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Honda CR-Z Mugen unveiled – supercharged for 197 hp!

May 19, 2011 at 12:54 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda, International News

These are the first pics of the Honda CR-Z Mugen, which will make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed end of June in UK. It’s the work of Mugen’s UK performance division and features a big boost in power as well as upgrades in suspension and brakes.

Mugen’s CR-Z retains the regular coupe’s 1.5-litre petrol motor, but they’ve supercharged it to produce 50% more power and torque. The claimed overall figure is 197 hp and 245 Nm just for the engine. Overall figures will be higher thanks to a recalibrated version of the CR-Z’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) electric motor. Overall figures for the standard CR-Z are 122 hp and 173 Nm, so we’re looking at a huge jump.

Chassis mods include a wider rear track, larger brakes with four-pot calipers and five-step adjustable dampers. There will also be quite a bit of reduction in weight, contributed in part by the carbon fibre bonnet we see here. Other visible changes are the addition of a big rear wing, bodykit, Mugen rims, a triangle muffler and gauges on the dash top.

Honda is considering an official hot CR-Z – let’s hope that an encouraging response to this one-off will convince them! Hi-res pics after the jump.
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Renault starts production of ‘Energy dCI 130′ engine – world’s most powerful 1.6L diesel, inspired by F1 tech

May 19, 2011 at 12:04 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Diesel Cars in Malaysia, International News, Renault


Click to enlarge

While the modern diesel engine is still a bit of a novelty here, it’s the default engine in Europe, and is usually the volume seller in many a model range, luxury ones included. There’s no sign of this trend waning, and we’ve seen CO2 figures pushed down and power figures pumped up over the years. Now, Renault has what it hails as THE diesel engine family boasting high tech for regular cars.

It’s called the Energy family, and the first to appear is the dCi 130, a 1.6-litre diesel that will be launched in the Scenic and Grand Scenic MPVs before powering the Megane range. This unit will supersede the long serving 1.9 dCi 130 (F9Q) in line with the downsizing trend.

The 1.6L Energy dCi 130 is the world’s most powerful engine of its size, Renault says. It makes 130 hp and 320 Nm of torque at 1,750 rpm, 80% of which is available from 1,500 rpm. That’s about the same as what the Focus TDCI’s 2.0L Duratorq makes, but with max twist produced 250 rpm lower, so it’s an impressive effort.

At the same time, combined-cycle fuel consumption is 20% better than the 1.9 dCi engine it replaces, while CO2 emissions have been slashed by 30 g/km. Renault says that with the Energy dCi 130, the Scenic/Grand Scenic will be the most frugal MPVs on sale with CO2 emissions of 115 g/km and fuel consumption of 22.7 km/l. Compared to before, potential range on a full tank is up by 300 km.

Working from a clean sheet, the Energy is said to carry over a number of technologies developed and fine-tuned by Renault’s F1 engine den at Viry-Chatillon. Philippe Coblence, the design office manager for this R9M project, used to work at Viry.

The F1-inspired features include a so-called ‘square’ architecture. The engine is said to be square when the piston stroke is similar to the diameter of the cylinder (bore), an arrangement which allows large-diameter valves to be housed in the cylinder head for more efficient filling of the combustion chambers. This helps performance. Other measures are transverse water flow cooling technique that allows for a smaller, less energy-consuming water pump. This has been combined with a double water jacket arrangement for the cylinder head.

Super-finishing and special surface treatments as well as UFLEX oil control ring technology also feature in the Energy. The U-shaped geometry is highly flexible and enables the ring to adapt to bore distortion to achieve the best compromise between efficiency and friction. “The principle is comparable with that of a multi-blade razor. It adapts naturally to the contour without having to exert high pressure on the cylinder wall. The result is maximum efficiency and less friction,” Coblence explains.

This ‘unprecedented high-tech package’ contains over 30 patents, according to Renault. Of course, existing tech from higher up engines such as VGT, Stop & Start plus cold-loop, low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are present. Alliance partner Nissan, which co-funded this project, should also benefit greatly from it.

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Lada Granta – Europe’s cheapest car to debut end-2011

May 19, 2011 at 10:35 am By Anthony Lim Filed Under Cars, International News, Lada

The title of Europe’s cheapest car will soon belong to the Lada Granta, which will make its debut sometime in late 2011. Built by Russia’s largest automaker, AvtoVAZ, the pricing could start as low as US$6,200, which would make it the cheapest car built in Europe.

The Granta, known internally as the VAZ 2190, will kick off things in sedan form, with plans for a hatchback and possibly even a wagon version to follow. The car, which is built on Lada’s Kalina platform, is anticipated to replace the latter as it goes along.

With an exterior designed by Ivan Lepeshkin and an interior done up by Valentina Novikova, the Granta has been brought up to 21st century standards. As AvtoVAZ president Igor Komarov puts it, the Granta “will be more safe, modern and comfortable than Kalina.” Three engine versions are planned, these being 80 hp, 90 hp and 98 hp variants.

The Granta will be built at the AvtoVAZ home plant in Tolyatti, and production of the older Lada models will be shifted to Izhevsk. The car has been designed domestic consumption, but AvtoVAZ bigwigs aren’t ruling out the possibility of exports to Western Europe. The car has already caught Renault’s attention – the French maker is keen on exploring development of its own version of the car, which would sit below the Logan range.

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Toyota’s Thailand plants recover from tsunami impact

May 19, 2011 at 10:31 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Toyota

The triple disaster that hit Japan in March not only knocked out auto production in Japan, but have also affected overseas plants, which still rely on Japan for parts. Earlier this month, we reported that Perodua is on track for full recovery, and will maintain its 2011 sales targets. Now, news from Thailand indicates that Toyota’s Thai plants will see manufacturing go back to normal by next week, May 23.

This is due to parts suppliers in Thailand and abroad recovering faster than expected. A spokesman said the regular daily double shifts at each plant would resume and overtime production on each regular shift would be partly restored. The company has briefed its dealers, a move that suggests they could resume taking orders without fear.

Earlier, the Japanese giant announced a 70% production cut from April 25 to June 4. During the slowdown period, Toyota held intensive training courses and activities for its workers to improve their skills, said senior VP at Toyota Motor Thailand Vudhigorn Suriyachantananont.

Toyota, the largest producer in Thailand, runs three plants. One in Samrong, Samut Prakan province, makes 250,000 Hilux pickup trucks per year. The Gateway passenger car plant in Chachoengsao province rolls out 200,000 Camry, Prius, Altis, Vios and Yaris models while another in Ban Pho makes 120,000 Hilux and Fortuners annually. Some of these are exported to Malaysia, of course.

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Team Lotus to ‘take a clear step into the midfield’ with blown diffuser update – expects to be one second quicker!

May 19, 2011 at 9:24 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Formula 1, Lotus, Motorsports

Here are some updates on Team Lotus ahead of this weekend’s Spanish GP. The Hingham based outfit isn’t the only team on the grid bringing updates to Catalunya, but the Malaysian owned team is looking at a major improvement, one that will make lap times quicker by a full second. This will allow the team to ‘take a clear step into the midfield’ according to tech chief Mike Gascoyne.

“What was pleasing about Turkey was that the qualifying performance was really good, but we hadn’t brought any updates as most of the other teams had. Our update package is coming for Barcelona and that is a very significant upgrade package.

“We think our update is going to allow us to take a clear step into the midfield so that we are qualifying with them and out-racing them more and more. I think that we are reasonably happy, but Barcelona has got to see the next step forward. I think we’ll see a big step and I think there is more to come over the coming races,” the Brit said.

What’s it really about? “It’s a Red Bull-style exhaust and diffuser package,” Gascoyne revealed. “We didn’t implement a blown diffuser package last year, (and) were only able to really evaluate (this year’s) in the windtunnel from Christmas onwards, so we were playing catch-up in this area. The good thing is that it means we can catch up with those in front who already have it,” he added.

So far, Team Lotus hasn’t scored points, something which it set out to do consistently this year. Let’s see if this round of updates to the T128 will move it closer to that goal, and beat struggling midfield teams such as Williams in the process.

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Commercial vehicles will no longer enjoy cheap RM1.481 per liter diesel from June 2011

May 18, 2011 at 11:15 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Diesel Cars in Malaysia, Malaysian Fuel Prices

Diesel drivers have been enjoying their RM1.80 per litre of subsidised diesel that can take them over 1,000km per full tank, but commercial vehicles have been enjoying their diesel even more – certain industries get super subsidies that result in a per litre price of RM1.481 for diesel.

If your business falls under these 9 categories, you’ve probably been enjoying super cheap diesel thanks to your subsidy fleet card – prime movers, general cargo movers, Luton box vans, vans, rigid lorries for bottled beverages, rigid tanker lorries for flour transport, rigid lorries for refrigerated goods, water tankers and limousine taxis.

I know for a fact that these subsidy cards can be abused and are being abused as I know someone who enjoys fueling his pickup truck with super-subsidised diesel thanks to a card that he got from a relative who runs a business that qualifies for the subsidies.

But when even RON95 and RON97 price hikes can affect the prices of goods and services that the everyday rakyat consume, what more a hike in the price of diesel fuel that’s used by these lorries that run everyday and perform services that are essential to the economy?

That’s exactly what the government is going to do – it announced earlier this week that it will be removing this super subsidy, which means everyone will have to pay the same RM1.80 per litre of diesel. That’s about a 20% hike in fuel costs, and the government will supposedly save RM659.3 million in 2011 alone from this action.

I wonder what’s the real situation with the government coffers right now as I consider this to be sort of an extreme measure relative to any previous subsidy cutting. The government has in the short term only resorted to removing subsidies for RON97, a so-called “luxury” fuel, and have promised to only revise the “everyday man” RON95 fuel every six months. They rarely touch diesel as diesel practically runs the country’s logistics.

Other than the fact that this might and most definitely will increases the prices of certain goods and services, there’s also the danger of lorries resorting to overloading to be so-called “more efficient” per trip. It’s not like they don’t already do that.

Read more at TMI.

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VIDEO: Douglas Lim’s hilarious ad for Honda Authorised Service Centres

May 18, 2011 at 10:47 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Honda

Funnyman Douglas Lim and his crew produced this brilliant video to promote Honda Authorised Service Centres. It attempts to show you what you might have to go through if you send your car to a random mechanic instead of a Honda service center, all extremely exaggerated of course. I’ll let the video do the talking!

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Mazda SkyActiv-G 1.3 DI engine – first one to arrive

May 18, 2011 at 7:56 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mazda

Mazda has announced that a direct-injection 1.3 litre gasoline engine called the SkyActiv-G 1.3 will be the first market example to feature its next-generation SkyActiv technologies. It is set to unveil the mill at the Automotive Engineering Exposition on May 18-20 at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center near Tokyo, Japan.

The company plans to introduce the SkyActiv-G 1.3 domestically in the facelifted Demio (Mazda2) soon, making it the first ever 1.3 litre direct-injection gasoline engine to be equipped in a compact car built in Japan. It will offer 84 PS at 5,400 rpm and 112 Nm at 4,000 rpm for output.

The breakthrough block features a record high compression ratio (for a regular gasoline mass production automobile engine) of 14.0:1 and exhibits high efficiency, especially under high load at low rpm. In order to avoid knocking – an unavoidable issue with conventional high-compression engines – the unit features a number of new technologies, such as piston cavities that are specially designed to support ideal combustion, and multi-hole injectors that enable precise fuel injection control.

Other features include a cooled EGR system and Mazda’s first dual sequential valve timing system (dual S-VT with electronically-operated intake) – in combination with the high compression ratio, this achieves an unconventional Miller cycle (extremely delayed closure of intake valves) that improves efficiency. It also has 30% less mechanical friction, due to a narrower crankshaft, new roller followers and low-tension piston rings that also reduce oil consumption.

Partnered with i-stop, Mazda’s unique idling stop system, and a continuously variable transmission (CVT), the lump – with more than 130 patents applied for it – promises a fuel economy of 30 km per litre (under Japan’s 10-15 mode test cycle).

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BHPetrol Infiniti Fever Frenzy II – first Proton Inspira won

May 18, 2011 at 6:27 pm By Anthony Lim Filed Under Local News

BHPetrol’s four-month long Infiniti Fever Frenzy II contest has seen its first of four Proton Inspira 2.0 CVT sedans up for grabs being won, and the inaugural winner is N. Veenaigmoorthy Narasaman from Puchong, Kuala Lumpur.

The 45-year-old had an early start in the contest by pumping BHPetrol Infiniti Advanced2X 95 as soon as the contest was launched on April 1, and submitted more than 20 entry forms during the month.

“I am a regular user of BHPetrol Infiniti Advanced2X 95, so when I heard about Infiniti Fever Frenzy II contest, I grabbed the chance to participate. Not only do I get the best fuel in the market, but now I can drive home with a brand new Proton Inspira,” Veenaigmoorthy said.

“I am a big fan of BHPetrol fuel and have been using it for many years. Since my first motorbike to my current third car, I have been a loyal user of BHPetrol’s fuel, which gives me better mileage and power. In fact, I have been a BHPetrol customer since the company was established six years ago, and even if there was no contest, I’d still be using the fuel as I feel that there is a difference,” he said.

In addition to the Proton Inspira, Veenaigmoorthy also received an additional 50,000 ePoints for being a BHPetrol ecard holder. He was not the only winner in April, as 30 other customers also won RM1,000 cash prizes.

BHPetrol’s managing director, Tan Kim Thiam, said that there are three more months to go before the contest ends and urged Malaysians to give BHPetrol Infiniti Advanced2X 95 and 97 a try to feel the difference and at the same time be eligible to win a brand new performance-bred Proton Inspira and 30 RM1,000 cash prizes every month until July.

“Not only are three Proton Inspiras and RM90,000 cash up for grabs. but in the July Grand Finale we will be giving out ten Apple iPad2, five 40-inch LED television sets and ten 500,000 BHPetrol ePoints. What’s even better is all entries submitted from the first month will be eligible to win in remaining three months. So the more you spend, the better your chance of winning,” he said.

“So what better time than now to try out our BHPetrol Infiniti Advanced2X 95 and 97. BHPetrol Infiniti Advanced2X 95 and 97 will offer unparallel performance with our Advanced Double Strength formula as the new fuels are treated with Advanced Additive Compound (AAC) from Germany at the recommended maximum treat rate to give Malaysians the ultimate in fuel savings and power and at no extra cost to users,” Tan concluded.

The contest runs until July 31, with a minimum spend of RM30 at participating BHPetrol service stations enabling participation – you can submit as many valid entries within the contest period, but are entitled to win only one prize. All winners who are members of BHPetrol’s ecard loyalty programme will also win 50,000 ePoints.

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China’s Lifan hires Ricardo to make 1.2 turbo DI engine

May 18, 2011 at 6:00 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, China

It’s a common perception that Chinese brand cars have unwanted “features” such as poor quality and old technology. But things are fast changing, and this latest piece of news is proof. Chinese carmaker Lifan, probably known outside its country as the maker of the “fake MINI”, has hired UK based engineering firm Ricardo to develop a 1.2-litre turbocharged direct injection gasoline engine.

Turbo, DI and 1.2 litres are the same ingredients as those in the Volkswagen Polo’s TSI engine, and this downsizing formula has been proven to be good for both pace and efficiency. While VW’s 1.2 TSI makes a healthy 105 PS and 175 Nm, Lifan is looking at 115 horses and 200 Nm of torque from the new Euro 5 engine, which will go into its 520 compact sedan.

Ricardo is no stranger to collaborating with Chinese companies. Back in 2008, they worked with Chery on hybrid cars for the Beijing Olympics, and in March, signed a deal to provide Great Wall with a modern gasoline engine and a 6-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

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