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Toyota Auris HSD uses hybrid system from Prius

September 14, 2009 at 1:04 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Toyota

Toyota Auris HSD

This Toyota Auris HSD Full Hybrid previews what will be Toyota’s first step in offering a hybrid model for each car they sell in Europe by the early 2020s, and starting out with the Auris HSD makes sense as the 5-door hatchback bodytype is the most popular bodytype in terms of sales in Europe.

But 2020 is a long way to go – will we even be in the position to use ‘hybrid’ cars by then or would we have gone all fuel cell or EV, at least in terms of new vehicles? I believe as long as there are countries where cars have a much longer lifecycle and remain in use for a long time (such as our country), there will be the need to have fuel stations that serve petrol, and as long as there’s still petrol widely available, people will still continue to pick it as the fuel of choice, assuming the price of EVs and fuel cells don’t come down of course.

Back to the Auris HSD. It’s of course not the first time Toyota has put a hybrid system in a variant that’s not exclusively hybrid. However these hybrid cars have been pretty much reserved for JDM markets – we’re talking about models such as the Estima Hybrid. Everywhere else, Toyota’s only hybrid offering has been the successful hybrid-only Prius, and the Lexus hybrids don’t really count as they don’t have a Toyota badge.

Toyota Auris HSD

Blue may be the colour signifying hybrid or green technology for the time being but the interior is completely overdone. The best way to describe it would be just acres and acres of blue, with a white centre console area.

For this concept, the 1.8 litre Hybrid Synergy Drive system from the latest Prius has been taken directly and slotted into the concept. A hybrid must of course be aerodynamic (unless you’re talking about a hybrid SUV, then it becomes relative) so Toyota has lowered the stock Auris ride height by 20mm, and they’ve also fitted underbody panels, a rear spoiler, aerodynamic 18 inch alloy wheels, and a rear diffuser.
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Birth of the E30 Coupe Owner’s Journal!

September 13, 2009 at 8:36 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, BMW E30 Owner's Journal, Cars

I’ve been tinkering with a new toy over the past two day in the company stables – an E30 3-Series Coupe. If you’ve been a long time follower of this site you may remember a post back in end-2005 where in a caffeine-induced moment I went rambling about how I thought the E30′s design was timeless and how I wanted one.

Well, nearly four years later I finally got one, by accident really. A friend had placed a deposit on this automatic Agate Green 320i Coupe with a 325i engine but later found a manual 323i Coupe with a sunroof. He wanted a manual to begin with so he was looking for someone to take over the 320i, and after having a look at the car I was sold.

What really attracted me was the fact that this particular E30 Coupe had an interior in really good condition. Cream interior with leather seats, no cracks on the dashboard, leather seats in great condition, and everything worked, from the electrically adjustable power windows, the dashboard clock, all instrument gauges, etc. No white smoke (or black for the matter) from the engine, though there was a hairline crack in the exhaust header, but that’s a minor issue.

The car had a little timing issue where whenever you shifted gears into D or R from N, the RPM would drop a little and sometimes the car would just die off. This was fixed by raising the engine idle speed a little. That stopped the engine from dying but there was one problem – when you shifted into gear, the oil pressure light would come on awhile and would go away once you revved the engine a little. Well, that was that… or so I thought.

And then the adventure began. We (road tester Harvinder and I) were on the way to the mechanic’s place to get some electric fan issue sorted, the oil pressure light came on permanently. This was somewhere in TTDI.

Panic ensued – an oil pressure issue is not one to be taken lightly. An engine needs oil for lubrication to function properly. Friction is your engine’s enemy. Of course it could mean that the engine oil pressure has dropped to a very dangerous level which could mean the engine’s oil pump has failed, or the oil pressure sensor has failed. We remembered checking the engine’s oil level just yesterday so it couldn’t really be possible for the engine to have no oil.

So within a few minutes we navigated through the TTDI jam into one of the housing area and parked the car. We turned off the engine as soon as we could to prevent or at least minimize any possibility of damage.

For some reason our first reaction was to check whether the oil pump worked or not. This is an easy test, at least on this particular M20B25 engine. Start the engine and open the oil filler cap. Put your palm above the oil cap. You should feel little drops of oil on your palm. These are the splashes of oil from the cylinder head oil squirters. We didn’t get any drops – a bad sign!

Now this could either mean the oil pump is busted or there’s no oil in the engine. We turned the engine off and let it rest for awhile to let the engine oil settle down into the oil pan and checked the dipstick – uh oh. No oil. Why, was the engine leaking oil? Was it suddenly burning oil? Loads of questions quickly flew through our minds…

And then we noticed something that wasn’t there when we first parked the car – a small puddle of oil had accumulated under the engine! The engine was leaking oil! No wonder there was no oil pressure – there was no oil in the engine!

Sheesh – but this didn’t really eliminate the possibility that either the oil pump or the oil pressure sensor might be gone too. We jacked up the car and had a look underneath. Oil seemed to be leaking from something that looked like the oil pressure sensor – so it seemed likely that the oil pressure sensor is damaged and engine oil had been leaking from it.

After a quick walk across the busy TTDI road (it’s insanely hard to cross that road on foot) to the BHPetrol station and back with a 4 litre bottle of mineral oil, we filled the engine up and started it up. We did the palm test again and I think you can see the results above – oh glorious engine oil! The oil pump was working. Now all we had to do was to quickly get to the workshop before the engine oil leaked all out again. We did, thankfully.

It was confirmed that the oil pressure sensor had failed and to make it worse engine oil was leaking out of the engine through it. Replacing it with a second hand unit fixed the problem. We did another engine oil change at the workshop.

The E30 has since been running reliably so far. The BMWs of that age were really built to last. Only a few bushes and suspension parts need to be inspected and changed, and that exhaust manifold crack has to be fixed, then it will be perfect and perfectly suitable to be used as a daily runabout car! It’s going to be used as a run-about for the company whenever it is needed.

Anyway I intend to start a journal to chronicle the experience of a second hand E30 buyer on this blog under a category so that it can serve as a guide for anyone who is adventurous enough to want to go down the same route and drive an old reliable and fun BMW instead of a cheap brand new car. Stay tuned for another update later :) In the meanwhile, are there any other E30 owners here?

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All 3 teaser videos for MINI’s Frankfurt exhibits

September 13, 2009 at 3:00 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars, Videos

MINI Two Untamed

Okay, after watching the three teaser videos of MINI’s Frankfurt exhibits I think what they’re trying to say is that there’ll be two takes on the same car at Frankfurt. We’ve already seen the MINI Coupe Concept in full but word is that there will also be a drop top version called the MINI Roadster Concept there, which frankly I don’t see how will be very different from a MINI Cabriolet with the JCW upgrade pack other than the fact that there will be no rear seats. But maybe BMW has some surprises in store – for now watch all three teaser videos after the jump.
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Peugeot RCZ UK prices announced!

September 13, 2009 at 2:45 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Peugeot

Peugeot RCZ

Peugeot has just announced the launch pricing for the new Peugeot RCZ 2+2 coupe. If you want a French take on a TT-like car, you’ll be expected to shell out about £19,900 for a ‘base’ model with the 156hp 1.6 turbo engine and a manual transmission.

Now this is actually quite interesting as the 308 GT THP 175 goes for £20995. So I think it’s quite possible to have a low spec RCZ here in Malaysia for well under RM200k.

But with the RCZ being a premium model it’s very likely for Nasim to position their RCZ offering higher up the model range instead. Upgrading to a “Level 2″ trim level car with the 200 horsepower manual brings the price up to £24,500, or a 156hp auto will go for £23,300. That would mean a potential price difference of perhaps RM20k when converted to Malaysian ringgit, BEFORE taxes!

Peugeot RCZ

The “Level 1″ base trim level includes 18” alloy wheels, sports front seats, dual zone air-conditioning, folding rear seats, rear parking sensors, four airbags, ESP, EBFD, EBA, ABS, an active rear spoiler, and twin rear sports exhaust.

Upgrading to “Level 2″ will add leather, heated front seats, carpet mats, front and rear parking sensors, tilting door mirrors (to aid reversing), auto headlamps, follow-me-home lighting, rain sensor wipers, and 19 inch wheels.

Further customisation is allowed, with an alternate design for the 19 inch wheels, a carbon roof panel, integral leather, xenon headlamps, directional lights, gloss black brake calipers, black roof arches, matt roof arches, Peugeot connect media navigation 3D, and a JBL Hi Fi system. Nasim could possibly add a few of these to upgrade the spec level of their Peugeot RCZ offering. If this baby handles well, it could be a great alternative to the TT, which has a really expensive Malaysian price tag.
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BMW celebrates 10 years of the BMW “SAV” with the X5 xDrive35d 10-Year Edition

September 13, 2009 at 2:28 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW, Cars

BMW X5 10-Year

It’s been 10 years since BMW have been making SUVs (they insist that they’re SAVs), so that means they’ve also held off making an “M” SUV for 10 years now. That’s a long time to wait for an itch to be scratched for their finance department – of course massively high powered SUVs will sell, there’s always the Middle East remember?

To me I think the X5-M an X6-M is already good as a celebration of 10 years of the BMW SUV. After all, it’s basically Munich shoving the middle finger to the law of physics – technologies such as Dynamic Performance Control and Dynamic Drive active anti-rollbars do wonders to such lumbering hulks and turn them into vehicles that are surprisingly apt at tackling the bends for their size and weight.

BMW X5 10-Year

But of course which finance department would pass off the chance to produce yet another special edition vehicle so here is the BMW X5 xDrive35d 10-Year Edition. The default paint for this special edition is Sophisto Grey, which kind of looks like Sparkling Graphite but with a a kind of slight brownish tinge to it instead of the slightly purple colour that Sparkling Graphite has. You’ve got 20 inch Y-spoke wheels, Matt Aluminium exterior trim and roof rails, and a panoramic sunroof.

On the interior, you get Comfort seats, Anthracite headliners, Carrara Shades Nappa leather, and BMW Individual Piano Black interior trim. To remind you that this is a special edition plaques with the wording ’10-Year’ are fixed onto the front doors, front door sill plates, and to the dashboard.

BMW now has a total of four X models – the X1, X3, X5 and X6. The X1 will be coming sometime next year, and the X3′s replacement model will grow in size to be somewhere in between the new X1 and the soon to be facelifted X5.

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New Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racecar will race at the MME in Sepang next year

September 13, 2009 at 2:13 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Lotus

Lotus Evora

I think for Malaysians at least, Lotus and endurance races seem to go together, thanks to the Lotus cars run by Proton and Empire Motorsports in the MME endurance race. Maybe Proton will be running this new baby next year – the new Lotus Evora Type 124 Endurance Racecar. In fact, Lotus has already said that the car is scheduled to race in a few races and the MME is listed as one of them.

Based on the standard Evora road car, the Evora Type 124 (pronounced One Twenty-four) will make its 24 hour racing debut at the ADAC Nurburgring 24 hours race. According to Lotus, the Evora was designed for racing from the start and this made it very easy for the team to convert the Evora into a racecar, thanks to the mid-engine layout, stiff bonded aluminium chassis and lightweight forced aluminium wishbones for the suspension.

Lotus Evora

The Evora gets a race-tuned version of the Toyota V6 mated to a 6-speed sequential paddle shift racing gearbox, and it now produces over 400 PS which is well over the 100 PS per litre ratio. I wish they’d listed out more specifications as to the specs of the engine – I dig this kind of stuff. In stock form, the Evora makes 280 horsepower from its 3.5 litre V6 engine, but even for the road car its said that a supercharged version could come later putting out over 400 horses.

Lotus Evora

Loads of goodies are added to the car – AP Racing 6 pot brakes on both front and back, a race-tuned Bosch ABS system, 4-way adjustable dampers, adjustable anti-roll bars, 18 inch wheels (nice and wide 9.5 from and 11 at the rear) with Pirelli slicks, a full FIA rollcage, an FIA 120 litre ATL fuel system, FIA fire extinguisher, yet weight is cut down from the production car to under 1200kg depending on race regulations. This is thanks to the use of carbon fiber extensively in the rear wing, diffuser, font splitter, and body panels.
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Honda CR-V facelift unveiled for the US market

September 13, 2009 at 1:52 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News

Honda CR-V Facelift

Honda is rolling out the new Honda CR-V facelift across the globe. We’ve already had a glimpse of the US and Japan cars, but here comes the most detailed press unveil so far, the USDM Honda CR-V. The CR-V facelift gets a new grille, front and rear bumper, a reshaped engine hood, and a new 10-spoke alloy wheel design that replaces the 7-spoke version on the EX and EX-L models.

Honda CR-V Facelift

The 2.4 litre version which is sadly not available here in Malaysia gets a 14hp performance boost to 180 horsepower, but that’s about all the changes in the engine bay as there is only one engine available in the US market. The increase in power is mostly thanks to an increase in compression ratio from the relatively low 9.7:1 to a more ‘modern’ number of 10.5:1. The injectors have been improved with a finer spray pattern, intake valves are larger, the spark plugs have extended electrodes, there are better friction-reducing piston rings, a higher-precision timing sensor and a freeer-flowing exhaust.

Honda CR-V Facelift

But despite all of that, the extra 14hp is only achieved higher up the rev range at 6,800rpm while the 166hp engine made its peak power at 5,800rpm, so the improvement is more of an extension of the powerband to be wider rather than the engine making more power at the lower RPMs. Torque remains the same at 218Nm.

Honda CR-V Facelift

Interior changes include some changes to the various controls to make it friendlier to the user. The radio and control layout has changed, and there are also new seat fabric textures and trim panel sections. The radio control displays as well as the MID display in the middle of the control panel gets blue backlighting now.

Honda CR-V Facelift

Front seat armrests (the kind which which fold down from the seat) have been made one inch wider. This is a welcome improvement as I found the pre-facelift CR-V’s armrests a little too narrow to be comfortable.

Look after the jump for a nice hi-res photo gallery of the new CR-V.
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New photos of CR-V facelift from Honda UK

September 10, 2009 at 8:38 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda

Honda CR-V Facelift
Click for enlarged image

The new CR-V is only supposed to debut in Japan on the 17th but Honda UK has already officially announced the car with two new photos.

The new CR-V gets new bumpers front and back, a new grille, new alloy wheel designs for both the 17 inch and 18 inch sizes, and upgraded fabric and plastics on the inside. The audio console gets a new design, and Honda has also added better engine and cabin soundproofing.

Honda CR-V Facelift
Click for enlarged image

For diesel-crazy Europeans, they get an updated version of Honda’s 2.2 litre diesel. The diesel engine now makes an extra 10 PS and 10Nm of torque, resulting in new power output figures of 150 PS at 4,000rpm and 350Nm of torque at 2,000rpm. Also, previously the diesel was only available with a manual but now Honda has an in-house 5-speed automatic for the diesel CR-V.

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Audi R8 Spider – first photos leaked!

September 10, 2009 at 4:02 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Audi, Cars
Audi-R8-Spider-4
Audi-R8-Spider-1
Audi-R8-Spider-2
Audi-R8-Spider-3

Here are an initial four photos of the drop top version of the Audi R8, a new reason for our rich southern neighbours to start taking their checkbooks out – the hard top version is already all over their roads and becoming a common sight.

It’s said that Tony Stark will also be upgrading to this baby in the sequel to the Iron Man movie. More details will only be unveiled later on what engine options the R8 Spider will come with, but its expected to at least have the flagship 5.2 V10.

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Lexus LF-Ch hybrid hatchback revealed in detail!

September 10, 2009 at 3:32 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Lexus

lexus-lfch-1

Lexus have revealed full details on their Frankfurt concept car – the new Lexus LF-Ch Concept. Previously only one shot each of the front and rear respectively were revealed, but here comes the full press pack with hi-res photos.

A wheelbase of 2,600mm confirms suspicious that this will most likely be a Lexus-ified Toyota Auris. It’s a full hybrid and coincidentally Toyota is also exhibiting a hybrid version of the Auris at Frankfurt. Even with its Auris roots, design is pure L-finesse, which makes the car share a family resemblance with the IS sedan.

lexus-lfch-2

All we know right now is the car’s dimensions and the fact that it’ll be powered by a full hybrid, which means the possibility for a EV mode. The LF-Ch measures 4,300mm long, 1,790mm wide and 1,400 tall. Those large concept car wheels are 20 inches in size, wrapped with 225/35R20 tyres.

Look after the jump for hi-res images of the concept car.
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