The tasty MINI preview - March 6, 2014

Just received the invitation for the new MINI preview, happening on March 6, 2014 @ The British High Commissioner's Residence.  And YES, the icon shall be launched in Malaysia in April.  Finally we would see the departure of the Prince engine and the arrival of the all new 3-cylinder 1.5-litre and 4-cylinder 2.0-litre powerhorses.  It will be an interesting night and MINI desperately need a refresh to boost its number.  Always wanted one, and it is now in it third incarnation, will I finally put my cash down for it?

Fabric convertible's...Look here for the Autoglym Cleaning Kit!

If you have been cleaning your smart fabric convertible Boxster, Z4, TT or MX-5 with your mom's Sunlight or Glo, stop doing that!  Go get yourself the Autoglym's Cabriolet Fabric Hood Cleaning Kit.  It comes with a bottle of shampoo for the precious canvas, and a water repellent protector.  Best of all, a sponge is included for you to clean the stubborn bird shit easily.

Autoglym does not have a good presense here in Malaysia, with their distributor/reseller keep going out of business.  For now, CO5 (www.co5.com.my) is their distributor and they carry almost full range of the products, most with ready stock.  Online purchase is available at 12V (www.12v.com.my/autoglym).  Visit their social site in Facebook (www.facebook.com/my.autoglym).

This kit is not cheap though (RM200), so is your car, thus give it your best.  I have been using this for awhile now, and the result is incredible!

The Handsome MPV, Honda Odyssey

If you found the Toyota range of MPVs too boxy, too boring, and did not turn head as almost every well to do family already have one, here is your choice from Honda, which is the Odyssey.  Sounded like it is from the Star Trek, the Odyssey at RM228k is now an official model from Honda Malaysia, providing the comfort of excellent support and service.  Powering the MPV is Honda's 2.4-litre Earth Dream Technology i-VTEC engine mated to a CVT gearbox, capable of generating 173hp/225Nm of power.  It should be good to pull a fully loaded unit with ease.

Since the Odyssey is fully imported, it is a full specifications unit, completely with all round 6-airbag, VSA, Hill-Start-Assist, Blind Spot Monitor, Active Cornering Light and Auto headlights system.  The car also comes with 2nd row captain seat with ottoman, thus providing the ultimate comfort to the passengers.  It might not be as big as a Toyota Alphard or Vellfire, but it is definitely in direct competition of the Estima, offering latest in technology and a name from outer space.

The interior is neat, as always with a Honda.  Simple and elegant.  The dash mounted gear stalk provide a good space between the driver and passenger.  Even the parking brake is operated from a foot pedal.  Smart design.  For those driver that think the Odyssey is still huge, it has Smart Park Assist to auto park the car, just in case the front and back sensors do not suffice here.  By the way, it has a rear view camera as well, thus if you still bump the car to the curb or other while parking, please revisit the driving school, and maybe a visit to the medical centre to get your eyes and ears diagnose.

Luxury with Peace of Mind...that's how Honda called the Odyssey, and it definitely is!  It is not a fast moving model, thus one seldom see it in the showroom, nor test drive is available.  Somehow, Honda should at least get all its dealers a demo unit if it were to compete with the abundance avaiability of other MPVs from parallel importers.

The improved Uncle's Corolla Altis

Toyota has finally view safety as a priority by making a 7-airbag Corolla Altis available, which will cost additional RM3.9k from the highest end V-spec version, making it at RM139,900.  This round, the Altis even have standard rear foglamp!  If you want to upgrade the ICE unit with navigation, just throw in additional RM1.8k for a Garmin system.  Do note that though Toyota claimed as optional, you have to order the Safety package and navigation unit together with the car, and not available as aftermarket add-on.  The Altis soldiered on with the Dual VVT engines, in the choice of 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre.  To all Malaysian, if you want a good Toyota, get the full package unit, it saves life!  Dual airbag cars are so outdated!

	Altis 2.0V + Safety + Navi	Mazda 3 2.0	Civic 2.0 Navi	Sylphy 2.0 XV
Engine Power	143HP/187Nm	162HP/210Nm	152HP/190Nm	131HP/191Nm
Transmission	CVT 7-speed	6-speed	5-speed	CVT
Airbags	7	6	4	2
Traction Control	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Warranty (Yrs)	3	3	5	3
Price (RM)	142k	139k	137k	125k

Looking into the engine bay, it is always a disappointment to see a car of this range still using a old-style-need-to-topup-battery-water battery instead of a Maintenance-Free unit.  By the way, UMW still stingy on the demo car, as the test drive unit is equipped with a 1.8-litre engine, with the navigation ICE unit.  Instead of a 2-Din unit, I would prefer a nicely factory integrated unit that give the luxury feel of the dashboard.  With this, the Altis looks awful, feels cheap.  It is very clear that the ICE unit is an after market add-on to ease manufacturing and lower down the cost.  Whichever unit you choose, your iPod cable will dangle from the player, or the USB drive will stand out as an ugly duckling.  Even the bluetooth connectivity button is not integrated to the steering wheel button, thus it will divert your attention to the player button when your phone ring.  Well, for those that like to mod their car, a 2-Din compartment make thing flexible for them to junk the Toyota player with a better unit. 

The meter clusters for the 1.8-litre and 2.0-litre are different.  1.8-litre get a 3 binnacles cluster, minus the optitron, thus a very basic VIOS-class cluster.  The 2.0-litre is much better, with Toyota trademark Optitron display, dual binnacles, and a multi-info display in the middle.  As mentioned earlier, no 2.0-litre on display, only customer car, thus I was not allowed to access it.

Taking for the 1.8-litre for a spin at highway speed shown the Altis has improve in the NVH area.  It is quiet and throwing the gear to Manual mode, it is willing to rev.  However, this is not the smoothest CVT around, as the driver could still feel the gear shift and the 7-speed could be a gimmick, as at 110km/h, the rpm still run around 2500rpm, which is similar to other Japanese made with lesser gear.  Thus, one should not be fooled by how many speed a CVT could provide, because it is just a pulley varying a belt length, and it could have infinite number of speed if wanted to.  The suspension pick up all bumps comfortably.  Standard Macpherson front struts and low end torsion beam at the rear.  Again, multi-link rear suspension in the Civic or Mazda 3 is the preferred choice here.

Taking a serious look at the Altis, although the design is larger and longer, but it is difficult to feel so.  Sitting inside, one could feel it is smaller than a Honda City.  How could this be?  No second row aircon vent that block the way, but still not as spacious.  Could it be the compromise of an uncle-look-Altis to a not-so-uncle-Altis?  It does not give the C-Segment feel.  The boot is defintely smaller than its competitior.  However, a full size spare wheel with matching alloy rim is provided instead of those smaller donut.

So, what is the report card look like this round for the Altis?  I would comment that it is a great improvement from all previous generation, looking at the full safety package.  It is not the standard model, but ask for it, you only live once, thus don't risk your life on the safety-stripped unit.  With the reliability of a Toyota, it could bring you many miles ahead.  For the not-so-uncle Toyota fanatic!

Happy Birthday, Mazda MX-5/Miata/Roadster

Mazda launched the celebratory MX-5 anniversary website today to mark its 25th birthday!  With almost 1 million production unit on the road, this is the most successful sport car in the world.  25 years ago, this shocked the America and the world in the Chicago Auto Show.

To all proud owners of MX-5/Miata/Roadster: Thanks for making this milestone!

Click here to view press release link by Mazda.

The only surviving CKD hybrid for now, Honda Jazz

Even since the new NAP 2014 been announced, Honda Jazz is the only surviving hybrid car as it is being built in Alor Gajah of Malacca.  The other manufacturer CBU hybrid will suffer in competitiveness with the exorbitant excise duties.  At about RM90k, the Jazz is for you to have, powered by a 1.3-litre iVTEC engine and Honda IMA hybrid motor technology.  It could churn out 87hp/121Nm of power, which is fair for a B-segment hatchback.  Anyone that wanted a hybrid could not care much on the power anyhow, as GREEN and less visit to the petrol kiosk should be the ultimate goal.

Since 2004, Jazz has been a fun model from Honda, where a lot of others manufacturer lack in this segment.  Till today, it still is one of the best selling Japanese hatchback.  The ultraseat that offer choice of configurations and space is a brilliant design.  In fact, the Jazz could be the most spacious hatchback one could find in the market.

Honda always has a very neat interior, with well layout buttons and meter cluster.  The integrated in-dash entertainment unit and auto aircon further make this car a lovable charm.  The USB port for your music device is nicely located in front of the gear stalk.

Honda is the only manufacturer that has different warranty period for different model of their cars and the Jazz only cover the owner for 3-Year, where most other models come with 5-Year.  Kind of weird in their policy and their marketing people seem to be very inconsistent, which is very similar in their inconsistent service quality of their service centers.  But for now, if you want a 2014-built hybrid, with all the tax incentive, Jazz is your only choice.

The red-leather BMW Z4

A roadster should always defy the conventional black leather seat, and the Z4 chooses red to add the sporty touch to the 2-seater 2-litre convertible.  The first thing the owner of a Z4 should do to enhance the appearance of the car is to paint the roof to another contrasting colour, which black complement well with the white.  BMW offers such an option, but not in Malaysia.  If it were a black Z4, it goes very well with a silver roof!  Second facial change should be the colour of the rims.  Designer of such car should carefully match a better palette as an option instead of the dull boring silver grey coat that is used in all other standard car.

At about RM360k, this beemer could spell an almost RM100k saving from the Mercedes SLK, of which both produces almost the same power.  The Z4 carries 184hp/270Nm of power with its 8-speeder box, and only if BMW is willing to reduce its 1.5 ton weight, the car is not close to winning any F1 race.  But this is a roadster anyhow, and not a sport car, thus a leisure drive to Bukit Tinggi, Fraser and Cameron along those B-roads could be fun, especially with the top down.

The interior shares the same BMW-feel, nothing to shout, simple with some elegant.  The specifications of the sDrive 2.0i does not mention any monitor screen, but one could see the iDrive joystick behind the gear shift selector, thus, it might have a fold-up screen or maybe not. I would still prefer the southward pointing meter cluster in this category of car.  The SLK and MX-5 did theirs and that looks incredible sporty.

A big let down on the Z4 is the lift-back door handle, which looks so outdated.  Designer might have think twice to have this to match the bodyline, but...the modern pull-type handle could be better. 

With the top down, it retracts into the boot, using much of the space.  Thus forget about the big weekend grocery shopping or long stayover trip.  The German could need to take a lesson from Mazda how a middle compartment that keep the top down yet provide a usable trunk could also produce an elegant roadster that the MX-5 earn itself to be the best selling roadster in the world for the past 20-decades!