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Brabus GLK V12 – world’s fastest SUV at 322.3 km/h

December 14, 2009 at 7:58 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under brabus, Cars, International News

brabus glk v12

We can always depend on Brabus to come up with speed record breaking machines, and now is the turn of the SUV. The famed Mercedes-Benz tuner has dumped a bi-turbo V12 into the not very pretty GLK to achieve a top speed of 322.3 km/h, a new speed record for street-legal SUVs. 0-100 km/h takes 4.2 seconds and 0-200 km/h takes 12.8 seconds.

Based on Merc’s V12, the Brabus SV12 R Biturbo 750 engine produces 740 bhp at 5,500 rpm and peak torque of 1,350 Nm at 2,100 rpm, but electronically limited to “just 1,100 Nm”. Displacement is increased to 6.3 litres (from 5.5) and the valve heads are precision-machined and fitted with special camshafts. There are also two larger turbos and more efficient intercoolers, while a free-flow catalyst and full stainless-steel exhaust improves breathing. Power is transferred to the rear wheels via a reinforced five-speed auto ‘box and LSD with locking rate of 40 per cent.

Brabus’s coilover sport suspension is height-adjustable on both axles and features ten selectable settings each for bound and rebound. Brakes? 12-piston aluminum fixed calipers with vented and 380mm grooved steel discs up front and a six-piston fist grabbing 360mm discs for the rear are tasked with stopping this fast SUV.

Crazy car, crazy price. The Brabus GLK V12 starts at 397,000 euros!

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2 new Suzuki models coming next year?

December 14, 2009 at 6:12 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Suzuki

Suzuki logoDRB-HICOM is stepping up its automotive business in Malaysia. Despite rumours not more than a month ago alleging that the relationship between DRB-HICOM and Suzuki had gone sour, it looks like things are the exact opposite.

The latest news is that DRB-HICOM’s plant in Pekan will be exporting its first Suzuki Swift in April 2010. The Bernama report did not say which markets the Malaysian-assembled car would be sold in, but logic says that it’s the ASEAN region.

UPDATE: Chips Yap of Motortrader dropped us a tip that our Pekan plant’s sole export market for now is Brunei.

DRB-HICOM group MD Datuk Seri Mohd Khamil Jamil also revealed that its Suzuki Malaysia Automobile unit would be launching two new Suzuki models soon, and one of them will be CKD. Our local Suzuki line-up currently consists of the Swift, Swift Sport, the SX4 Sedan, the SX4 Crossover and the Grand Vitara. I’m not sure what else is available to be launched, perhaps the Kizashi and a new locally-assembled Alto? There is also the Suzuki Splash (a co-developed model with GM and also sold as the Opel Agila), also known as the Suzuki Ritz in India.

Since Suzuki is now (or soon to be) just under 20% owned by Volkswagen, this is as close to Malaysia being a VW regional assembly hub as we’ve been able to get so far. Volkswagen makes good cars and we should enjoy them with CKD price tags!

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Lotus F1 reveals driver line-up – it’s Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen!

December 14, 2009 at 12:19 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Lotus

lotus-f1-hq

After the long wait, Team Lotus F1 (or 1Malaysia F1 Team, as many Malaysians know it as) has finally announced its official driver lineup: Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will race for the Malaysian backed team in the 2010 Formula 1 season!

Both drivers were in search of a race seat for 2010. Trulli, 35, is a seasoned veteran left without a drive after Toyota pulled out of the sport, while 28-year old Kovalainen was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at McLaren, recently dropped and replaced by World Champion Jenson Button. Our own Fairuz Fauzy will be the team’s third and reserve driver, as suggested by team technical chief Mike Gascoyne earlier. Trulli should have a good working relationship with Gascoyne, who was Technical Director at Toyota.

In Trulli and Kovalainen, Lotus F1 has two highly experienced drivers that are no strangers to the podium, and we wish the team all the best for its maiden season.

UPDATE: Quotes from the drivers and Team Principal after the jump!

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Perodua Alza 1.5L Manual Test Drive Review

December 14, 2009 at 2:45 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Perodua Alza - New Perodua D46T MPV 2009, Test Drive Reviews

perodua alza main

The Perodua Alza is surely one of the most anticipated cars of recent times. In fact, this blog has been spreading the news of the Perodua MPV since early 2008, and we’ve been teased by numerous spy shots and revelations ever since. Well, it’s finally here now and we’ve got a chance to drive it over a weekend, covering 385km over a variety of roads.

Read the rest of the report after the jump.

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Honda to campaign new NSX in Super GT series

December 14, 2009 at 2:33 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, Motorsports

acura asc concept

It was sad news when former Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced the cancellation of the Honda NSX project last year – had development went on we might now have an Acura badged Lexus LFA rival with a screaming engine.

But the stillborn NSX might see the light of day after all; not as a production model but in the form of a race car. According to Inside Line, the front-engine NSX that has often been spotted testing at the Nurburgring will be entered for the 2010 Super GT season. It will be powered by a 3.4-litre V8, not a V10 as previously rumoured.

But aren’t Super GT cars supposed to be based on production vehicles? The same report says that Honda has managed to find a loophole in rulebook that permit cars that are production ready, though not necessarily in production. Apparently, the Japan Automobile Federation has given the green light to this move, so we can look forward to seeing the new NSX racing in Sepang next year!

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Aussie made Camry Hybrid to go on sale next year

December 12, 2009 at 5:26 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Toyota

toyota camry hybrid

Toyota has announced that it will begin producing the Camry Hybrid next year, with sales starting in February 2010. The Camry Hybrid will be Australia’s first locally built hybrid, and it will have a production run of about 10,000 units per year, including exports to New Zealand.

20 per cent of the first year run is already accounted for – Victorian Premier, John Brumby has declared the Government’s commitment to purchase 2,000 Camry Hybrids for its fleet. Victoria is the home state of Toyota’s Altona plant tasked with producing the green Camry alongside its standard siblings and the Aurion.

Toyota received part of the Government’s AUD $1.3-billion Green Car Innovation Fund to start this project. Australia is the fifth country in the world to produce Camry Hybrid, after Japan, USA, China and our neighbour Thailand. No chance of this car coming to Malaysia, whether from Thailand or Australia, as it would be prohibitively expensive without the hybrid car duty exemption, which is applicable only to cars below 2,000cc (Camry Hybrid uses a 2.4-litre).

For more pictures and details of the Camry Hybrid, check out our previous post.

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Kia posts big growth in China – Forte selling well

December 12, 2009 at 1:05 am By Danny Tan Filed Under International News, Kia, Koreans

Kia_Forte

Kia has announced that it sold 152,826 vehicles globally in November, which is 53.2 per cent more than what was achieved in the same month last year. Total sales for the first eleven months of 2009 is up by by 17 per cent year-on-year to 1,489,204 units.

Of this, the Chinese market experienced the highest gain with 221,722 units sold to date, a massive 65.2 per cent increase. Home market Korea, general markets (ASEAN is in this category), and North America also showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 26.8 per cent, 14.7 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively.

Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets for 2009 has been the C-segment Forte with 269,864 units sold. After that comes the Rio, Sportage 4×4, Euro-only C-segment cee’d and the Picanto. Sales of the latter two hatchbacks in Europe have been buoyed by scrappage schemes, where Governments provide cash incentives to encourage the buying of new cars in a sluggish economy. Many were convinced by low prices – after adding the discount to the already modest sticker price of Kias – and a super long warranty (7 years in the UK).

Perhaps the local Kia distributor should have a such a warranty scheme to repair customer confidence and boost brand image/resale values. Hyundai currently boasts Malaysia’s longest warranty at five years or 300,000km.

61 Comments      

Listen to the Lexus LFA’s V10 do its stuff!

December 11, 2009 at 11:38 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Lexus, Videos

lexus-lfa-engine-bay

Lexus has released an awesome video which features the Lexus LFA‘s V10 engine in various “stages of symphony”, whether its a low rev growl or a high rev shriek, it’s all there! Lexus calls the engine’s soundtrack “F1-inspired”, and details some of the methods they used to make the engine sound the way it does.

The LFA’s acoustic team studied the noise made by a Formula 1 car at maximum revs, then applied certain design features to create an F1-inspired exhaust note for the LFA. The main exhaust silencer is made from titanium and has a valve-actuated dual-stage structure that channels the exhaust gases differently according to engine speed.

From idle up to 3,000rpm, the valve stays closed, routing the exhaust flow through multiple chambers, creating an unobtrusive note. From 3,000rpm onwards the valve opens, allowing the exhaust  to flow into a single resonance chamber instead. The gases finally exit at a stacked trio of tailpipes.

There was work done to the induction system as well. A horizontally split resin surge tank mimics the acoustic chamber of wind and string instruments. Up to 4,000rpm it emits the engine’s primary firing frequency of 300Hz. This increases to 400Hz from 4,000rpm up to 6,000rpm, and goes up to a peak of 600Hz at the engine’s 9,000rpm redline. The air intake is constructed from a porous duct material to generate bass to mid-range tones. Lexus gives all of this stuff a buzzword – Resonated Complex Harmony.

Both the induction and exhaust sounds are channelled into the LFA’s interior so the passengers can enjoy the sounds as much as those on the outside. There are just too many cars out there that sound good on the outside but are just too silent on the inside. The sound mostly flows in through a sound channel that runs from the surge tank into the cabin below the main dashboard panel. Two additional sound channels un to an opening in the upper cowl on top of the dashboard structure and a reflector panel low down at the front of the cabin.

But enough of text – watch the video and listen to the LFA after the jump! To me, it isn’t exactly like an F1 car, they’re way more high pitched! It does sound very good though, I guess the term F1-”inspired” could mean anything eh?
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Gallardo 560-4 morphs into Edo Competition LP600/4

December 11, 2009 at 8:31 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Lamborghini

edo gallardo lp600/4

Many tuners claim to improve on perfection, but this tweaked Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 looks rather credible. Tuned by German based Edo Competition, who is no stranger to tinkering with Italian exotica, it now bears some new numbers: 600/4.

No prizes for guessing that Edo’s Gallardo has 600 horsepower from the standard car’s 560. This is matched with higher torque, from 540Nm to 572Nm. The result of this added grunt is a top speed increased by 15km/h to 340km/h while 0-100km/h acceleration is shaved by 0.2sec to 3.5 seconds. No mention on where these gains were from, though.

Besides the improved figures, a sport suspension set adjustable in compression and rebound damping comes in; this track/high-speed oval/road tested system comes with low friction shock absorbers and new spring rates. A confident Edo says that “the result has to be experienced to be believed.”

Sound is a vital appeal for Lambos and Edo’s new stainless steel exhaust system with butterfly valves allows noise level adjustment via remote – besides freeing up 15bhp and weighing 12kg less than the original set.

Thankfully, not much was done to the Gallardo’s outer skin. The LP600/4 gets elaborate 19-inch three-piece wheels (with 39 stainless steel screws) plus a new front spoiler lip.

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Learning how to drift – a novice’s perspective

December 11, 2009 at 4:47 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Motorsports

toyota ae86

To be honest, I haven’t had much interest in drifting as a form of motorsports. Sure, cars going sideways and doing burnouts and donuts are all cool and fun, but I just somehow didn’t really connect with the sport.

That all changed last month, when I attended my first ever drift event on a Goodyear invite to Bangkok, where Goodyear Formula Drift Thailand took place. I was surprised that it didn’t take long for a newbie like me to understand what the judges wanted, the format of the competition and even to guess the winner of the side-by-side duels.

It was also more fun than I would have thought – by the end of the day (the final showdown took place under floodlights and in the rain) I was cheering so hard I woke up with a hoarse voice.

Continue reading the full story after the jump!
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