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Castrol Edge Sport Speed Challenge Contest

February 10, 2009 at 1:19 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Castrol Edge Sport Contest, Local News

Here’s a chance for you to win a total of RM 10,000 worth of Sony and Apple products, thanks to an online contest brought to you by Castrol EDGE engine oil. The contest involves 3 easy steps:

  1. Register at the contest website and watch the weekly videos every week – four videos will be posted up, one each week on the Castrol Edge Sport Speed Challenge website. The four videos show four different teams changing their car’s engine oil to Castrol EDGE Sport.
  2. Guess how much time each time took – The four teams are the Hot Chics (I recognise Cindy from Malaysian Dream Girl fame as one half of that team), the Sweet Young Things, the Geeks and the Pros. Remember, naturally these are 4 different types of personalities with different levels of skill and experience so these will all affect the time they take to accomplish the task.
  3. Key in your guesses – There are two levels of competition here – the weekly contest and the grand prize contest. There are prizes for guessing correctly for each week as well as an overall total prize for guessing all 4 weeks correctly. Remember to key in your guess during the week of each respective video! If somehow you decide to join the contest in week 3, you are still allowed to guess week 1 and 2’s times but you won’t be eligible for the weekly contest but will be eligible for the overall grand prize. Here’s a hint for you – according to Castrol, a professional mechanic usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to change a car’s engine oil.

The following are the prizes for the overall competition:

Grand Prize – Sony Bravia 37″ LCD TV
Second Prize – Sony Playstation 3
Third Prize – Apple iPod Touch 8GB

Weekly winners will get a Sony Walkman MP3 player. All winners will also get a WRC car model, a Castrol EDGE Sport umbrella and a Castrol EDGE Sport T-shirt.

For those of you who who have blogs, you can also get an additional chance to win the Sony Walkman MP3 player. Just embed the video code above on your blog, title it “Castrol EDGE Sport Speed Challenge” and talk about the contest. You can be creative about it, and I have a hunch there will be many who will be commenting about the weeks where the “Hot Chics” and “Sweet Young Things” are doing their oil change. I’ve watched this week’s Hot Chics video and they look rather clueless, go check it out! Judges will be searching the web for your blog posts and the 6 most creative entries will win a Sony Walkman MP3 player each.

Just a backgrounder on what the 4 teams are pouring into the cars – Castrol EDGE Sport is an engine oil that Castrol says can withstand extreme conditions – extreme maximum power, extreme heat, extreme cold and extreme fuel economy. In one test, Castrol took two V8-powered Ford Mustangs and put them on a dyno – one with Castrol EDGE Sport and one with a regular synthetic oil. They found that EDGE Sport maintained maximum horsepower on the dyno 45% longer than the competing engine oil.

You can watch these videos after the jump.
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Selangor govt’s new fleet powered by UMW Toyota

February 7, 2009 at 10:44 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Lexus, Local News, Toyota

Lexus RX 350

It looks like the Selangor state’s new 15 unit fleet of 2.4 litre Toyota Camrys purchased at RM 130,000 each are not good enough for Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, as he has declared a new Lexus SUV (according a Bernama report, presumably the Lexus RX 350) as his new official car to be used for official business only.

When asked why he did not use one of the Camrys, Tan Sri told the Bernama reporter that he was more comfortable with the Lexus. He says he only uses it for work (he owns the car but the government pays for its maintenance so he wants to make sure it is for work purposes only), and for personal trips he uses a personal car. Of course, a Lexus RX is nothing compared to what Khalid Ibrahim’s political secretary Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad claims Khir Toyo purchased during his Selangor MB tenure – a Mercedes-Benz S350L.

I feel Tan Sri Khalid should have waited for the new 2009 RX due to be launched in Malaysia this year, then perhaps I can ask him if he finds the new “Remote Touch” system user friendly!

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New Volkswagen models for 2009 in Malaysia

February 7, 2009 at 3:39 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Volkswagen

Golf GTI Mk6

Four new Volkswagen models can be expected to hit Malaysian roads this year, and they will all come in the second half of the year. One is a cabriolet version of the popular Volkswagen New Beetle, which commands 25% of Volkswagen Malaysia’s total sales. The top selling unit currently is the Golf GTI at 30% of total sales, and this year we’ll see a replacement model for that car, the Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk6 (shown above). The Golf’s younger sibling will also be making an appearance here and I look forward to seeing more of this particular car on the road – the Volkswagen Scirocco. Lastly, the Passat will get a sexier counterpart in the form of the Volkswagen Passat CC, Volkswagen’s take on the four door coupe body.

Source

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Facelifted Ford Focus now available in Malaysia: 2.0L sedan and hatchback

February 5, 2009 at 5:46 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Ford, Local News

Ford Focus

The facelifted Ford Focus is now here in Malaysia as a fully imported unit from Sime Darby Autoconnexxion. Unlike the pre-facelift models offered by Ford, the entire new range consisting of both a 4-door sedan (Focus Ghia) and a 5-door hatchback body (Focus Sport) are powered by the 145 PS 2.0 litre Duratec engine, mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission.

This marks the first new Ford in Malaysia styled with the new “Ford Kinetic Design” style, Ford’s take on a more dynamic look to its cars. Other than a new look for the outside, the door mirrors are also now larger and there are now signal indicators on the side mirrors. The rear track is now wider, which can improve stability and also improve aesthetics.

Ford Focus

The interior is done up in a dark colour, which Ford claims is deliberate to minimize windscreen reflection in the bright countries of South East Asia. The dash center stack illumination lights up in red at night.

Set between the two large binnacled RPM meter and speedometer is a multi-info display LCD which can show time, outside temperature, trip meter, odometer, distance to empty, average speed and average fuel consumption. shame there’s no real time fuel consumption, a feature that has moved down the segments and is even available on the City and the Swift.

Ford Focus

Other creature comforts include a slididing fron armrest (slides forward 80mm), two cupholders with butterfly lids, dual-zone air conditioning including rear air cond vents, a 6-way power adjustable driver’s seat and a premium leather interior. Safety features include ABS brakes and 2 airbags.

The price? RM 112,888 for the 5-door and RM 111,888 for the sedan. Prices are for Peninsular Malaysia, without road tax, insurance and registration.
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Peugeot 308 NZ Line bodykit based on Irmscher RC Line 308 bodykit design

January 30, 2009 at 12:48 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Peugeot

Peugeot 308 NZLine

For soon to be owners of the Peugeot 308, here are some accessories that are in the pipeline. The bodykit you see above is inspired from the RC Line by Irmscher bodykit and produced locally under the NZ Line brand for price reduction purposes, as there will be no import taxes on the bodykit.

The front lips, side skirts and rear spoiler go for RM 2,800. There is also a rear diffuser in the works but not shown in these set of photos that will retail for RM 980. One thing odd about the 308 – not even the THP version has any visible rear tailpipes to speak of, kind of weird for a sporty model, so to complement the diffuser and give the car a sportier look a set of tail taipipes are also being developed and is expected to retail for RM138.

The wheels you see there are original fully imported RC Line Irmscher Peugeot 308 wheels that will go for RM9,950. Nasim Sdn Bhd has no plans to localise the wheels (they are Peugeot and TUV certified) for safety purposes. The Irmscher wheels are 17 inch in size and should be a direct swap for the 308 Turbo while retaining existing tyres, but 308 VTi owners will have to get new tyres because their stock wheels are 16 inch.

The dark colour of the wheels go well with the sporty red of the 308 and I’d imagine they are lighter but for such a price you may consider just painting a similiar colour on your existing 308 Turbo 5-spoke wheels instead!

Look after the jump for two more shots of the Peugeot 308 NZLine bodykit.
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Locally assembled Peugeot 308 VTi and Peugeot 308 Turbo launched in Malaysia: RM96.5k to RM111k

January 29, 2009 at 10:24 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Peugeot, Videos

The prices for the Peugeot 308 has been revealed by Nasim Sdn Bhd this morning. The cars are locally assembled and are available in two variants, the Peugeot 308 VTi at RM 96,500 and the Peugeot 308 Turbo at RM 111,000. These prices are with insurance.

Both are powered by 1.6 litre engines from the PSA-BMW Prince family and mated to Porsche Tiptronic 4-speed transmissions, but a key difference is in how air gets pushed into the engines, which directly affects its power output.

Peugeot 308 VTi – RM 95,500

Peugeot 308 VTi

The Peugeot 308 VTi shares the same powerplant as the MINI Cooper. That means variable valve timing and Valvetronic variable valve lift that enables the engine to be operated without a conventional throttle butterfly. This decreases pumping losses, which improves fuel economy. The following are the specifications for the 308 VTi model, as well as a torque curve and shift diagrams:

Peugeot 308 VTi specifications
Exterior
16″ 10-spoke alloy wheels
205/55R16 tyres
Headlamps with follow me home function
Daytime Running Lights [DRL]
Auto Headlight Sensor
Auto Front Windshield Wipers
Electric Folding mirrors

Interior
Active carbon/pollen filter for dual zone air cond
6 speakers
MP3 CD player with aux input and remote control
Rake and reach adjustable steering
Underseat storage drawers for front and rear
Adjustable front armrest with storage compartment

Engine
PSA-BMW Prince 1.6 engine
120hp at 6,000rpm
160Nm @ 4,250rpm
4-speed automatic

Safety
4 airbags (Front and side)
F/R Ventilated and solid discs
ABS, EBD, EBA


Peugeot 308 VTi 4-speed auto shift diagram

Peugeot 308 Turbo – RM 111,000

Peugeot 308 Turbo

The Peugeot 308 Turbo has power output equivalent to a 2.0 litre competitor, but with much more torque thanks to its turbocharging technology. This is actually the engine in the MINI Cooper S but detuned to 140 horsepower (the manual version gets 150hp).

Peugeot 308 Turbo specifications (on top of VTi specs)
Engine
PSA-BMW Prince 1.6 engine
140hp at 6,000rpm
240Nm @ 4,250rpm
4-speed automatic

Interior
Rear air-cond vents
Auto dimming rear view mirror
Rear center armrest with storage compartment and 2 cupholders
Built-in fragrance diffuser

Safety
6 airbags (front, side, curtain)
ESP with Traction Control and Dynamic Stability Control


Exterior
Automatic electric folding mirrors
Body color side protection
5-spoke 17 inch alloy wheels


Peugeot 308 Turbo 4-speed auto shift diagram

I think it’s safe to say that these specifications are the best in class at their respective price levels, especially when it comes to safety standards. There’s nothing with 4 airbags below RM100k before this, but now you have the 308 VTi. For those who want more, the 308 GT is still for sale in fully imported 3-door body form, but it is now on an order basis only (RM 159,999) as there are no more ready stock available.

Look after the jump for a full gallery of the 5-door 308 as well as a video.
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Volvo XC90 D5 diesel now available in Malaysia!

January 28, 2009 at 6:09 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Volvo

Volvo XC90 D5

The Volvo XC90, Jeremy Clarkson’s choice of people mover for his family (he bought 3 in a row, the latest this month after he sold his 2nd one in October last year), now comes in diesel. Under the hood of the new diesel facelifted XC90 is an inline-5 2.4 litre turbodiesel engine producing 185 horsepower at 4,000rpm and 400Nm of torque between 2,000 to 2,750rpm, which should be adequate for moving the 7-seater around through the Geartronic transmission’s 6-speeds and all-wheel drive.

Naturally being a Volvo, there are adequate safety equipment. Three-point inertia-reel seatbelts with belt pre-tensioners and head restraints are available on all 7 seats. A feature called Roll Stability Control activates if the car risks rolling over. RSC reduces engine power, increases anti-roll bar stiffness, and automatically applies the brakes to help stablize the car. The all-wheel drive system is supplemented with Dynamic Stability and Traction Control. There are plenty of airbags all-around, with an Inflatable Curtain airbag on both sides of the car that inflates all the way from the front row until the third row.

The XC90 D5′s selling price is exactly the same as the 2.5T petrol version – RM 355,000 OTR without insurance. The vehicle’s road tax is actually cheaper than the petrol version at RM760 a year compared to the 2.5T’s RM873.60. The petrol version makes more power at 210hp, but less torque at only 320Nm. Its slower to accelerate though, taking 11.5 seconds to get to 100km/h compared to the 2.5T’s 9.9 seconds. However it makes up for that in fuel economy, rated to consume only 8.5 litres per 100km on the comnbined cycle compared to the petrol version’s 11.8 litres per 100km.

All other equipment are exactly the same except the D5 doesn’t have Dual Xenon Lights, but the 2.5T only has a 5-speed auto compared to the D5′s 6-speed unit.

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Proton-SAIC talks for Roewe 750-based Perdana?

January 25, 2009 at 2:22 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, China, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Nanjing MG, Proton, Rumours

Roewe 750
Click for enlarged image

Apparently Proton is revisiting an old “friend”. Proton was in talks with Rover to supply it with the Proton GEN2 to be rebadged as a Rover to replace the Rover 45, which was at that time a car based on a derivative of the Honda Civic EG (Honda Domani).

We first heard of this in the year 2000, but things only picked up in 2004. In return, Rover would supply Proton with the Rover 75′s platform, which would have been used to produce a Perdana Replacement Model. Towards the end of 2004, it looks like things turned sour and the collaboration was canceled without any fruitful outcome. All they said was the partnership was “not viable”, and that was the end of it.

Now it appears that Proton is once again in talks with Rover, only this time the people doing the talking are their new owners SAIC. According to a source in Proton, things are still at the discussion stage. The deal once again is for the Rover 75 platform (now the Roewe 750) to be used by Proton as a new Perdana replacement car, and in return Proton will allow SAIC to use one of their platforms to badge produce a Roewe.

This could be the GEN2 (which is also sold in China as the Europestar RCR) or even the Proton MPV, as despite there being so many shots of what everyone assumed to be a Roewe MPV out there on the internet (with rear sliding doors), but apparently this has turned out to actually be the Luxgen MPV.

The 2.5 litre KV6 engine from the Rover will also likely be bundled together with the platform. While this is considered by many to be an old engine, SAIC has made some changes to the new rechristened 188 horsepower Roewe KV6 with the help of Ricardo and updated it to Euro 4 standards. A variant of the KV6 is found in the Naza Ria.

So, a Rover Perdana and a Mitsubishi Waja it is? Can’t wait for something concrete.

59 Comments      

Pre-owned Volkswagen CrossTouran 1.4 TSI and other Volkswagens on sale in Malaysia

January 25, 2009 at 12:31 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Volkswagen

Volkswagen CrossTouran

Are you looking for a new car? People normally go for the usual suspects from the Toyota and Honda and recently Nissan marques like the Civic and the Altis, but for those who are looking at being different there are some decent choices in the market such as the upcoming Peugeot 308 VTi and 308 Turbo, or you could even pick from one of these pre-owned Volkswagens.

Model Reg Date Price
Volkswagen Eos 2.0 TFSI 29 Feb 2008 RM 200,000
Volkswagen Golf R32 27 November 2007 RM 210,000
Volkswagen Golf Plus 10 April 2008 RM 117,000
Volkswagen Golf GTI 2.0 TFSI 15 November 2007 RM 153,000
Volkswagen Jetta 2.0 FSI 27 March 2008 RM 125,000
Volkswagen Jetta 1.6 16 July 2008 RM 123,000
Volkswagen Passat 2.0 TFSI 15 November 2007 RM 163,000
Volkswagen Touareg 3.6 V6 27 February 2008 RM 295,000
Volkswagen CrossTouran 1.4 TSI 26 November 2008 RM 165,000

All prices are without OTR costs (road tax etc) and insurance. For more info please call 03-22959947. I’m actually quite surprised that there’s a CrossTouran for sale. It’s the only car listed there fitted with the new 1.4 litre TSI engine that Europeans and even our neighbours down south (with the Golf GT) enjoy, and it’s not even launched in Malaysia! It could possibly be the most unique 7-seater MPV on the road.

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PDRM’s shiny new Volvo S80 looks good

January 23, 2009 at 5:38 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Volvo

PDRM Volvo S80
Click for enlarged image

If you think the Evo X is the only expensive turbocharged police car added to the PDRM fleet recently, you’re wrong. Reader Kevin Lee spotted this Volvo S80 2.5T around the Sunway area. I’m not sure how high you have to go in the police force to be able to drive one of these police Volvo S80 luxo-cruisers, but 200 horsepower at 4,800rpm and 300Nm between 1,500 to 4,500rpm matched with a 6-speed Geartronic sure sounds nice. The interior is a nice place to be in as well. It’s really wide and feels the most luxurious of anything under RM300k, or even RM400k I dare say.

The turbocharged inline-5 engine takes the car up to 100km/h in 8 seconds and goes on to a top speed of 210km/h. These Volvo S80 2.5T luxury cars cost about RM 285,000 OTR without insurance for us peasants, but a police vehicle would likely be tax-free. And that retail price is even cheaper than the Evo X! Are we heading back to the days of PDRM Volvo 850 T5 wagons keeping the highways in check?

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