Recent Posts (Page 371)

  • Hyundai Tucson price in Malaysia gets a hike!

    In Cars, Hyundai, Koreans, Local News / By / / 109 comments

    Hyundai distributors Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors Sdn Bhd have announced that as of today, new bookings for the Hyundai Tucson will be priced at a new increased price which is up by between RM2k to RM3k compared to the old prices depending on the model you buy.

    HSDM says this new pricing is official from the 7th June this month, anyone who have made bookings for the Tucson before the 7th will enjoy the earlier price. The 5 year or 300,000km extended warranty remains.

    Here’s the changes – for the specs of each model you can read our previous post.

      Old Price New Price
    Hyundai Tucson 2.0 Standard RM126,888 RM129,888
    Hyundai Tucson 2.0 High Spec RM136,888 RM139,888
    Hyundai Tucson 2.4 RM152,888 RM154,888
     

  • Hello Kitty 5W-30 Motor Oil – this stuff is real!

    In Cars / By / / 38 comments

    This is definitely the motor oil for all those Hello Kitty themed K-cars to use! Trust the Japanese to come up with weird stuff like this to satisfy the hardcore Hello Kitty enthusiast, which by the way so far has an insane amount of Hello Kitty items to spend their money on including not just one but TWO theme parks and even a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital. This motor oil is a collaboration between the Hello Kitty franchise owners Sanrio and Rome-based Italian petrochemical retail company AGIP (Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli – General Italian Oil Agency).

     

  • Car manufactures in China may face another hurdle as Yuan strengthens

    In Cars, Honda, International News, Toyota / By / / 11 comments

    Just as Toyota and Honda raised wages to appease their workforce, the Chinese government has announced that they will be allowing the currency more flexibility to grow. This signals an end to the Yuan’s two year peg to the US dollar.

    “The looser currency stance comes on the back of all these moves to endorse the wage increases, it’s all part of moving to the consumer, more domestic-demand-driven economy,” said Jim O’Neill, Goldman Sachs Group chief global economist.

    Even if companies are now under pressure to increase wage packets which will have an effect on profit margins, China is still an attractive option for foreign investors. This is because the Yuan has always been undervalued and its rise will help contain inflation thereby likely reducing workers wage demands.

    The effect of rising wages and investments can be seen in western China where it is deterring workers from migrating to more developed regions like Guangdong in the south, allowing companies to maintain its workforce.

    At the moment though, none of the workers at the Honda Lock factory, who ended the five day strike at the plant, are worried about the state of the economy affecting their salaries, stating that a deal and a contract has been signed.

    Source

     

  • Super GT Sepang: Impul leads GT-R 1-2 finish for long awaited win, Weider Honda HSV-010 grabs third

    In Local News, Motorsports / By / / 19 comments

    The Calsonic Impul GT-R, one of the most recognisable GT500 cars on the grid, has won Round 4 of the 2010 Autobacs Super GT Series in Sepang. The blue Nissan won from pole, ahead of the Motul Autech GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama, Benoit Treluyer), which started the race third on the grid. Taking the final podium spot and “best of the rest” title was the Weider HSV-010 (Takashi Kogure, Loic Duval) to keep Honda fans happy.

    For a cooler time in the cockpit, the race started at 4pm. Starting from pole, Tsugio Matsuda in the Impul GT-R managed to stay ahead of a pack of Honda HSV-010 pursuers and stayed in the lead until pitting at the end of lap 25. The Raybrig HSV-010 (Takuya Izawam Naoki Yamamoto) and Motul Autech GT-R temporarily took over the lead, but collided to hand the lead back to Impul with 10 laps remaining. Matsuda handed driving duties to Ronnie Quintarelli, who cruised to the team’s first win since the final race of the 2008 season.

    It was an emotional win for Impul, whose founder and manager Kazuyoshi Hoshino, formerly known as “the fastest man in Japan” during his own driving career, shed tears after the race.

    Lexus Team Petronas Tom’s finished eighth, two places up from their grid position. Not being among the front runners was entirely expected, as the 68kgs of ballast they were carrying was the highest in the grid. As a result, Tom’s surrendered their championship lead to Lexus Team Le Mans Eneos, who finished fourth in Sepang – the best of the Lexus SC430 teams.

    The GT300 class was won by M7 Mutiara Motors Amemiya SGC7, which started the race from second. It was the fifth win for Team Amemiya at Sepang in the ten GT races held here and a big “present” for the team’s main sponsor – Johor Bahru based Mutiara Motors.

    Full race results and gallery after the jump.
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  • Wang Jian Wei wins race 2 of the 2010 Scirocco Cup China at Sepang

    In Cars, Local News, Motorsports, Volkswagen / By / / 8 comments

    The Malaysian round of the 2010 Scirocco Cup China just ended and we have the final results for race two. Despite being the quickest man in practice and winning yesterday’s first race, Malaysia’s Hammond Lai failed to get onto the podium, after starting from eight place thanks to a reverse grid arrangement for today’s race.

    First place went to China’s Wang Jian Wei who started the race from pole position. The 25 year old was fighting for the top spot with eventual second place man Kevin Tse from Hong Kong who started from the same position. It was an interesting battle between the two as both drivers exchanged positions a number of times within the eight-lap race.

    China’s Zhang Da Sheng secured the final podium position after starting the race from fourth place. Hammond who was struggling behind his competitors up front only managed to finish in fifth place ahead of Italian Andrea Reggiani. Stefano Montesi was only the retirement of the day, following a problem that is most probably related to his Scirocco’s steering system. The Italian finished yesterday’s race in second place and started today’s in seventh.

    The 2010 Volkswagen Scirocco Cup China will now head to West China to race at the Chengdu International Circuit on July 31st. The Scirocco Cup China is a nice addition to the motorsport scene here and hopefully the organizers will make Sepang a regular stop for the series. This will encourage more participation from Malaysians, like Hammond Lai and Eric Koh.

    Eric took part in the first race of the season in Zhuhai and became victorious in race two. The entry fee for a whole season costs 360,000 Chinese Yuan which translates to about RM 171,438. Not bad since everything including the race car is part of the package.

    As always you can check out an image gallery after the jump. You can also view the results in full.
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  • Super GT: Pole for Impul GT-R, Arta HSV-010 on front row!

    In Local News, Motorsports / By / / 6 comments

    It’s a sunny Super GT race day in Sepang today, and from our vantage point in the paddock, the grandstand looks very empty. But as with all races in Malaysia, fans will only start rushing in when the main event nears, and in this case it’s at 3pm.

    For now, it’s the Circuit Safari where spectators in Cityliner buses take to the track with the GT cars “racing” around them. After this is Race 2 of the Scirocco Cup China 2010 which colleague Harvinder is covering.

    For the main GT500 race later, the Calsonic Impul GT-R (Tsugio Matsuda, Ronnie Quintarelli) is on pole position, and joining the blue Nissan on the front row is the bright orange ARTA HSV-010 GT (Ralph Firman, Yuji Ide). Lining up third is famous Motul Autech GT-R (Satoshi Motoyama, Benoit Treluyer) while the Eneos SC430 (Daisuke Ito, Bjorn Wirdheim) is the best placed Lexus car.

    As predicted by both drivers Andre Lotterer and Juichi Wakisaka in our interview with them on Friday, the championship leading Lexus Team Petronas Tom’s isn’t among the front runners – with the highest weight penalty in the grid, they qualified tenth.

    The distant sky looks a little dark, could rain be coming? More updates coming your way later! Look after the jump for a few photos from Saturday.
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  • Volkswagen Scirocco Cup China makes a stop at Sepang during Japan GT weekend

    In Cars, Local News, Motorsports, Volkswagen / By / / 21 comments

    This weekend is another special one for the local motorsport fraternity. Considered by many as the second largest high-octane event after the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Japan GT is back in town for the tenth time. Along with a group of high-powered race machines and gorgeous race queens, the event is also made up by two support races including the Toyota Vios One Make Series and the Volkswagen Scirocco Cup China which makes it’s debut in Malaysia.

    For those of you who have not heard of the Scirocco Cup, allow us to break it down for you. The first ever Scirocco Cup was held in 1976 in Germany and it evolved into the Golf Cup, which then turned into the Lupo Cup. This series was subsequently replaced by the Polo Cup. The Scirocco Cup was recently re-introduced and in Europe for the 2010 season, the series races the 261hp Scirocco R fueled by bio-compressed natural gas or Bio-CNG. This “eco-friendly” Scirocco R race cars output less carbon dioxide, by up to 80% compared to its gasoline counterpart.

    The Chinese version of the event was introduced in 2009 and now enters it’s second year. The Sciroccos that are used in this Asian series are based on the non-R Sciroccos and are fueled by conventional gasoline. Each car uses the usual 200hp 2.0 litre 4-potter TSI linked to a 6-speed DSG transmission. Being a race car it features track-friendly amenities such as a full roll cage, a fire extinguisher system, racing brakes and an AIM data logging system, among others.

    All cars are identical and the rules state that no setup modifications are allowed for the drivers. A typical race weekend consists of two 30 minutes practice sessions, one 30 minutes qualifying and two races. Each race is 50 kilometers (or 25 minutes) in length and for Sepang, that equals to eight laps each. Grid positions for the first race are determined by the performance in qualifying. There is a twist for the second race though. The top eight finishers of race one will be positioned in a reverse order for the second race. Meaning the winner of the first event will start the next race in eight. This is of course to keep things more competitive as quicker drivers will try to make their way through the field.

    Each participant would need to compete in at least three races to be included in the championship battle where his or her best seven results will be taken into account when calculating total points. The 2010 Scirocco Cup China is mostly made up by Chinese and Hong Kong drivers but they are also joined by drivers from Japan, Canada, Italy, UK and France. For this weekend’s Sepang round which is the second this season after Zhuhai, a Malaysian entry is included as well.

    Representing us is Hammond Lai, a familiar face in the local motorsport scene. Despite this being his first ever Scirocco Cup entry, Hammond went on to win Saturday’s first race. He managed to keep pole sitter Stefano Montesi from Italy and Hong Kong’s Kenny Lo at bay.

    With the win Hammond who has six years of racing experience under his belt will start the second race from eight place. When asked if he intends to continue with the championship this year, he said that it is unlikely however he hopes to secure a full season entry next year. Our best wishes are with him for Sunday’s race and it would be interesting to see if he can repeat his success.

    Meanwhile you can look for image galleries of the event after the jump, enjoy!
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  • Toyota FT-86 concept may be called Toyota FR-S

    In Cars, International News, Rumours, Toyota / By / / 38 comments

    Toyota FR-S could be the official name for the production model of the new Toyota FT-86 concept if some speculation are to be believed. Apparently Toyota have applied to trademark the name “FR-S” in the US and Canada. Certain people seem to think that this means “front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, and sports car.”

    This certainly makes sense and Toyota wouldn’t have registered a trademark without an intention to use it in the future. After all they trademarked the Lexus CT name and the C-Premium concept ended up being the Lexus CT 200h. The trademark applications were filed in the two countries on the 27th of May 2010 under the category of “Automobiles and structural parts thereof.”

    You could say the FT-86 sort of replaces the Celica and will be co-developed with Subaru. What is assumed that it will be powered by a 2.0-litre boxer engine from Subaru that will be mated to a 6-speed transmission. A Gran Turismo video featuring the FT-86 Concept revealed a boxer engine with D4-S on the engine cover, which could indicate some form of high pressure direct injection.

    What are your thoughts on the name Toyota FR-S? Have your say in the comments!

     

  • Formula 1 may only be available in HD in 2012

    In Formula 1, International News, Motorsports / By / / 12 comments

    For those of you who have been longing to watch every single bubble pop out of the champagne bottle when your favourite F1 driver celebrates at the top of the podium will have to wait longer, because F1 is not going to be shown in High Definition or fondly known as HD any time soon. This is according to F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone who confirmed that F1 will not be available in HD just yet. “As soon as the broadcasters tell me they want it, we can do it. I think next year is too soon; we’re looking at more like 2012,” F1′s ‘Godfather’ said.

    This is quite a surprise as a recent Formula One Team Association or FOTA-commissioned fan survey stated that 70 per cent of fans would like to see every second of the track drama in HD. Privileged members of the media were also given a demonstration of F1 broadcast in both HD and 3D recently. The footage was captured using a Lotus F1 car carrying a special 3D camera during a practice session at the Canadian GP. We tried to look for this video all over the internet but couldn’t find anything.

    HD broadcast is taking the world by storm as it makes Standard Definition or SD look like it is centuries old. HD offers a much higher resolution display compared to SD and almost every major sporting event at the moment is already available in that format. It would be a reward to fans if they have this for F1. Of course to enjoy HD one must have a HD-compliant television set along with a HD broadcaster and relevant accessories. In Malaysia, we have plenty of HD TVs and we also have access to HD content in the form of either BluRay discs or Astro B.yond.

     

  • BMW Malaysia launches facelifted E92 Coupe & E93 Convertible and Z4 sDrive35is M Sports!

    In BMW, Cars, Local News / By / / 38 comments

    A couple of new BMWs have landed on our shores but all but one are quite well over the RM300k mark so they’re not something the upper middle class can be excited about.

    The bulk of the product line-up update comprises of the facelifted E92 3-Series Coupe and E93 3-Series Convertible models. The baseline Coupe is the 156 horsepower 200Nm torque 320i Coupe priced at RM289,800. It doesn’t come with iDrive though – for that you have to add RM20,000 for an ‘Innovation Package’ that adds an 8.8 inch iDrive monitor, satellite navigation with HDD storage for maps and audio, and Bluetooth connectivity.

    There’s also the new 325i Coupe, which finally gives the E92 range some decent mid-range positioning. So before this you either had to go with the 4-potter or jump up to the very expensive 6-cylinder turbo model. The 325i Coupe is priced at RM378,800 and features a 2.5 litre 6-cylinder N52 engine producing 218 horsepower and 250Nm of torque, taking the car up to 100km/h in 7.1 seconds. The 325i Coupe can be equipped with a “Glass Roof Package” which adds an lectric operated glass roof with slide and tilt function. This can also be equipped to the 320i Coupe for the same money.

    The top of the line Coupe is the BMW 335i Coupe M Sport, now featuring the new N55 single turbo engine, which replaces the outgoing pre-facelift 335i’s N54 twin turbo engine. Official rated power remains the same at 306 horsepower and 400Nm of torque. Peak torque is achieved at a lower rpm as compared to the N54 model, and while it loses one turbocharger it gains Valvetronic.

    This N55 engine is mated to a 7-speed dual clutch transmission with steering wheel paddle shifters. The M Sports package includes 19 inch M light alloy double spoke 313 wheels, M sports suspension, Sports seats in Dakota leather, M entry sills, an M footrest, Aluminium Glacier Silver dark interior trim and an Anthracite headliner.

    The E93 325i Convertible is the sole drop top 3-Series sold here in Malaysia. It’s powered by the same 2.5 litre 218 horsepower engine as the 325i Coupe but because of the extra weight of the convertible metal roof, 0 to 100km/h acceleration time drops to 8.4 seconds. The 325i Convertible and 335i Coupe both share special headlamps that feature ight rings with two brightness settings used as parking lights or daytime running lights as well as LED indicators.

    The most special and most expensive model of all is the new BMW Z4 sDrive35is M Sport which tops the Z4 range. The sDrive35i is still available in Malaysia though, but at a price of RM598,800 for the sDrive35is M Sport compared to the sDrive35i’s RM558,800.00 price you might be tempted to spend that 10% more.

    In sDrive35is tune, the N54 twin turbo engine’s power is upgraded to 340 horsepower and 450Nm of torque – which is the same torque as found in the BMW 740i but with a little more horsepower. This is the most powerful version of the N54 engine when it comes to factory BMW tuning so far. 0 to 100km/h takes just 4.8 seconds thanks to both the twin turbo engine and the fast-shifting 7-speed twin clutch transmission, which also features Launch Control.

    The M sports package on the Z4 sDrive35is M Sport comprises of an M aerodynamics package as well as the Adaptive M Suspension package. The M aerodynamics package highlights modified front and rear aprons, a rear diffuser, Oxide Silver mirror caps and five spoke 18 inch alloy wheels in its exterior and wheel specifications, whilst showcases unique design in its interior offering.

    Adaptive M Suspension, meanwhile, features a central control unit which processes the data delivered by three acceleration sensors and controls the dampers for added agility without loss of comfort.  Additionally exclusive to the M Sports package on the BMW Z4 sDrive35is M Sport is the option of the special Melbourne Red exterior colour.

    BMW 320i Coupe – RM 289, 800
    BMW 325i Coupe – RM 378, 800
    BMW 335i Coupe M Sport – RM 498, 800
    BMW 325i Convertible – RM 439, 800
    BMW Z4 sDrive35is M Sport – RM 598, 800

    Here’s a bit of trivia for you, the previous generation Z4 M which was a true M-blooded coupe used to go for RM 538,000 until it was retired. The new sDrive35i and sDrive35is are more expensive than the Z4 M! Look after the jump for a gallery of the Z4 sDrive35is in Melbourne Red as well as photo galleries of the facelifted E92 and E93.
    Read more ›

     
 
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