at around the same RM90k that Perodua was asking for the Nautica.

Yes, I am well aware that Top Gear said the Copen is ‘slightly gay’ but it is a sports coupe. It is a niche vehicle. It is cute. Lots of Malaysian women would want one. The fact that the car sits two is immaterial as no one actually buys a Nautica as a family car in the first place. I usually see one or two people in a Kembara usually.

In fact, if it is cheap, there would be quite a few men who would buy this as their weekend car. They’ll make it a little butch by changing the rims and tires. Put in a noisier exhaust system. They’ll also slap on those stickers here and there to try making it into a race car lookalike. Take a look at this slightly modded Copen below and then tell me it doesn’t look good eh? (pic:bespokeventures.com)

I mean, when was the last time a Malaysian company produced something really sporty looking? I wouldn’t call the Satria Neo CPS to be something truly sporty. It is a warm hatch. But does it look unique? In fact the last quite unique looking Malaysian car was the Putra. Think about it. Two doors, a boot. Very coupe. Not very Hot Hatch like. While a hot hatch is nice to drive, a road presence of a coupe is nicer.

So no matter how ginger beer, hairdresser’s car, girly or tiny looking the Copen is. I believe that this car would be a great addition to Perodua’s stable. Hello, anyone from Perodua reading this? Import the Daihatsu Copen in and sell it for RM90k. And people will buy.

If it doesn’t sell, well, at least you’re willing to bring some life into a quite dull and normal Malaysian car industry. Unlike the Nautica that is.

The Future is the Automatic Transmission

Hello people.... This here is an editorial piece I've written especially for CarThrottle. Click here to read it.

If I Cannot Afford A New Audi I'll Just Have To Make My Car Into One

Posted on MyAutoBlog.org by yours truly. There have been so many Sagas with a Subaru scoop, bodykit going around but the owner of this car is more ambitious......... Click here for more details.

2010 meets the 1990s: My Review of the Proton Satria Neo

Read about my thoughts on a 2010 Proton Satria Neo over here.

The Audi A4 Gets To Breathe, and Fart a Little Easier....

As what the owner said, "It Ain't Rocket Science". That being said, the mods do work very well. Read it in CarThrottle.org.

I Recently Spotted A Peugeot 3008 ...........

The Peugeot 3008 (Hippopotamus amphibius), or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae (the other is the Pygmy Hippopotamus – or the Austin A40 – now extinct.) The 3008 is the third largest land animal (after the elephant and the white rhinoceros) and the heaviest extant artiodactyl, despite being considerably shorter than the giraffe.

The 3008 is an SUV, and therefore it can be semi-aquatic, able to cross small streams and city flash floods, and climb tall roadside kerbs, rivers and lakes where territorial SUVs preside over a stretch of river and groups of 5 to 30 females and young. During the day they remain cool by posing in local watering holes like Bangsar or Sri Hartamas. They emerge at dusk to graze on Starbucks Coffee and other places where expensive coffee and clothing is served. While 3008s rest near each other in the water, grazing is a solitary activity and the 3008 are not territorial on land.

Despite their physical resemblance to pigs and other terrestrial even-toed ungulates, their closest living relatives are the slightly dumpy looking Audi Q5 (the Q7, while huge looks so much better looking – somehow those longer overhangs front and rear and that longer bonnet helps a lot) from which they diverged about 55 million years ago. The common ancestor of Q5 and 3008s split from other normal looking SUVs (like a Mitsubishi Airtrek, Subaru Forester, Range Rover, Freelander etc) around 60 million years ago. The earliest known 3008 fossils, belonging to the genus ugliesthippoaroundus in Africa, date to around 16 million years ago.

The Peugeot 3008 is recognizable by its barrel-shaped torso

, enormous mouth and teeth, 

nearly hairless body, stubby legs and tremendous size. Check out the overhangs front and rear. 

It is THAT disproportionate in terms of looks.Press photos make it look decent. My photos make it look decent too. You have to see it for yourselves to see how horrid it is. Anyway, it is based on the the third-largest land mammal by weight, behind the white rhinoceros and both species of elephant. Despite its stocky shape and short legs, it can easily outrun a human with its efficient 1.6liter 156bhp turbocharged engine. 3008s have been clocked at 30 km/h (19 mph) over short distances due to having the same engine as the current Mini Cooper S, the Peugeot 308GT and also due to its 6 speed automatic gearbox (over the ancient 4speed automatic in the 308 sold here in Malaysia).

And that folks, is the new Peugeot 3008. NAZA underestimated the demand for this in Malaysia as for RM145K, people seem to want this funny looking SUV. Some even chose to buy this due to Audi having a 1 year waiting list for its Q5 over the 3008's 8 to 10 month waiting list. Being more than a 100k cheaper yet still a European import makes it pretty desirable. But it's plain ugly and pretty pointless as it has no real off-road capability whatsoever. I'd never buy an SUV just for its commanding driving position especially if it looks like a hippo. People are buying for the badge, purely for the badge and the image (what image?) that a continental has over here in Malaysia.

Much like those Avanza owners. Buy a crap van just because its a Toyota. Now they're buying an ugly SUV because its a Peugeot. Please people...if you want to buy a Peugeot here in Malaysia, there is the  407 and pointy nosed 308 for you to buy. Not a water loving mammal.

An Article from Another Blog Caught My Eye and Some Thoughts on High Mileage Cars

After a bit of light reading at syedoutsidethebox.blogspot.com I have extracted this for you to read.

“The CEO (of Proton) said that they have sembahyang hajat when they embark on something or other at Proton. The CEO and his Managers all sembahyang hajat together, with the CEO playing imam.

 

My view is this. Cars are made of steel, aluminium, parts and components. The European cars can now give up to 60 MILES PER GALLON or equal to 20 kilometres per litre of diesel !! The new technology in Europe is diesel driven. It is becoming clean, with a very low carbon footprint and gives great mileage.

 

Even the Chinese cars like Chery (a recent member of the car fraternity) are latching on to European standards and technology. I dont know how sembahyang hajat plays into all this? I believe at least one religious person has said before that the 'sembahyang hajat' does not work. “

The above was an excerpt from the above mentioned blog where some political in nature Malaysian bloggers had dinner with the CEO of Proton so that he can explain some politically charged issue that I have no concern of whatsoever. We all know that ‘Sembahyang Hajat’ means a Prayer for a Wish/Request. If the above statement is true  (Note the ‘IF’ word here) this is what Proton is resorting to conducting all the time when it builds cars for the general public to sell then we now know the actual problem of Proton. They are hoping for something called Divine Intervention.

Divine Intevention is a term for a miracle caused by God's active involvement in the human world. I mean would God actually dabble with the creation of a new Proton? Would The Almighty be willing to turn a lemon, like say the Satria Neo I drove recently, and turn it into a Ferrari Enzo beating creation? Or send his Angels down from Heaven and mould that ugly Proton Waja into a Maserati Quattroporte everytime a Waja leaves the assembly line? Would the same Angels also tune that exhaust note of sad, dumpy looking Proton Saga and make it sound like something Mozart wrote?

Actually I don’t think so. You have to actually help yourself first before others can help you. If the product is already a half baked one, then you’ve got it all wrong. Even sembahyang hajat will not help.

A systematic definition of miracles performed by apostles. Of course, no one in Proton are apostles, but the following defines what a miracle is in an Islamic sense. I am using this since Sembahyang Hajat was brought up and if they did one everytime they launched a car, they must have did it when they launched the Satria Neo, Persona and Saga. Anyway, the definition of a miracle can be found in the work of the Muslim scholar al-Īd̲j̲ī Mawāḳif, historian A.J. Wensinck states.The main purpose of miracle is to prove the sincerity of the apostle and has to satisfy the following conditions:

1.     It must be performed by God

2.     "It must be contrary to the usual course of things"

3.     It should be impossible to contradict it

4.     "It must happen at the hands of him who claims to be an apostle

5.     "It must be in conformity with his announcement of it, and the miracle itself must not be a disavowal of his claim"

6.     "It must follow on his claim.

Right. Number 2 means that the miracle ‘must be contrary to the usual course of things’. If the build quality of a Proton is usually bad, (remember that Satria Neo I talked about recently? Bad seat, bad air-cond blower etc.), then nothing could ever stop everyone from criticizing it.

This is the same if it was a Toyota Avanza. I say that the car is absolute crap because it is. No miracle can ever change the fact that it has leaf springs, a badly designed shape and a lorry chassis. If it were built differently, it wouldn’t be an Avanza. The only miracle I see that Proton wants to emulate from Toyota is the fact that lots of people are gullible and, to put it bluntly, idiotic enough to buy one. So maybe, on that note, all those Sembahyang Hajat actually works. People are rushing out and buying at dumpy looking Proton Saga. With that, I take back everything bad I said in this article about Proton conducting the Sembahyang Hajat. Or do I?

Now speaking of cars that have actual quality, this E-Type from the early 1970s (a Series III V12) recently made its way across the border up North. A thousand kilometer trip was not a problem for it and the only set-back that happened to it was a speedbump that was too high, resulting in a cracked exhaust that was easily fixed. Oh, I was there when the mechanics took the car to get the exhaust repaired. Ever heard a Jaguar V12 unsilenced? I have. It was epic.

On the same note, the owner of that wonderful car also made another 1,800km trip in a 1995 Toyota Estima Lucida which had over 260,000km on the clock without any issues.

Cars like these will go on forever. Like the Mercedes W124 I reviewed earlier. It seems that the notion where old cars are clunkers and break down all the time should be put to rest. It all takes some routine maintenance. Stuff that needs to be changed, when it needs to be changed, should be changed. Cars with great build quality will last nearly forever. No extra prayers needed. Just a simple ‘Bismillah’ before you start your day is all you need….. If you’re a Muslim that is, and a short prayer for a splendid and productive day for others out there is all you need to do. It is as simple as that folks.