The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S has been replaced by this new model – the Porsche 911 GT3 R, adding yet another variant to the neverending list of different 911 GT3 models. No matter what kind of 911-beating laptimes Nissan posts with its GT-R, the choice of plenty of small racing teams most of the time is the 911 GT3.

The GT3 R’s 6 cylinder boxer engine has a displacement of 4.0 liters, up from the 3.8 liters you get with the road cars or the Cup model. This same engine size is also found in the 2009 GT3 RSR. The 0.2 liters of extra displacement has been achieved by increasing the cylinder stroke to 80.4mm instead of 76.4mm.

The engine is mated to a 6-speed sequential dog-teeth gearbox. Dog-boxes use gears that are straight-cut instead of the helical-cut gears that we have in our normal road car manual transmissions. Because of the different way the gears engage, a dog-teeth gearbox is much more noisy (that whirring sound that we get when we travel in reverse gear – they have it all the time!), and they also don’t have synchro rings so you basically just slam it with greater force into engagement instead of having to clutch at changes. A dog box has less transmission losses compared to a helical gearbox and is more durable.

Porsche’s focus with this new model is better drivability and easier handling. The GT3 and its race-going variants have always been hardcore cars but this car has ABS, traction control and a throttle blip function built into its e-gas throttle body. These features make it more suitable for an ambitious amateur racer (with deep pockets – the car is 279,000 Euros) to drive the car.

When I first read Honda’s most recent press release for the 2009 Los Angeles Autoshow, I thought they were pulling off a very belated April Fool’s joke, judging from the car’s funny name. They’re going to show a car called the Honda P-NUT.

P-NUT stands for Personal-Neo Urban Transport and it is supposed to be a design concept for a futuristic ultra-compact and aggressive-looking coupe. That is what they describe it as, but we’ll have to see what the car actually looks like to see what the boys at LA-based Honda R&D Americas Advanced Design Studio have cooked up.

Last year’s LA show concept was the Honda FC Sport design study, which also so happened to be a two-door coupe of sorts, and as hinted by its name was powered by a fuel cell stack.

The new Hyundai-Kia Motor Group Theta II GDI engine you saw earlier this week will be making its way into Kias as early as the first half of 2010 in South Korea. It will then make its way into UK models in 2011 and probably then the rest of the world.

We don’t get many normally aspirated gasoline direct injection engines here in Malaysia. So far only a handful of cars have featured non-turbo FSI engines here in Malaysia, such as the 2.2 liter JTS engines in the Alfa Romeo range here including the 159, and the Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 FSI.

BMW has stayed away from bringing in the new direct injection N53 engines and have stuck to the sweeter-sounding port injection N52 engines. Even for the 4-pots, it is the reason why our 320i still puts out only 156hp instead of the 170hp+ available overseas. Even the Lexus GS uses a conventional port injection engine instead of the D4 engine available overseas, however the LS has direct injection.

Most companies quote the issue of fuel quality when asked on why normally aspirated direct injection engines are not available here. The NAP Review says there will be a timeline formulated for the introduction of better petrol (and diesel) here in Malaysia so hopefully by that time it will be just right for GDI Hyundais and Kias to be introduced here in Malaysia.

Click for enlarged image

Trailerloads of the Perodua D46T MPV are on their way somewhere, and from the looks of the livery on the side of one of the exposed vehicles, it looks like they are promotional units, probably to be used as display units or test drive units. These shots are thanks to long-time reader KK Chen.

Click for enlarged image

The Perodua D46T MPV is based on the Toyota Passo Sette so if you absolutely need to know more about this new model to hit our local roads you can refer to my story on the Passo Sette, but for a more accurate picture of what we’ll get in our Perodua version you’ll have to wait for the full story after the launch next week on the 23rd of November 2009 at 5pm.

The UK government will be spending 30 million pounds (RM170 million) in a program called Plugged-In Places to add thousands of new electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid vehicle charging points around the country. On the overall, UK is spending 400 million pounds to encourage development and manufacturing of ultra-low carbon cars.

Local authorities, businesses, electricity distributors, suppliers and other organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be able to apply for the 30 million pounds in two phases. The applicants will need to show how their plans fit into objectives like improving air quality and encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles.

“The UK can be a world leader in electric and low carbon cars. Our aim is for electric and low carbon cars to be an everyday feature on UK roads in less than five years. There is still a lot of work to be done, however Plugged-In Places is one very significant step to a low carbon future,” said Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis.

The new Proton Exora Basic (also known as the B-Line) is Proton’s cheapest Exora variant, priced at only RM57,548.00 for the manual transmission solid white model for the Peninsular Malaysia. The following is the full price list:

It is available at all Edar and EON branches nationwide and the booking fee is RM500. Here’s a list of what has changed compared to the M-Line and H-Line:

• Manual transmission only
• Driver airbag only
• Seatbelt pretensioner for driver only
• Passenger airbag replaced with tissue box holder
• No front seat back pockets
• No grocery hook at the front passenger seat
• No aircond outlet for 2nd row, but 3rd row outlets remain
• Fabric flat knitting for the seats (M-Line uses fabric flat woven)
• Only 2 headrests for the second row
• No third row headrests
• No door trim inserts
• No assist grip for the third row
• No inner carpet deck box
• No luggage lamp
• No rear power socket
• Matte black finishing for gear knob, panel shift lever, door inner handle, center panel finishing, side mirror hosing finishing, exterior door handle, rear garnish
• No front grille garnish
• No front fog lamp
• 15 inch steel wheel with cover
• No reverse sensors
• No ABS and EBD

On another note, if you’ve ran out of ideas of a family activity this weekend, you can check out the “Proton 4 You” customer appreciation event held at all Proton Edar and EON outlets throughout Malaysia.

They’ve planned a variety of family-oriented programs at all outlets such as coloring contests, family quizzes and games wih prizes to be won. Proton will also throw in free personal assurance worth RM10,000 for all customers who book a Proton car on that weekend. There will also be Proton iCare teams at almost every outlet to perform free 20-point car inspections.

Hmm, it looks like Hyundai’s new ‘angry crab’ look on the Santa Fe does not apply to all markets. This shot of a UK market Santa Fe from the UK press kit shows a much simpler-looking front grille that shares the same look with the Hyundai i series of cars. It’s basically a similiar grille but the three bars have been painted black, and a chrome edge has been added on top. Under the hood is the new ‘R’ diesel engine which is a 2.2 liter all-aluminium block. It makes a very good 194 horsepower with 436Nm of torque when mated to an automatic transmission (slightly less torque with a manual).

Click here to read the rest of UK market Hyundai Santa Fe facelift announced

New stocks of the Honda Civic Type R is officially in Malaysia! The car is very much the same track car for the road as before, but there are a few changes here and there. There are no changes to the front end but the rear end now gets the diamond cluster design for the tail lamps. The side mirrors are now power-retractable. Finally, the 2-DIN player in the interior now gets a USB port for you to load your MP3 files from.

There are currently nearly 200 pre-facelift Honda Civic Type R on the road, sold officially by Honda and not counting the grey imports. Malaysia is the only country in the world other than Japan to get the sedan Type R via the official Honda distributor. The rest of the world especially Europe gets the hatchback version. Recently the hatch version was added to the Japanese line-up as well.

The best part is even with the high demand the price has remained at RM199,980, as with the pre-facelift model. We probably can’t say the same about the Civic Hybrid (introduced the same time as the Type R) in a year’s time, when the excise duty exemption ends You can find out more technical details about the Type R by visiting the link below.

Related Posts:
Honda Civic Type R launched in Malaysia

We saw a new variant of the Proton Exora with steel wheels (with wheel cover) back in July 2009. This indicates a cheaper “B-Line” variant and with the Perodua MPV launch creeping up ever so closely, it’s no wonder that Proton salesmen have begun putting up some interesting ads on Mudah advertising the availability of the new B-Line car.

I will be back with some official information for you this week but for the moment you can check out the B-Line ads (most indicate a mid-50K price) that have been posted up on Mudah in the following links:

Mudah Link #1, Mudah Link #2, Mudah Link #3

Of all the GEMA manufacturers, the Hyundai-Kia Group has been setting the best track record in terms of extracting the most power and torque out of their engines. The current generation Sonata and Optima’s 2.0 liter GEMA engine (Hyundai calls them Theta, Mitsubishi calls them 4B11, etc) currently makes around 158 PS to 163 PS, which is probably one of the best in class when you’re talking about a regular engine with only variable valve timing and conventional port injection. The new “Passat CC-ish” Hyundai Sonata’s 2.0 liter Theta II engine makes even more power, now rated at 165 PS at 6,200rpm and 198Nm of torque at 4,600rpm.

Hyundai is now taking the bar higher with the 2.4 liter engine option for the new Sonata. The 2.4 liter Theta II with variable valve timing on both the intake and exhaust now gains GDI gasoline direct injection and as a result, can produce 201 PS at 6,300rpm and 250Nm of torque at 4,250rpm. That’s some very good torque figures for a 2.4 liter engine.

Thanks to the lean burn precision that direct injection affords, compression ratio has been increased to 11.3:1. The engine also comes with a three-stake variable induction system. The variable valve timing system has also been improved, with a new drive system designed for silent operation and better durability. The block has also been reinforced, with improvements to the crank and piston design as well. For example, the piston now has a cooling jet under the piston crowd to get more oil onto the piston walls, helping reduce friction and improve economy/power.

Hyundai says conventional port fuel injection is limited in the sense that as the engine spins faster in terms of RPM, valve opening and closing times get shorter and shorter, reducing the time available for the injectors to injet fuel. A DI injector positioned inside the combustion chamber can inject fuel at pressures at up to 150 bar faster. The fuel travel path is also shorter and more direct, thus more control is available over the combustion process.

The Hyundai GDI system does injection in two phases. The first phase is called the pilot injection and ignition, which triggers the piston’s downward stroke. Then during the piston’s descent more fuel is injected and ignited. Hyundai claims this split-injection technique reduces load on the catalytic converter and helps reduce emissions. Optimal operating temperature for the cat is also achieve faster, which means better cold start emissions, a figure which Hyundai claims have improved by 25 percent.

The new 2.4 liter Theta II GDI engine will be available in the new Hyundai Sonata along with the high-powered 2.0 liter engine. No news yet when Sime Darby is bringing the new Sonata into Malaysia, but perhaps it might change people’s perception of Korean D-segment vehicles. Hyundai has also unveiled a 2.0 liter GDI Turbo engine before this.