This is a series of 3 videos from the Delhi Motor Show - where the Tata Nano was unveiled for the very first time to the public. Watch the videos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of VIDEO: Tata Nano unveiling at Delhi 2008
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These are the latest sketches of the upcoming 5-door version of the new Mitsubishi Lancer. It looks like a closer-to-production version of the original Mitsubishi Sportback Concept that was shown years ago. Expect a production or near-production car to be shown at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show in March.
One more photo after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Sketch
This is the third video in a series of Proton Saga TV Commercials being aired on national TV now. It features a selfless doctor who chose to serve the rural community and natives in East Malaysia named Dr. Kenny Lee. The other two videos in the series featuring our Angkasawan and David Arumugam of the Alleycats are linked below in the related posts section.
VIDEO: Proton Saga Dr. Kenny Advertisement
The Tata 1 Lakh Car was unveiled recently and it was given the name Tata Nano. We know its small, egg-like and comes with a small two-cylinder engine, but what exactly did Tata do to achieve the now famous “1 Lakh” price?
That’s basically the laydown of what cost-cutting measures Tata have taken to bring the Tata Nano’s price down to slightly more than 1-Lakh. Would you buy the Tata Nano if it was available in Malaysia?
Related Posts:
More photos of the Tata Nano
Tata Nano - the name of the Tata 1-Lakh car
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UPDATE: The 7-seater Toyota Rush has been launched in Malaysia! - Click for details, specifications, photos and pricing.
Two units of the Toyota Rush - one goldish and one blue have been snapped on the Putrajaya-UPM highway by reader Halim. These are definitely long wheelbase units, and whispers through the grassroots say that Toyota SAs around the country have informed of a launch before the end of the month, which is less than a week away!
Just as a recap, the Toyota Rush is available in various configurations around the world, but all come with a 1.5 liter VVT-i engine. You can have either a 4X4 or a 4X2 drivetrain, and either 5 seats or 7 seats. We will have to wait and see which models are offered here in Malaysia - the only thing that’s for sure now is the long wheelbase, with the short wheelbase model most likely to be used a Kembara replacement sometime in mid-2008.
View a short ad clip of the Toyota Rush after the jump - it’s been posted before but serves as a refresher.
Related Posts: Click here to read the rest of Toyota Rush snapped with taped up badges!
SPYSHOT: Toyota Rush long wheelbase on trailers
Toyota Rush long wheelbase suitable for Malaysia
2006 Daihatsu Be-Go (short wheelbase)
New Perodua Kembara Replacement due mid-2008
The much celebrated new N54 Bi-turbo engine found in the 135i and the 335i is not BMW’s first inline-6 turbocharged petrol engine. If you look back in history to the old E23 BMW 7-Series back in the 70s and 80s, you will notice that there was a special high performance model called the BMW 745i Turbo.
Under the E23 745i Turbo’s hood was a 3.2 liter inline-6 engine that was turbocharged to produce the then-equivalent of a 4.5 liter normally aspirated engine. This engine was the M102B32, and it was based on the M30 engine.
Later, a 3.4 liter M106 engine replaced the M102, also turbocharged, and was pretty much similiar to the M102 except it used the newer Bosch Motronic fuel injection instead of the M102’s L-Jetronic fuel injection. The M106B35 produced the same output power as the M102 at lower RPM at only 0.4 bar compared to its predecessor’s 0.7 bar.
The 3,430cc M106B35 produced 252 horsepower at 4,200rpm (M102 made the same power but at 5,200rpm), and 380Nm of torque at 2,200rpm. It revved up to a redline of 6,200rpm. Compression ratio was 8.0:1, and turbo boost was 0.4 bar (M102 had 7.0:1 compression and 0.7 bar). The engine had 6 cylinders arranged in an inline formation, and had a bore and stroke of 92mm x 86mm.
Because of turbocharger packaging reasons, it could only be installed in left hand drive versions of the 7-Series, so the South African 745i got the M88 normally aspirated engine used in the M635i and the E28 M5.
Mercedes-Benz has updated the original 4-door coupe that started it all - this new trend of calling 4-door vehicles “coupes”. Some may argue that the CLS is nothing more than 4 seater E-Class, it does have its fans and thus justifies its inclusion in the line-up.
The new facelifted 2008 model year CLS features a new grille, a new rear bumper, LED tail lamps, trapezoidal tailpipes, new side mirrors with LED indicator lights, restyled alloy wheels, and a new entry level model.
The entry level model will now be the Mercedes-Benz CLS 280 featuring a 3.0 liter V6 engine putting out 231 horsepower and 300Nm of torque. Other models include the turbodiesel V6 CLS 320 CDI, the direct injection CLS 350 CGI, the V8-powered CLS 500, and the top of the range CLS 63 AMG.
The interior gets a new three spoke leather-wrapped steering wheel, and the instrument cluster now has a white-faced dials. The interior features the new NTG 2.5 telematics generation interface to control the in-vehicle entertainment. There are a few “grades” to chose from: Audio 20, Audio 20 CD with CD changer, Audio 50 and Audio 50 APS with DVD changer and LINGUATRONIC voice control. All have 5-inch colour screens, and the COMAND APS has a 6.5 inch colour display.
When the facelift is launched in Malaysia, the baseline model will continue to be the Mercedes Benz CLS 350 as the CLS 280 is only available in left hand drive configuration.
More photos after the jump. Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz CLS gets a facelift
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Honda has released these teaser images of the new European market Honda Accord, which has traditionally been very different from the model that the US and Asian markets get. Generally the European Accord is slimmer and sleeker, something like the first generation Mazda 6 that is sold on our markets. Europeans do not expect D-segment sedans to be big and fat as over there a younger crowd is able to afford them.
These teasers are for the Tourer (estate) model, but we will see both the sedan and Tourer models unveiled at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show this year. The US market will most probably get this car, but badged as an Acura TSX, as the previous generation CF-series European Honda Accord was also badged as the first generation Acura TSX.
Expect styling to be based on Frankfurt 2007’s Honda Accord Touring concept.
More shots and a video after the jump. Click here to read the rest of New European Honda Accord pre-Geneva teaser
A couple of months ago I posted about how a long wheelbase version of the Toyota Rush would be suitable for the Malaysian market. Now an anonymous reader has sent in snapshots of what appears to be a long wheelbase version of the Toyota Rush being transported on trailers to an unknown destination. We know this is the long wheelbase version because it has a much longer rear overhang than the short wheelbase version.
Perodua has previously indicated that the new Kembara replacement will be launched mid this year, so this is a bit too early for a Perodua Kembara replacement to be sighted on trailers. This leads me to believe that we might soon see two different versions of the same SUV being sold under two different badges - a short wheelbase Rush sold by Perodua badged as a Kembara, and a long wheelbase Rush sold by Toyota!
This strategy has been employed by Toyota and Daihatsu in Indonesia for quite some time now, as their market have both the Daihatsu Bego and the Toyota Rush, as well as the Daihatsu Xenia and the Toyota Avanza. Whether this strategy will work in Malaysia or not remains unknown, but it will be interesting to find out!
One more shot after the jump. Click here to read the rest of SPYSHOT: Toyota Rush long wheelbase on trailers?
The new 2008 Hyundai Accent is now available in Malaysia, essentially the Hyundai version of the Kia Rio. There are two models to pick from - a 1.4 liter unit with a 5-speed manual or a 1.6 liter with a 4-speed auto. The 1.4 liter unit is a normal DOHC engine - i think it is the same one in the Kia Rio and Hyundai Getz 1.4. It produces 95 PS at 6,000rpm and 125Nm of torque at 4,700rpm.
The 1.6 liter is a DOHC engine with CVVT variable valve timing and produces 112 PS at 6,000rpm, and 145Nm of torque at 4,500rpm.
Like most small cars in this segment, the rear suspension uses the space-saving torsion beam axle with coil spring setup while the front uses McPherson struts. The head unit supports MP3, aux input and also USB input, which means you can just plug in your thumb drive full of songs and it will play. The interior generally looks like the Kia Rio’s, though the two car’s exteriors look totally different.
The Hyundai Accent manages a 5 star US NHTSA crash test result for frontal crashes for both the driver and passenger. Safety features include a driver airbag, antilock brakes and pretensioner seatbelts for the front passengers.
The 2008 Hyundai Accent 1.4 manual goes for RM68,888, while the 2008 Hyundai Accent 1.6 CVVT auto goes for RM73,888.
More photos after the jump.
Related Posts: Click here to read the rest of 2008 Hyundai Accent 1.4 manual and 1.6 auto
Locally assembled new generation Hyundai Accent MC coming soon!
