The SMART Tunnel has been open now for the past 3 days, and the 3km tunnel is still free of toll for a month so that motorists can try it out. No indication of toll rates so far, but Works Minister Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu has indicated that the toll for the tunnel would definitely be high - some rumours around the grassroots have indicated a price of perhaps RM3 to RM4!

Only cars, MPVs and SUVs are allowed in the tunnel - no bikes, buses or lorries are allowed. As most of you know, the SMART Tunnel is a dual purpose tunnel for both road and floodwater diversion, however the floodwater function will only be operational in August this year. The road function offers an alternative route to the Golden Triangle area - a car entering the tunnel via the entrance at Jalan Sungai Besi wil end up at either Jalan Davis or Jalan Tun Razak near the Kampung Pandan roundabout.

With the heavy traffic on the route to that area, it is estimated that motorists using the SMART tunnel will be able to cut down travelling time from half an hour to about 5 to 10 minutes. Considering the amount of fuel my car consumes during heavy traffic jams, as long as the frustration that comes with it - honestly that RM4 might just be worth it for me! We’ll have to start paying toll for the tunnel come 15th June 2007.

Local blogger Melvin has driven through the tunnel and produced a set of 4 videos. He has recorded the whole journey through the tunnel, as well as made some remarks on what he observed in the video, some interesting stuff like whether there is Amateur Radio reception in the tunnel or not. Please also head on to his set of 4 blog posts linked after the jump if you want to read further observations he made.

Check the videos out after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of SMART Tunnel Videos

BMW Malaysia is now offering more choice to BMW buyers in Malaysia now with it’s BMW Individual product range. Most of us know that in Malaysia we hardly get any choice in customizing the trim levels of our cars perhaps because of an inflexible production line designed to keep costs down. Well, if you can afford a certain few models from BMW, you can now do more than just choose what colour you want your interior to be.

Wolfgang Schlimme, Managing Director, BMW Malaysia Sdn Bhd said, “Offering Choice and Availability is and has been our strategic direction in the Malaysian market since we established ourselves in 2003. Now, with the BMW Individual product range, we raise the benchmark a notch higher – allowing BMW owners to define their high performance, premium car to the highest degree of personal exclusivity.”

Choices as well as prices after the jump provided by BMW Malaysia’s PR agency.

Click here to read the rest of BMW Malaysia offers BMW Individual cars

This is the Daihatsu Mira Custom, a kitted up version of the latest generation Daihatsu Mira that was recently launched in Japan. It’s got some pretty high spec stuff for a K-car, including automatic tilting side mirrors for convenience during reverse maneuveres as well as a very BMW-like engine start/stop button.

Both the Mira and Mira Custom use the latest generation Topaz NEO 660cc engines - the KF-VE and the KF-DET. The KF-VE features 58 horsepower at 7,200rpm, and 65Nm of torque at 4,000rpm, a big improvement over our local Perodua Viva’s EF-VE 660cc DVVT engine that makes 47 horsepower and 58Nm of torque. Daihatsu says the KF-VE can manage 25.5km per liter with the 2WD drivetrain and CVT transmission.

The more exciting KF-DET engine makes not a huge amount of horsepower more than the KF-VE, but it’s 64 horsepower is gained at a much lower 6,000rpm. It shines in it’s torque figures though - 103Nm at a low 3,000rpm. Both the turbo and non-turbo variants of the Daihatsu Mira custom comes with either a 2WD or 4WD drivetrain and all use CVT gearboxes.

From the photos of these cars, perhaps some enterprising local bodykit designer can produce the first batch of cool kits based on Daihatsu’s work with the Mira Custom to spice up our local Perodua Viva cars.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Daihatsu Mira Custom

The 2-door coupe-version of the BMW 1-Series we’ve been seeing in spyshots and spy videos around the net will be arriving in the US market in 2008, said BMW North America’s CEO Tom Purves. There is also a possibility of a convertible model, which has already been spotted by spies as well, so it’s not a matter of whether the car exists or not, more of where it will be sold.

BMW’s 1-series offering in the USA would most likely be the top of the range models like the 130i, and perhaps a new 135i using that sweet 3.0 liter twin turbocharged engine that was recently crowned Engine of the Year.

Related Posts:
BMW 1-Series Coupe Spyshot
2007 BMW 1-series Cabriolet Spy Video
BMW 1-Series Cabriolet Artist’s Impression
BMW might consider M1 to boost 1-Series image

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First it was the BMW X5, next the BMW X3! What am I talking about? A shift in production base of course, to the US - the homeland of all SUV and truck-lovers! The E83 BMW X3 which was recently facelifted (shown above) is currently built in Austria by Magna Steyr, however the next generation full model change will have it’s production base shifted to BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

BMW’s Spartanburg plant currently assembles the new 2007 E70 BMW X5 which I drove recently, and it will also assemble the new BMW X6 coupe-SUV crossover once it makes it to the production lines. One non-SUV model that also comes from the South Carolina plant is the BMW Z4 roadster.

BMW currently builds 105,000 vehicles a year at Spartanburg based on 2006’s production data, but it needs to bump up production to 200,000 in two to three year’s time to keep up with currency fluctuations. 31,291 units of the current generation BMW X3 was sold in the US in 2006, out of a total of 114,000 units worldwide.

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Brabus has applied it’s tuning touch on the new Mercedes Benz CL600, resulting in the Brabus SV12 S Biturbo Coupe. Like it’s namesake, it is powered by the Brabus SV12 S Biturbo engine that Brabus seems to be plonking into all Mercedes Benz’s premium Brabus-tuned cars.

Basically, the 5.5 liter engine in the CL600 was both bored and stroked to 6.3 liter, and more optimised manifolds, larger turbos, and better efficiency intercoolers were installed. Of course, you can’t forget a better high-performance exhaust system to make the engine sound as good as it goes.

The result is 730 horsepower at 5,100rpm, and a potent 1320Nm at 2,100rpm. However, to help your gearbox and tyres have a lifespan of a wee bit longer, Brabus has electronically limited the torque output to 1,100Nm. Anyone for a tuned version of a tuned car without the torque limiter?

Click here to read the rest of Brabus SV12 S Biturbo Coupe: tuned CL600

Following the footsteps of carmakers who have ultra-low budget models for emerging markets - the best example so far is Renault with the Renault/Dacia Logan - Hyundai wants to develop a new ultra-cheap car that will cost less than US$10,000.

On the other end of the pricerange, it is rumoured that Hyundai is developing a premium brand for it to sell it’s more high-end rear-wheel-drive V8 cars that are still under development. Hyundai will use a common rear wheel drive platform (presented as the Hyundai Genesis) for these luxury vehicles, and most will likely carry one of Hyundai’s Tau V8 engines.

It will be interesting to see how cheap Hyundai can go for it’s budget car, considering one of Hyundai’s main sales pitches are is it’s lower price already. It would also be equally interesting to see how the market will accept a premium Korean, as even now despite Lexus proving itself worthy of being an equal to BMW and Mercedes Benz, there are still many critics of Lexus.

Even in our local market, many are surprised that the Hyundai Azera is offered here, because it is sold at a price that no one would dream of paying for a Korean car.

I still remember something a friend of mine said, “I will never buy an LS460, because I know somewhere underneath all of that glam and gadgets is Camry DNA.”

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Ever heard of the Caparo T1? Well, now you have. It’s what you might consider calling a two-seater F1 car for the road. It’s powered by a 2.4 liter high revving V8 engine, similiar to an F1 car, and it makes up to 700 horsepower (only after some extra tuning though - some say only around 500hp at stock levels) at an astronomical 10,200rpm. Now that is a huge amount of horsepower for a car expected to weigh just under 470kg.

It can also corner almost like an F1 car - 3Gs of cornering force is achievable compared to an F1 car’s 4.5Gs. 0-100km/h takes only 2.5 seconds, but the most impressive feature is it’s braking ability - 0kmh to 160kmh and back to 0kmh in 8.5 seconds. That’s only 3.5 seconds to brake from 160kmh to a stand still, thanks to it’s 6-piston billet machined race calipers on steel brakes for the front, and 4-piston calipers for the rear.

The Caparo team consists of engineering legends like Gordon Murray, whom some of you might know as he is a columnist of Evo magazine. He was responsible for the McLaren F1. And that is enough to make you an engineering legend. The other team members are mostly ex-McLaren employees

A video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Caparo T1 - an F1 car for the streets

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd was presented with the Readers Digest Asia Gold Trusted Brand Award 2007 in the car category in Malaysia, during the Readers Digest Asia Trusted Brands Award ceremony held at KL Hilton recently, making Honda one of the most trusted brands in the region (not just Malaysia) out of 23 other brands who were contending for the award.

Six criterias were assessed in the awards - Trustworthiness, Credible image, Quality, Value, Understanding of Customer needs, and Innovation. The criteria were assessed by Readers’ Digest Asia readers, which has a readership number of 447,000 adults in West Malaysia alone. The the results of this Asia award were compiled from the survey forms of readers from 7 countries - Malaysia, Hong Kong, India, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Here’s an article from Harian Metro back in February 2007. It concerns a white Proton Saga that got stopped by traffic police officers during an illegal racing raid operation. The extend of the modification to the Proton Saga amazed them.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sepasukan anggota polis Trafik Bandaraya kehairanan apabila kali pertama terserempak dengan sebuah Proton Saga yang diubah suai menjadi kenderaan pacuan empat roda oleh pemiliknya disyaki bagi tujuan berlumba haram.

Difahamkan kenderaan terbabit yang dianggap ‘model terbaru di pasaran ditahan sebelum disita kerana melakukan pengubahsuaian secara haram di Lebuh raya Lingkaran Tengah (MRR2) berhampiran Taman Melawati di sini, minggu lalu.

Kereta bernombor pendaftaran WBV 9253 dan berwarna putih itu kemudian diserahkan kepada Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ) Wilayah Persekutuan untuk diuji.

Pengarah JPJ Wilayah Persekutuan, Amir Abdul Hamid, berkata pemeriksaan mendapati kereta berkenaan diubahsuai pemiliknya dengan membabitkan kos melebihi harganya.

“Antara yang diubah enjin kereta terbabit yang ditukar menggunakan Mitsubishi Evolution dengan kelajuan melebihi 30 peratus daripada asal, gandar tayar pula ditukar kepada kenderaan pacuan empat roda, begitu juga sistem gerakan enjin.

“Turut ditukar ekzos kenderaan, tangki minyak dan sistem dalaman. Bagi menampakkan kenderaan itu sebagai pacuan empat roda, pegas rodanya turut dinaikkan. Ruang dalaman kenderaan berkenaan turut dilengkapi sistem audio canggih, mikrofon dan televisyen kecil yang digunakan untuk berkaraoke,” katanya ketika ditemui di sini, semalam.

Amir berkata, pemeriksaan mendapati pemiliknya tidak pernah memohon mengubah suai kenderaan berkenaan termasuk menukar enjin.

“Ketika disoal siasat pemiliknya mendakwa kereta berkenaan digunakan di jalan lasak, bagaimanapun pihak berkuasa menahannya ketika di jalan raya pada operasi lumba haram, baru-baru ini,” katanya.

Selain daripada dikenakan tindakan mengikut Seksyen 42(1) Akta Pengangkutan Jalan oleh trafik, pemilik kereta itu bakal berdepan dengan perlucutan hak kenderaan yang digunakan dalam pertandingan atau dugaan kelajuan.

While driving the streets of KL in the middle of the night looking for a place to snap some photos, my friend Melvin and I spotted the same Proton Saga driving around and we managed to snap a photo of it. You can see the jacked up suspension, and it’s abit hard to see the 4WD shaft underneath the car in this photo, but it’s there. His interior was full of EL gauges, and his exhaust piping exits from the sides.