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Mazda 2 production begins at Rayong, Thailand

October 8, 2009 at 1:47 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mazda

Mazda 2 Facelift

There has been talk going around for quite some time now on the possibility of the Mazda 2 being offered here in Malaysia, but this piece of news released by Mazda Japan today probably pretty much seals the fact that we will most likely see the cute little compact car on our shores sooner or later. This is because Mazda has started production of the Mazda 2 at the AutoAlliance Thailand Co Ltd manufacturing facility in Rayong, Thailand. The plant is a JV with Ford.

mazda2-inside

Mazda expects collective ASEAN sales to be approximately 20,000 units per year. It was not mentioned in the press release whether the sedan or hatchback version will be built but the images that accompanied the press pack showed photos of the hatchback. Not a reason to discount the sedan of course.
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New world land speed record (for the blind)

October 8, 2009 at 12:12 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mercedes Benz

SL65 AMG Black

A new world land speed record was set with a Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series this week. The car hit 322.5km/h at an Upington International Airport runway. The best part is – it was set by a blind man, Hein Wagner. And the record is of course the “land speed record for the blind.”

Wagner is a motivational speaker and he was born blind. He had also previously set a world land speed record for the blind back in 2005 in a Maserati, clocking 269km/h. It must be pretty scary to go that fast in a car when you can’t see.

His next challenge? Flying a Boeing with passengers from London to Johannesburg!

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Honda releases new images showing Accord Crosstour’s interior and luggage room

October 8, 2009 at 2:01 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News

Accord Crosstour Bootspace

The Honda Accord Crosstour may look like a Japanese take on the BMW X6, but at least it has seating for five. They’ve just released a new set of images showing the interior of the car especially the luggage areas – previous images were only of the exterior. The dashboard area looks pretty much similiar to the sedan and coupe variants of the Accord, so no surprise there. Look after the jump for the interior photos.
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Rally Indonesia: power steering problems for McRae’s Proton Satria Neo S2000

October 8, 2009 at 1:50 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Motorsports, Proton Satria Neo, Videos

satria-neo-s2000-indonesia

Alister McRae’s debut in the Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 rally car at the Rally Indonesia last weekend did not end too well despite setting some very competitive times at first. He had to retire from the race prematurely thanks to some issues with the car’s power steering system, which is to be expected considering the car is still under development by UK’s Mellors Elliot Motorsport.


Source: YouTube

APRC.tv (watch the video above) seems convinced that the car will pose a real threat to the Subarus used by the current Motor Image team domination and personally I certainly hope so. Watch the video for some nice footage of the car’s performance in Indonesia. The next stop will be China on the 14th to 15th of November 2009.

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VIDEO: Toyota FT-86 in “Gran Turismo”-vision

October 8, 2009 at 1:16 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Toyota, Videos

Toyota FT-86 C-45 Boxer

Want to see the new Toyota FT-86 Concept in action? Well, you can’t see a real one on the roads in action just yet, but thanks to Gran Turismo we have this video that features the FT-86 in motion. The video also lets us have a glimpse into the car’s engine bay. There’s not that much to be seen really but we do get to see a virtual rendering of the engine, called the C-45 Boxer D-4S Boxer.

Toyota FT-86 Fuji Speedway

There’s also something else about the FT-86 that I’ve just noticed that I did not notice before when I was rushing to publish the story. Look closely at the hi-res photo of the interior where you can see abit of the dash (I’ve cropped the relevant bit in the photo above). There’s a small image of the Fuji Speedway!

Is it just decoration, or can the FT-86′s dash display show you where you are on the track so you can anticipate corners just like in a videogame? After all, Fuji definitely means something special to Toyota, it even named its performance Lexus range after the circuit – F in IS-F and F-Sport refers to Fuji.

Watch the video after the jump.

Related Posts:
Toyota FT-86 – AE86 spiritual successor finally previewed! (with image gallery)
[Read more...]

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Neiman Marcus XJ for 2009′s Christmas Book

October 8, 2009 at 12:03 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Jaguar

Jaguar XJL Neiman Marcus Edition
Click for enlarged image

I thought BMW was the only car company that has special Neiman Marcus Edition cars for sale in their Christmas Book. Last year’s Christmas Book featured the very first F02 BMW 7-Series to be sold in the US – only 31 units of a Neiman Marcus Limited-Edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series sedans based on the 750Li sold for $160,000. Previously we’ve also seen a special 50 unit run of a Neiman Marcus M6. All 50 units priced at US$139,000 each were snapped up within 1 minute and 32 seconds of launching.

Jaguar XJL Neiman Marcus Edition
Click for enlarged image

This year, rich wives in the US will be able to choose from 50 units of a special Neiman Marcus Editiong long wheelbase Jaguar XJL based on the Supercharged version for their rich husbands. Or vice-versa. One will set you back US$105,000 (a regular XJL Supercharged is priced at US$90,500) and will come in an exclusive Celestial Black metallic paint exterior and a custom butter-soft navy and ivory leather interior with Zebrano matte wood accents. You also get 20-inch double-10 spoke polished alloy wheels, illuminated tread plates and trunk finisher as well as the nameplate inside that reads: “Neiman Marcus 1 of 50.”

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Robert Kubica moves to Renault F1

October 7, 2009 at 11:46 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Motorsports

Robert Kubica

Renault has quickly found a replacement for Fernando Alonso, who will be moving to Ferrari next year. Filling Alonso’s seat will be Robert Kubica, who will be leaving his current BMW Sauber F1 Team.

“I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season. I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault. This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula One,” said Kubica. He was testing for the team back in 2005.

“We are very excited to have signed Robert with the Renault F1 Team starting next season. Ever since Robert made his Grand Prix debut in 2006, he has been on our radar as one of the most naturally talented drivers of his generation and he has delivered on that promise so it’s great to have secured him in one of our cars next season,” said Renault’s new team principal Bob Bell.

BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen said: “Robert played an important role for us – and certainly we did the same for him. He joined us in 2006 as a test driver with no Formula One experience, and then we promoted him to be one of our team’s drivers during that season. He never let us down and, with our first pole position in 2008 in Bahrain and first victory the same year in Canada, he set milestones in the history of our team. We are grateful for his strong and constant performances and wish him all the best for his future.“

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Mitsubishi i-MiEV police car trial in the UK

October 7, 2009 at 1:34 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, International News, Mitsubishi

mitsubishi-i-miev-police

Some UK police departments will begin trialling Mitsubishi i-MiEV police cars, starting with the West Midlands police department in December 2009. A small zero emissions city car like this will be perfect as a patrol vehicle, zooming around quietly and cleanly through neighbourhoods watching out for any baddies. The i-MiEV has a 160km radius with decent driving behaviours, and a 120km/h top speed. Over here in Malaysia I think we used to use Kancils as these short distance patrol cars but I rarely see them in my area anymore – all the cops use Wajas here in Cheras.
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E30 nicely racking up the bills – rust, cracks and worn bushings to be fixed up

October 7, 2009 at 1:20 am By Paul Tan Filed Under BMW E30 Owner's Journal, Cars

e30-coupe-1

Think it’s time to post something new on the progress of fixing up the BMW E30! When I got the car, it was quite driveable but it looks like before I purchased it, it had not been driven for a long time (continue reading after the jump).
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New Shell FuelSave Unleaded 95 and 97

October 7, 2009 at 1:12 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Malaysian Fuel Prices

Shell FuelSave Unleaded
Click for enlarged image

It’s just been a month since Shell was supposed to have officially rolled out their new RON95 fuel, but now they’ve decided to introduce an updated formula.

Their fuel is now called Shell FuelSave Unleaded 95 and Shell FuelSave Unleaded 97, and Shell claims it can help motorists save up to 1 litre from every full tank – with a full tank calculated as 50 litres of course.

Savings of 1 litre out of 50 litres can be said a few ways to better help understand it. It can either be a 5% fuel saving, or an extra 10 to 12km depending on how much fuel your engine normally drinks, or RM1.80 per tank.

fuelsave-shell-2

Shell claims the new formula contains an ingredient that is active in your engine from the moment you start using it, not just after one full tank. It’s called and Efficiency Improver and it’s designed to help lubricate engine parts where normal engine oils cannot easily reach, as the fuel comes in from the top and naturally engine oil has to fight against gravity.

I personally have not tried the fuel yet but if you decide to give it a shot please share your experiences here. I’ve actually seen the promo posters for this before the launch today so you could already have this new formula in your fuel tank if you’ve pumped a full tank in the past 2 or 3 days.

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