Jason Cammisa of Automobile Magazine decides to verify BMW’s 302 horsepower and 400Nm of torque claims on the BMW 335i specification sheets. The results did not disappoint, instead strangely the BMW 335i that Cammisa put on the dyno made alot more power than what’s on paper! Click here to read the rest of BMW 335i has 350hp instead of 302hp?
Proton’s car registrations with the Road Transport Department went up 21% to 10,018 cars in July compared to 8,328 cars in June - effectively increasing it’s total industry volume in July to 32%, up 5% from June.
If Proton maintains this performance over the 2nd half of 2006, it might be able to wrestle the number 1 position back from Perodua, unless Perodua has some other cards up it’s sleeves.
Overall car industry volume is expected to drop 6% this year to 520,000 vehicles. This increase in Proton sales is likely due to the Proton Satria Neo, of which 2,750 units have been sold so far, and 4,000 orders in hand. This exceeds Proton’s sales expectations.
Malaysia’s hottest CBU hatchback has just undergone a mid-life facelift. This was pretty much expected since rival company Toyota launched the Toyota Yaris hatch a few months ago, so Honda has to do it’s part to keep the Jazz fresh, lest it loses market share to the Yaris. The new Honda Jazz facelift was launched yesterday night at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara at Laundry Bar. Want to know what’s new with the new Honda Jazz facelift? Check out more details after the jump.
[UPDATED: New photos] Click here to read the rest of New Honda Jazz Facelift in Malaysia
Click here to read the rest of How does Variable Turbine Geometry work?
Variable Turbine Geometry technology is the next generation in turbocharger technology where the turbo uses variable vanes to control exhaust flow against the turbine blades. See, the problem with the turbocharger that we’ve all come to know and love is that big turbos do not work well at slow engine speeds, while small turbos are fast to spool but run out of steam pretty quick. So how do VTG turbos solve this problem?
Okay, so we’ve looked at LMG’s pick-up truck offering, now let’s look at it’s other newly launched vehicle, the LMG Tourer. The LMG Tourer is a 7 seater SUV, likely based on the same chassis as the LMG Trekker - a single ladder frame that spawns both a pick up and an SUV have been pretty popular with car manufacturers lately to save costs. Click here to read the rest of LMG Tourer Details
Okay, so we know the LMG Trekker and the LMG Tourer SUV and pick-up trucks have the new Hydroxene technology, but what about the rest of the details? Click here to read the rest of LMG Trekker Details
Some of you may remember a piece of news in July where a team of Universiti Sains Malaysia researches led by Dr Syamsul Rizal Abd Shukor came up with a way to produce hydrogen in a system compact enough to be fitted into a car. The system involved using waste aluminium metal and sodium hydroxide to separate water into it’s components - hydrogen and oxygen.
While I’m not sure if the new Hydroxene system in LMG’s new pick-ups and SUVs are based on the results of this USM research, it works very similiarly. Click here to read the rest of LMG Tourer with Hydroxene technology
Much like the Toyota Fortuner was conceived through the IMV ladder frame of the Toyota Hilux, Isuzu has created an SUV based on the Isuzu D-MAX. Like it’s pick-up brother, the 7-seater Isuzu MU-7 is powered by a 3.0-liter DOHC 16-valve 4JJ1-TC common rail turbodiesel engine. It’s made in Thailand, but there’s no news of whether it will be coming to Malaysia anytime soon.
When the new MINI Cooper by BMW was released, we had to refer to the old school model as the old MINI or old school MINI, and the new MINI Cooper as the new MINI or BMW MINI. BMW adds to our confusion with this 2nd generation new MINI Cooper, but nevertheless we petrol heads welcome it with open arms. So what’s new with the new new MINI Cooper? Check it out after the jump! Click here to read the rest of BMW unveils 2nd gen MINI Cooper
The Kia Sorento is available locally with a Naza badge as the Naza Sorento. The mid-sized SUV is based on a ladder frame as opposed to a monocoque chassis, so this should mean the body should be able to be modified easily. Kia does have light trucks (read: lorries!) like it’s K2700/3000/4000 series, but what about a pick-up truck?
Kia could easily develop a pick-up truck using the ladder frame chassis of the Kia Sorento. Kia has developed pick-up truck concepts before, like Kia KCV4 Mojave concept shown back in 2004 at the Chicago Motor Show. That was a mid-size truck, suitable for the US market but way too huge for our local tastes. The KCV4 Mojave Concept did not go into production, but was developed to gauge customer acceptance.
I think a Kia pick-up truck based on the Sorento could be feasible, especially with the Sorento’s 2.5 CRDi turbodiesel engine. To help us visualise how it could look like, Theophilus Chin comes to the rescue again with his impression of a double-cab pick-up track based on the Kia Sorento. Heh.
