Proof that Camry is lousy!

Here is yet another proof for the Toyota's fan...It is not worth paying premium for it.  Though US model differs from ours, I don't think the Camry here is even near the safety rating they have.

Read the full article here.

Attractive Attrage from Mitsubishi? You decide...

The Attrage which means Attractive is the new B-segment car from Mitsubishi, launched recently in Malaysia and many months back in Thailand.  However, I had never seen one on the road as yet.  Whether it is attractive or not, you decide!  

The Attrage is based on the smaller Mirage hatchback, with an elongated boot now, and to me, it looks better than the weird Ford Fiesta sedan.  And if you hated a Vios for the so common feel, and don't feel like the muscular City is your choice, or the conservative Tan Chong's Almera does not suit your character, then maybe you should take a look at this car.

The car is powered by a 3-cylinder 1.2-litre MIVEC engine, that produces 80hp/106Nm, paired to a CVT transmission, which should fair appropriately for normal city driving.  It also belongs to the Eco car category in Thailand and Indonesia to enjoy some tax benefit.  However, with no such policy in Malaysia, Eco or not, makes no different.  You still need to pay RM78k for the fully loaded SE version, but the GS version which should fair better at RM71k, minus the 2-Din Audio, tint, leather seats and DRL.

Looking at the interior, as a basic car, it has the most basic layout, with only the speedo and tacho in the meter cluster, and no audio control on the steering wheel.  The Kenwood 2-din unit feel after market, again, with USB port on the unit instead of integrated at a more convenient location.  The gated gear shift look upmarket though.  It has the common Push Start button, Digital Auto Air Conditioner and keyless entry...why can't they make a better audio unit.  Though some of you out there like a Kenwood better than a no-brand integrated unit.

With its cute compact look, people that like the Mirage would like the Attrange, and I would think this car target the ladies that want a no-frill car, simple to operate, economy of fuel and available in Red!

The MX-5 Grand Gathering, Tri5 - 2013

MX-5 owners from 3 countries, came together, with the grand gathering held at Nilai Golf and Country Club.  It was amazing to see 35 cars that shown up, with a drive to Sepang International Circuit.  The event did not end here, but will continue till all group safely reach home.

 

All 3 generations of MX-5/Eunos/Roadster/Miata...however you like to name them, made their present in the event...The NA, NB, NC...or MKI, MKII, MKIII!

The Tri5 of MX-5, happening now!

It is happening now and tomorrow Oct 27, 2013, at Sepang International Circuit.  Everyone is welcome!

For more info, visit http://mx5my.com, or click here.

Reliable engine...who not and who yes!

Warranty Direct of UK just revealed the data, and looks like continental cars especially the big names are among the top 10 worst reliable!  I have always dream of having a MINI, and my analysis is right that when BMW only offer 2 years warranty in Malaysia, the German are not confidence in their products.

However, it is good to know Honda is on top of the list, and the top Lexus has drop significantly.  Congratulations to Mercedes and Volvo for being the most reliable continental manufacturer!

The ALL in smALL Kia Picanto

Many years ago, Naza brought in the cute little Kia Picanto, then continued to rename it to Naza Suria, and back to Picanto.  Back in Korea, this little car is called Kia Morning. Now with the latest generation, Naza Kia's salesperson called their car "The European Korean", effectively telling other that Kia is now "mixed-blood" beauty, penned by the famous Peter Schreyer.  And indeed, all current generation of Kia cars are beautiful.  I love the Kia Soul, which somehow does not make it to Malaysia, and this Picanto is really a beauty with everything you could ask for.

In the safety department, it has 6-airbag, Vehicle Stability Management, Hill Start Assist, all round disc brake system, front and rear fog lamps, Auto Headlight and follow-me-home light, which you can't even get in a bigger Vios or City or the similar range Mirage, Alto or its sibling i10.  The speed sensing door lock feature is complimented by impact sensing auto door unlock, which will pass the insurance industry requirement.  The Picanto deserves a real Euro NCAP 4-star, unlike others manufacturers which use the European test result in their adverts, yet selling cars with much lesser safety features in Malaysia.  Just take a look at the below summary table, unless you wanted a Japanese made, Picanto is a clear choice if you value your life!

	Kia Picanto	Hyundai i10	Suzuki Alto	Mitsubishi Mirage
Engine Type	1.2-L 4-Cyl	1.2-L 4-Cyl	1.0-L 3-Cyl	1.2-L 3-Cyl
Engine Power	87HP/119.6Nm	87HP/119.6Nm	67HP/90Nm	78HP/100Nm
Transmission	4-speed	4-speed	4-speed	CVT
Airbags	6	2	2	2
Traction Control	Yes	No	No	No
Warranty (Yrs)	5	5	5	3
Price (RM)	60,000	56,988	51,383	65,962

 

The Interior dashboard is nicely layout, and the asymmetrical  center console is slightly angled toward the driver, making those buttons conveniently accessible.  A well integrated CD player with bluetooth connectivity for your mobile.  The USB and AUX-IN port is located at the bottom, so you will not have wire dangling from top to bottom.  If the Picanto could be equipped with the auto aircon control instead of the manual dials, then it will be a fully loaded car.  In the brochure, it actually uses the digital-controlled aircon unit. Well, a manual unit could proof to save cost and for ease of maintenance.

The meter cluster contains a supervision display, that not just embed the trip computer of the car, but the rear parking assist as well.  Push Start button and keyless entry included.  The VSM button is rare in this class of car.

With the push of a button, the cup holder swing out, and when not in use, could be kept to make a bigger space for your other items.  Smart idea!

The trunk is small, at only 292-litre, and the designer has included a multi-compartment tray for the lose items, another detailed-design.  The Picanto is not for the family trip anyway, it is designed for city dwellers and the occasional short trip with your spouse.

If you were to ask whether would I consider the "European Korean", I would happily say Yes!  With 5-year unlimited mileage warranty, and the funky lemon grass and alice blue colours, it could be a hit among the ladies.  Its sibling, Hyundai i10 Colourz should be worrying now, similar to the Suzuki Alto and Mitsubishi Mirage.

Now, let's wait till its launching, which is happening soon, Naza has made 1000 ready units.  The first batch is all Semi-Knocked-Down units, and I believe in no time, some parts will be localized if this sell well.  Manual gearbox version will have some features such as foglight, bluetooth, sunvisor illumination and supervision cluster taken off, and fitted with simpler smaller wheels!  Still a good choice on safety!

Boxer, not sexy at all...The Subaru XV

Ask what a boxer engine is?  One that wears the grandfather-styled CK underwear? In short, a boxer engine or a flat engine has its cylinders positioned horizontally opposed.  It is not common as the Inline or V engines, nor it is sexy at all.  But Subaru, a company partially owned by Toyota has its fame on this technology.  However, Subaru is not the company that invented boxer engine, it was patented by Karl Benz in 1896 from Germany.

So what's good on this type of engine? After many years of development, the power it could produce is still no match to inline or V engines, and to service the engine, you could need to lift the unit out, even for the not simple spark plug change.  All-Wheel-Drive is not exclusive to a boxer engine setup, though Subaru makes people think so since it mainly market its cars will this as standard. The only thing a boxer engine outperform is it could reduce the center of gravity due to its layout.  Looks at how many pulleys (8 visible) are connected to the drive belt, you will worry how many moving parts will fail! 

There are usually 2 types of people that want a Subaru:

1. People that want a Japanese made sport car - like the Subaru WRX STI.  If not for the turbo engine, it has nothing impressive.
2. Soccer mom that want a big space and stay in area where snow is common sight, for the need of All-Wheel-Drive, like the Subaru Forrester.

The Subaru XV, with a 2.0-litre boxer engine, could only make a desperately low 150HP/196Nm power and torque, in which other Japanese makers could do much better with their Inline engines many years back.  However, XV is a crossover where Toyota, Honda and Nissan have no such offering in their product lines in Malaysia.  The unit uses a CVT transmission, thus it is not for the sporty in mind.

The interior of the XV is plain, with a after market Kenwood double-din unit. Again, at this age of days, isn't an integrated player make it looks more elegant. I just hated the idea to have the USB drive or iPod hanging from the player.  All car manufacturer should have the USB or AUX-in port design at a convenient location instead.

Motor Image is now offering the XV at RM135k OTR, from the usual price of RM151k, which is a good deal.  But with limited service centres and low volume on the road, the car could be a pain to maintain.

The Pocket Rocket, Peugeot 208 GTI

 

You wanted a sport car, but with limited budget, and years ago, you put in a Toyota's Levin in your 30-year-old corolla, hoping to get a feel of it, yet you are still thirst for more power, as the old chassis was not made to handle that.  You are now all grown up, with a better income, and enough budget to skip the Proton Satria GTI which has nothing in power relation of a real Grand Tourer Injected car, so Peugeot is bringing back the 208 GTI for a decent RM140k (CKD), with a 200HP/275Nm, 1.6-litre Twin Scroll Turbo with High Pressure (THP) engine, a variant of the popular Prince engine fitted to various Peugeot, Citroen and MINI cars.  It comes equipped with a 6-speed close ratio transmission to make the fan happier, and no auto box, the way a GTI should be.

 A lot of us does not even know what the heck GTI mean, and here is the answer from the internet. "GTI is an acronym for an Italian phrase 'Gran Turismo Iniezione' which is a fuel injected grand tourer luxury automobile. It was first used on the 1961 Maserati 3500 GTI which was a 2-door closed body car and convertible made by an Italian car manufactures called Maserati."

Overall, the 208 GTI is similar to its standard sibling, with all the safety features a European car could offer.  What make it stand out is the GTI emblem at the rear and side profile of the car, chrome side mirror cover, a redesigned trapezoidal front signal indicator, brake calipers in red, a lot of red interior  add-ons, and the smell of the perfect Nappa leather.  Even the floating meter cluster is surrounded by red ambient light.

Too bad, no test drive unit available and Naza could only provide the normal aspirated 120HP VTi unit for a spin, which drive good as well.  The only draw back on the standard unit is the 4-speeder gearbox, where Peugeot should replace with the 6-speed unit, as in the 308 and 408.

It is a pity that Peugeot does not include navigation to the touch screen infotainment unit, but the centre console look much better than the dated unit from the 308 which is also share with the 408 and RCZ.  The GTI is only available in Red or White, and the standard has additional choice of Black, Blue and Silver.  All are boring choice of colours.  The purple and rose quartz units available in Europe looks stunning the the lads and ladies.  Why can't we have that in Malaysia.

Overall, the 208 is a nice car, and with 5-Year unlimited mileage warranty, it is a good deal.  The 5-door costs RM86k, 3-door is at RM96k with bigger wheel and a panaromic roof and leather seats.  All models fitted with all round airbags (6 in total), auto wiper and headlight, traction control, further with EURO NCAP 5-star safety rating.  Let's hope the CKD unit uses the same metal parts and components that meet the 5-star rating, not any cost cutting replacement for this region.

CT200h, the Lexus Prius!

For additional RM30k from the Toyota Prius, you could upgrade your status to be a Lexus owner, joining people that enjoy luxury and the L brand!  The CT200h shares the same powertrain with the Prius, but if you want the luxury version, it will cost you almost RM198k, worth it or not, I will get a better car instead of the 98HP/142Nm unit, called me the tree-cutter, global warming contributor if you would.  Who told you the battery used in the hybrid is environment friendly?  How many companies in the world could safely recycle battery without causing global warming?

I was thinking of putting it in my shopping list, and yes, I like to be luxury, but the lousy treatment at the Lexus centre helped to put a red cross to the car.  Furthermore after comparing the standard and luxury version, I would save the RM30k if I wanted the standard version, or I would get the A-Class or 1-Series if I opted for the luxury version.

The luxury unit has a joystick at the centre console, and a big screen that popup, whereas the standard version below get nothing amazing.  The look of the CD player layout with a tiny screen just put me off.  A Lexus should be luxury, and owner should not compromise that.

The hatch does not look hot or sexy and it is time for Lexus to refresh it.  Not going to elaborate more on the CT200h, as I found people that buy it wanted a Lexus badly and this is the cheapest they could get, and it has Toyota as its backing, giving it top notch resale value.  However, used hybrid value is difficult to determine now, unlike Honda which has published the battery replacement price publicly, providing better comfort level of owning it.  Oh, by the way, > 60% of Lexus' sales are from the CT200h, making it a mass market car now, losing it luxury taste.

The new EXPENSIVE, BASIC Vios!

Toyota is always for those conservative people, who only put resale value at the only criteria while shopping for a car.  With the new Toyota Vios, it targets the same type of buyer.

	Vios	City
Engine Power	109HP/141Nm	120HP/145Nm
Transmission	4-speed	5-speed
Airbags	2	2
Traction Control	No	Yes

The Vios still uses the same 1NZ-FE engine with the Super ECT 4-speeder gearbox, which Toyota is good at in using the cheapest for the dumb buyer.  No traction control when compared to Honda City.  In the safety department, the only thing the Vios wins this round is by having rear fog lamp mounted at the bottom of the bumper. Duh!

If you look further on where UMW cut cost, look at the NS40 battery, which is NOT the maintenance free type.  Even Proton provides maintenance free battery nowadays.  The Vios battery tray is sized to take a NS60, but it comes with a smaller unit.  Bravo again in saving some cost and charge premium to the consumer.

The interior department, the yellowish beige colour is horrible.  The dashboard is line with "fake" leather stitching, which looks real at a distance, but the hard plastic give it all up.  Looking down the climate control, Vios keeps its basic setting, where you have 2 airflow positions selection only, to the front or front and bottom, where is the rest if you wanted to have the bottom or top, another cost cutting strategy since the Vios first generation.  Even a Perodua Myvi has more selection.  

The worst design is the CD player, adopting all cheap cars design, having the USB and AUX jack at the front fascia of the player, so you will have cable dangling to your iPod or a USB drive jutting out.  The Honda City has the best design, with both connectors hidden in a centre compartment to keep things organized.  You can pay additional RM1,900 to have a touch screen unit with reverse camera or RM2,990 for one that provides navigation function.  Save the money, get a third party unit instead.  Well, Toyota finally moved their innovation of centrally mounted meter cluster back to the driver side in this Vios, telling us their years of research that keep driver focus better is not picking up steam.

The front of the Vios looks sharp and sporty, goodbye to the dugong face and tail.  To keep the Vios look and feel, Toyota has kept the rear lookalike to the previous generation, though with bigger and edgier rear lamp cluster.  However, the rear does not match well to the front, it is like a pretty face with a flat bump.  Maybe it is me, I just did not like the downward teardrop shape of the light.  Maybe having a straighter line of lamp cluster, would match well with the pretty face.

With more than 8000 bookings before it was launched, we knew most people out there are the conservative type, but who to blame?  Most of us want a good resale value as down payment for the next new car and having a Toyota guarantees that!  We could only blame the it on the high taxes we need to pay, making "affordable" car "not-so-affordable".  You and I knew, who and what to blame!  With such good response, Toyota does not even offer test drive unit of the new Vios, and I wonder how could one spend > RM80k without trying it, yet complaint a RM3.5 chicken rice for being tasteless.

The Mazda MX5 Event of The Year 2013: Tri5--> 24-28th Oct

To all Mazda MX5 owners, this event is for you...NA, NB, NC...3 countries, one goal!

 

For more info, visit http://mx5my.com, or click here.

Contact Email: mx5my2013@gmail.com

Monetary sense in another perspective of owning a new car

A lot of us keeping thinking it is expensive to get a new car, as in Malaysia, the lousiest car make by Proton will cost > RM30k, and a lot of us want a safer car instead of the Milo tin.  So getting a decent car with all safety features such as all round airbags, ABS, Traction Control, etc will cost > RM80k.  So if you take a 5-year loan @ 2.5% rate, the car will cost you RM90,000.  Wow, that's a lot of money for the normal employee.

Now, look at it from another perspective, from RM90,000, the car will depreciate about RM15,000 in the first year, then RM10,000 in the second year, follow by an average RM8,000 for the next 3 years.  So do the math now, the car will cost you RM15k+RM10k+RM8k+RM8k+RM8k = RM49,000.  So if you sell the car after fifth year at RM31,000.  You should tell yourself that you have actually just spent RM49,000 in buying the new car, plus additional RM10,000 for interest, a total of RM59,000.  

So now you should feel better right, instead of spending RM90,000, you are only spending RM59,000 to own the new car, which is about RM11,800 per year.  Look at it differently, you can afford a better car...Skip the Proton and Perodua, and get yourself something you like!

Is the CRV worth considering?

Depending on how you see a SUV, the CRV will worth the buy if you like the Honda brand, and want to feel the realtime 4WD system.  At RM149k, it hits directly with the Mazda CX-5 and Nissan X-Trail, and not much other choice you could have.  The blue colour of this CRV is nice, presenting a glimpse of style, luxury and class.

With 155HP 2.0-litre and a 5-speeder, it should perform better than the slightly lower CX-5 SkyActiv 2.0-litre.  For a 4WD CX-5, you will be looking at RM154k instead, slightly more, but with a stunning look, and top grade safety like 6-airbag compare to only 4 in the CRV.  Honda and Toyota always lack in the safety department, wanting to gain the best profit by providing lesser safety which a lot of Malaysians ignore.  Big mistake!

Look is always a love hate situation.  The front of the CRV looks good, especially the headlamps, but the rear is too sexy so to speak.  Proportionally, the rear glass is small and the door is huge, which might give a sporty feel, but ...

However, if you look carefully for the side, the rear light cluster is nice. So for this CRV, it is an improvement from the previous, but Honda, can you please make your car loaded with all the safety stuffs and provide us with the safety we want.  There is no need to mention front and rear seatbelts anymore in your specifications, these are require by law anyway.

Again, Honda really does a good job in offering 5-year-warranty for its cars now, plus free alternate labour cost for service up to 100k mileage.