TOC launches basic Car Maintenance short course with emphasis on basic car maintenance and road safety

L to R - Mr Allen Cabiles - Director Training TOC, Mdm Adeline Foo -Founder/CEO TOC, Mr Abdul Haris Lakar DDG JKJR, Mr Mohammad Fakhri Mansor Director Selangor State JKJR and Cik Aien Mokhtar- CCO TOC

I was over at The Automotive College aka The Otomotif College (TOC) yesterday to witness the launch of their new half day course called Car Maintenance 101. The course was launched with the aim to increase awareness of the importance of roadworthy car and how it plays a part in road safety today.

The course, Car Maintenance 101 is designed for those who wish to learn about car maintenance, how to save on maintenance and servicing costs as well as basic road safety knowledge. It was officially launched by the Deputy Director General of Road Safety (JKKR) Mr. Abdul Haris Lakar at the TOC campus here in Petaling Jaya.

Touring the TOC facility

Now over the the U.S. of A.....the 2015 Hyundai Sonata wins another award

The current, 2015 Hyundai Sonata has garnered another award over in America. Edmunds.com and Parents magazine have come together and voted the Sonata as one of the 10 Best Family Cars to buy in America. The Hyundai Sonata earned the award for its safety and family oriented features, interior space as well as technology offered.

Volkswagen Pushes for Child Passenger Safety with Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia

In conjunction with Volkswagen Malaysia’s efforts to educate public on road safety with the emphasis on child safety, the car manufacturer has embarked on a nationwide campaign to cultivate children’s safety in cars. In collaboration with the Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia (ARCPM) or Persatuan Pengasuh Berdaftar Malaysia (PPBM), an exclusive Child Passenger Safety Media Workshop was organized earlier today. The Child Passenger Safety Training Module will be rolled out across 280  ARCPM centres throughout Malaysia. Aside from that, some 200 child safety seats would be donated by Volkswagen Malaysia.

And now for some lifestyle comparison: Maruti Suzuki launches the Celerio Diesel over in India

Now over in India Maruti Suzuki, the India subsidiary of Suzuki has officially launched the Maruti Celerio Diesel. Now Maruti have basically a whopping 37% share of the passenger car market in India and the Celerio is a big thing to them. Something like a Proton Saga over here. Or Perodua Myvi. Or vice versa.

 The diesel is powered by a new (Indian designed) 793 cc twin cylinder diesel engine. It delivers maximum power of 47 hp and 125 Nm torque. The claimed mileage figure stands at 27.62 km/l thus making Celerio diesel as the most fuel efficient car on offer in India. It is priced from Rs4.65lakhs - 5.71lakhs or RM27,278.44 to RM33,496.76.  Cheap eh? You do get a lot of hard plastics inside but looks well equipped and decently comfortable. The styling outside is nothing to shout about as it looks like an uglier looking Suzuki Alto (or A-Star in India) due to more space utilisation and that it is specced and built to a low down price - note that even the seats have a one piece, fixed headrest design to save cost.

Hyundai launches its luxury car - the Genesis at its new 3S Centre in KL

Yesterday Hyundai Sime Darby officially launched the 2015 Hyundai Genesis for the Malaysian market. The launch of the Hyundai Flagship sedan coincided with the official opening of their new 3S centre over at Old Klang Road. The centre is the first Flagship 3S GDSI (Global Dealership Space Identity) centre in South East Asia and measures approximately 38,000 sq ft.

The Hyundai Genesis is a full sized luxury car. It is built in the traditional mould of what a luxury sedan is - rear wheel drive, a long bonnet, a rearward four door passenger space and acres of leather with wood trim. It is powered by a 3.8liter GDI V6 petrol engine coupled to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. Power is at 329hp (333hp with premium grade petrol) and 397Nm torque. This is enough to enable the Genesis to have a 0-100kmh time of 6.5seconds.

Some off topic ramblings for you guys to ponder on.

Hello folks. I was away for the weekend and when I got home it was straight to the Ford showroom beside the Federal Highway to collect the recently launched all-new Ford Mondeo 2.0 Ecoboost. As some of you who know me personally, I lead quite an exciting life. From dabbling in trade, some investing, to being a father, a husband as well as a person who maintains two blogs things are pretty interesting most of the time.

So since the school holidays have officially started my family and I decided to take a short break down south to Singapore. I tend to do this often and three hour drives to do so are common. Why I end up there is basically because you can get a whole lot of stuff there which you can't get here. And the motoring scene in Singapore can be pretty vibrant too. Even with the most expensive car prices in the world do not stop them from enjoying them from buying cars they like. I suppose where there's a need, there's a way. In short, they work bloody hard and smart to get what they want. I don't hear most of the population bitch and whine most of the time. They do, but they still carry on with what needs to be done. And do note....they are disciplined 95% of the time in doing so. Compare this to us - we break traffic laws in city driving almost all the time. No signalling at turns, going down the wrong way on one way streets in neighbourhood commercial areas, no giving way to others in traffic,  not wearing your seatbelts most of the time and carrying babies in your laps. This does not happen down south okay. Discipline on the roads helps. It is also carried on in other aspects of life. If you do not have some self control, you will be a poor person. And don't blame others for your laziness and stupidity.

SHELL’S “#LOVEMYRIDE” FESTIVAL TO OFFER FREE ULTIMATE CAR ENGINE REJUVENATING EXPERIENCE

There will be a two day event called #LOVEMYRIDE by Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd. What will happen is that 500 lucky car owners or drivers will get 15,000 liters of Shell V-Power fuel and 6,000liters of Shell Helix Ultra with PurePlus Technology for FREE.

What you need to do is head over to the event on June 13 and 14, 2015 at the MARTRADE Exhibition and Convention Centre (MECC) Kuala Lumpur from 10.00am till 7.00pm. Each lucky car will be selected from applications received ONLINE at www.lovemyride.com.my

The latest Jeep Wrangler CJ300 by the Chelsea Truck Company and Kahn Design

Jeep was recently re-introduced in Malaysia but we still haven't seen many of them on our roads. I think it boils down to the price. The cheapest one, the Compass costs over RM220,000 and the iconic Wrangler costs over RM260,000. Imagine trying to sell an icon when you have another even bigger (in this ex-British colony) icon called the Land Rover Defender selling for around RM150,000+. You're essentially screwed.

Anyway, let's enjoy some car porn courtesy of Kahn Design. They've fiddled with the latest Jeep Wrangler and made it into their own. In other words, more leather, black wheels and bright paint. At least those of you here would get an idea on how to bling up your Wrangler if you aren't happy with the standard looks.

Peugeot launches the facelifted Peugeot 508 in Malaysia

It must be Peugeot week here. The official distributor for Peugeot automobiles in Malaysia, Nasim Sdn Bhd has launched the facelifted Peugeot 508 and I was there. The new 508 gets quite a major front end revamp. There is a new family grille with new bumper design and a redesigned bonnet too. There are also full LED technology in the car now. Headlights (which also swivel according to steering angle) are LED as are the daytime running lights, fog lamps and rear lights too. The rear bumper also has a redesign also.

The interior gets a 7 inch multimedia display and is fully loaded with audio, reverse camera, driving aids, connectivity and navigation. A whole lot of stuff as well as JBL speakers (which do sound good as I managed to sit in a display unit and cranked it up a fair bit). Aside from the above, you also get every other goodie you can think of. safety systems, keyless entry, push start, electric parking brake, electrically adjustable seats and other stuff too.

Spotted for Sale: Buy these cars and receive FREE ACCIDENT

I love our country. Most of us are bilingual and a lot are tri-lingual. Of course this means English is definitely a second language or tongue to most. As such, advertisements are hilarious. But if you take them seriously, buy these cars and get FREE ACCIDENT. Instead of being 'Accident Free' you get a bonus.

Tested: Peugeot 208 GTI - A car worthy of its GTI Badge

These days if you want performance and handling for a certain price it would have to be the hot hatchback. These hot hatches were basically souped up versions of compact and supermini sized hatchbacks in either 3 or 5 door variants with added on bodykits, larger wheels and a more powerful engine. Gone were the days where affordable sportiness meant a coupe body. Ever since the first few hot hatchbacks arrived in the late 1970s and early 1980s, this was the way to go for affordable performance.

Peugeot was one of the early ones. They burst into the scene with the 205GTI in 1984. It was a stupendous car. It had a 1.6liter engine with 105hp in the beginning. This would not sound like much in current times but in those days, cars were pretty light. This was an era before airbags, side impact bars in the doors and other safety kit. So the 205GTi had around 900kgs to lug around. This still meant decent acceleration and performance. And at that point of time, 1.6liter family hatchbacks had an average of 95hp to begin with. So the 205GTI reigned supreme. It even liked to cock its inside rear wheel if one drove it vigourously in the bends. It was, a classic. Still is actually. I do wonder what happened to the few I used to see running around in the mid 1990s.

Perodua Myvi 10th Anniversary Edition

Perodua has unveiled a Myvi comemorating ten years of the Myvi. Called the Myvi 10th Anniversary Edition this Myvi is super limited in production with only ten units made available.

Thank God its only limited to ten units and not a unit more. And that.... is all I have to say about it, folks.

Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia organises off-road experience - So I got to try the Range Rover Sport

Jaguar Land Rover (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (JLRM), authorised importer and distributor of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in Malaysia recently organised a 5 day special off-road driving experience event at Sepang to owners, potential buyers and members of the media. More than 500 Land Rover owners had the opportunity to experience first hand the features and systems featured on Land Rover and Range Rover vehicles. And there are lots of features in all of them. They also were given the opportunity to have a sneak preview of the new Land Rover Discovery Sport (below) as well as the complete range of Jaguar cars in Malaysia. This includes the very tasty and mind blowingly fantastically sounding Jaguar F-Type coupe. They were like trumpets from heaven. But, before I start dreaming of exhaust notes, let's get back to the story at hand.

Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia previews the Discovery Sport

Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia has finally previewed the 2015 Land  Rover Discovery Sport here in Malaysia. The preview was part of a four day customer and media experience event held at the Sepang F1 Circuit 4x4 track area. The Discovery Sport represents the third generation of compact SUV produced by Land Rover and effectively replaces the Freelander as Land Rover's entry level SUV.

We Malaysians will most probably be getting the 240hp 2.0liter turbocharged engine based on the Ford Ecoboost and the 2.2liter DuraTorq TDCI engine with about 190ps and a whole lot more torque than the petrol powered engine. Both will be sold with ZF's nine speed automatic transmission on a haldex type all-wheel drive setup (although there is a more efficient Active Driveline system on option but I doubt will be offered here). There is no low range transfer box with either all wheel drive system, to counter this limitation, the ZF 9-HP features a special very low ratio first gear which is only used when the vehicle is off-road or otherwise needed, for on-road use, the vehicle will normally start in second gear.

Volkswagen Malaysia and Swire Motors starts construction of Volkswagen's largest dealer facility in Malaysia

Volkswagen Malaysia has entered into a partnership with highly diversified and global group Swire Motors. The partnership was kicked off with a ground breaking ceremony to mark the construction of Volkswagen Puchong North, which will be Volkswagen's largest dealer facility in Malaysia.

This super sized 4S showroom will display up to 16 different models while the Aftersales section will have 25 service work bays to serve the southern region of Klang Valley.

The construction of Volkswagen Puchong North facility is expected to be completed in November 2015.

HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE BATTERY HITS THE MALAYSIAN MARKET

Earlier today I attended the Hitachi Automotive Battery launch and dealership signing ceremony between Hitachi Chemical Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd (HCAP) and Borneo Technical Technical Co (M) Sdn Bhd to appoint the latter as the distributor for the battery in the country effective May 2015.

Trucks: UD Trucks celebrates 80th Anniversary - a new UD centre in Japan and an enhanced Quester

This year, UD Trucks turns 80 years old and in celebration, the company has opened a new 3,000 sq ft UD Experience Centre in Ageo, Japan. Meanwhile, the company has also re-affirmed its commitment to Southeast Asia with the enhanced UD Quester, specifically designed for growth markets.

Compared to its predecessor, the CWM, the Quester is equipped with a bigger cab, better all-round visibility and a car-like driving experience.The highly-customizable Quester is suitable for long-haul, transportation of Dangerous Goods, distribution, construction and mining applications.


Axle configurations range from 4x2 to 8x4, and the 11-litre engine has an extra engine brake built in.

Special offer from McLaren Kuala Lumpur when you purchase a McLaren 650S

And now, you can order your McLaren 650S in Malaysia and get a personalised Meridian home audio system for your house. The McLaren 650S comes with a Meridian in-car system. Now your house can get one too. Offer is valid for the first five (5) buyers between 13th May and 14th June 2015. Of course, if you have to ask how much is a 650S.........

PRESS RELEASE

LUXURY AND PERFORMANCE HIT THE RIGHT NOTE WITH McLAREN AND MERIDIAN

Land Rovers from all eras make 1,000km journey - KL - Kuala Terengganu and Back

Speaking about Land Rovers something interesting happened on the 30th of April 2015. This was a long weekend with two public holidays. It saw 100 Land Rover enthusiasts hit the roads for a 1,000km journey from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Terengganu and back. Imagine a 1955 Land Rover series 1 doing that. Amazing.

Press Release
MAY DAY DRIVE TO COMMEMORATE A LAND ROVER ICON

2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport spotted in PJ

The all new Land Rover Discovery Sport has been spotted at the Sime Darby office building at Oasis, Ara Damansara in Petaling Jaya earlier today.

This is the entry level Land Rover passenger vehicle and it replaces the Freelander models. The Disco Sport should be sold here soon as we are seeing these cars on the road for testing and other tests.