Archive for Cars

The MEM-engineered Proton Satria Neo S2000 made its rally debut at the Rallye Antibes Cote d’Azur leg of the 2008 European Rally Championship in the South of France, piloted by Bryan Bouffier and co-driver Xavier Panseri. During the race, it managed to reach the highest position of sixth place before settling down at 18th place with a stage time of 00:02:45.4.

“The Satria was fantastic, really predictable and comfortable to drive and with really good engine power, I am looking forward to driving it again,” said driver Bouffier. The team encountered some teething problems with the car which is said to be normal for a first race. The car will continue to be tweaked over the next few months.

Apparently the Satria Neo S2000 in full rally trim has the smallest front and the lowest roof height of any homologated S2000 car. Its driver and co-driver seats are fixed at the rear-most possible mounting positions to achieve the best weight distribution.

The 2.0 liter engine complies to S2000 specs and is derived from the 1.8 liter engine from the Waja 1.8X. It produces 278 horsepower at 7,600rpm, with a usable powerband of between 5,500 to a screaming 8,500rpm. This engine is mated to an Xtrac 4WD six-speed sequential transmission.

For more information about the car visit the related links below:

Related Stories:
More MEM Proton Satria Neo S2000 videos
MEM Proton Satria Neo Super 2000
Proton Satria Neo Super 2000 Touring Car
VIDEO: MEM Proton Satria Neo Super 2000

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As indicated earlier this month by Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, a cut in fuel prices have been announced effective from tomorrow, but despite a big fall in crude oil prices worldwide, the reduction for all three fuel types is a maximum of 15 sen a liter.

According to the government, this is supposedly to help the petrol dealers cope with losses of existing fuel stock. However Shahrir noted that there are some in the government who prefer more significant cuts at one go. I reckon if crude oil prices continue to remain low, the next revision of prices that is likely to happen on the 15th of November 2008 will another maximum drop of 15 sen until it reaches a proper low price according to market rates.

The following are the new prices of fuel in Malaysia slashed by 15 sen each effective tomorrow, the 1st of November 2008:

Click to enlarge

Some Porsche Cayenne owners must have been jealous of the fact that the facelifted Audi Q7 will most likely get Audi’s new trademark LED daytime driving lights, which first debuted on the sexy Audi R8. Or something like that, it doesn’t matter, all that matters is Porsche tuner TechArt has decided to give the Porsche Cayenne some Audi-like daytime running lights of its own, as seen in the photo above.

The daytime running lights kit also function as signal lamps. I’m not sure exactly how but there are probably another row of orange LEDs below the white running lights that light up when you want to signal or something.

These are the first uncovered and undisguised official photos of the new Nissan 370Z, and it looks like Nissan has gone all retro on this new installment in the Z car series, probably trying to emulate the success of American car companies in producing modern versions of their musclecar classics.

On the interior, Japanese sports car lovers who typically love to adorn their car with a triplet of Defi gauges will find that Nissan has already done this for you, though they’re probably not from Defi. If you wish to add your own Defi gauges you’ll have to use A-pillar mounts as the area above the center dash is already taken.

Like its name indicates, though we are not 100% sure as no official spec sheets have been released, the new 370Z is most likely going to feature the new 3.7 liter V6 VQ37 engine, producing roughly 330 horsepower. This means even more road tax to pay for the first Malaysians who snap this one up.

Look for two more shots after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Nissan 370Z photos: Z car goes retro?

The leakage of unreleased photos of a car onto the internet way before the manufacturer does a public unveiling seems to be happening more and more these days, and this time we have the honour of drooling over badass-looking product shots of the ultra exclusive and expensive Aston Martin One-77 way before its launch.

From these photos we can see that the Aston Martin One-77 keeps the classic Aston Martin shape and most of its design cues as well - the gaping front grille and the sleek wrap-around tail lamp clusters. Unlike your classic sleek and understated Aston Martin, the car is littered all-over with aggressive design elements such as on the door and on the engine hood, which I’m not really sure I like. The headlamps look like they’ve been stopped abruptly before extending to the front of the recessed area where they sit by a gaping slit - presumably this is the air intake to cool the massive front brakes needed to stop the 700hp V12-powered car.

Only 77 units are available and after knocking on the doors of the rich and famous, Aston Martin managed to find over 100 people who were interested. Aston Martin is keeping to its promise of only making 77 though, and according to them, the customization list is so vast and detailed that its most likely no two Aston Martin One-77s will be alike.

Look after the jump for three more angles of the One-77.

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Click here to read the rest of Pics of Aston Martin One-77 in full glory appear!

Taiwanese automotive company Yulon Motor Co is set to launch its first 7-seater MPV, marketed under the Luxgen brand sometime in mid-2009. The new Luxgen MPV will be using the previous generation Renault Espace’s platform, with Luxgen’s own styling and a choice of two engines - a 2.0 liter normally aspirated motor producing 145hp and 185Nm of torque, and a 2.2 liter turbocharged motor producing 200hp and 280Nm of torque, both developed by Yulon’s powertrain division.

The company said the MPV project took the Toyota Estima as a benchmark for its development, and the final product will compete with similiar sized MPVs like the Estima such as the GM/Buick GL8 and the Honda Odyssey. It will feature lots of electrical goodies such as cameras located around the MPV to assist with parking and maneuvering, a night vision system, a lane departure warning system, and etc.

Yulon is targetting the Chinese market with this new MPV. “The car segment in China has evolved, where a car has to be more than merely four wheels plus an engine. Any prospective carmaker has to adopt a quality-oriented strategy. Ours is to cull the R&D expertise achieved in Taiwan`s technology industry to build smarter cars, which I think would be feasible in China,” said Yulon’s CEO Kenneth Yen.

There is a split opinion on what the MPV in the images you find in this post is. Some say it is a new MPV from Roewe based on its alloy wheel design, but as the vehicle was snapped testing in Taiwan, another camp says it is in fact the new Luxgen MPV.

The Chevrolet GPiX crossover coupe concept was unveiled earlier this week at the Sao Paulo International Auto Show in Brazil. Yes, this is another one of those coupe-SUV vehicles, but after looking at it you can’t help but think - hasn’t Chevrolet already done this before back in end-2005 with the Chevrolet T2X Concept?

According to GM, the reason the GPiX has a high ground clearance is because it is tailored to the types of road conditions typically found in emerging markets, and presumably the show’s host country Brazil is considered by GM to be one of those emerging markets with horrible roads, since the concept car was launched there.

The GPiX name means Global Picture (G-PiX), which translates into Global Image as they’ve intended it to mean. It probably sets the design direction for how GM/Chevrolet’s next generation global cars are going to look like.

Just give us the Chevrolet Cruze already!

Click here to read the rest of Chevrolet GPiX crossover coupe concept

It must be great to be in the royal family of a country of which oil consists of 90% of its exports. The Saudi Arabian royal family purchased 80 units of the new Kahn Cosworth Sport 300 SUV based on the Range Rover Sport just because they wanted the cars before anyone else. I suppose the global recession is non-existant in countries of which economies are driven by petroleum exports.

The Kahn Cosworth Sport 300 is a joint venture between Cosworth and Kahn Design, headed by CEO Afzal Kahn. The Sport 300 carries a £20,000 premium over the Range Rover Sport’s regular price tag of £55,000, and for the 20k pounds you get an additional 32 horsepower from the car’s turbodiesel V8 engine, resulting in a total of 300 horses. The styling is by Kahn design, which includes flared wheel arches and 22 inch alloy wheels.

Look after the jump for a couple of more shots of the new Saudi fleet.

Click here to read the rest of Kahn Cosworth Sport 300: first batch of 80 cars for Saudi Arabian royal family!

The photo above is quite appealing isn’t it? A convertible, cruising by the seaside, in its “natural environment”. The cheapest brand new convertible that you can buy in Malaysia right now is the Peugeot 207CC from Nasim Sdn Bhd, priced at RM158,888.

For that price you get the variant powered by the normally aspirated 1.6L producing 120hp at 6,000rpm and 160Nm of torque at 4,250rpm (88% or 140Nm available from only 2,000rpm). This is the same BMW-Peugeot Prince engine found in the MINI Cooper. It has Valvetronic throttle-less operation and variable valve timing. Power goes to the front wheels via a 4-speed Tiptronic System Porsche gearbox.

Equipment includes 17 inch alloy wheels, automatic light-sensing headlamps, fog lamps for both the fonrt and rear, electrically adjustable and folding mirrors, dual zone climate control air conditioning, a 6-speaker MP3 CD player with AUX input, an auto-dimming rear view mirror, an air conditioned glovebox, 4 airbags (front and side) with a deactivation switch for the front passenger, and of course the very thing that allows Peugeot to call it a “coupe-convertible” - the one touch folding hard top. With the top up, boot space is 449 liters but when the top comes down its reduced to 187 liters.

5 colours are available - Thorium Grey, Aluminium, Obsidian Black, Neysha Blue and Asmara Red. The 207CC is a 2+2 seater - for those who need a true 4 seater convertible Peugeot offers the 307CC but unfortunately not in Malaysia, perhaps for the moment. Look after the jump for a photo gallery and a video.

Click here to read the rest of Peugeot 207CC in Malaysia for RM158,888

Renault is once again displaying the versatility of the Logan platform with this new concept, the Renault Sand’Up Concept. The Sand’Up Concept is based on the Renault Sandero Stepway, a budget compact “crossover” that is based on the Logan’s platform.

Renault calls it a fusion of both a “coupe” and a pick-up, though it’s only a pickup in the sense of very light duty such as ferrying your mountain bike to the park - don’t expect to do much heavy duty work with this thing! It also shares the Sandero Stepway’s higher ride height so some very light offroading should be achievable.

I can’t help but think that Proton has attempted this before a couple of years ago with the Proton Arena. It was also a very light pick-up modified from a car chassis, and if I recall correctly it had various styles, some of which made it look somewhat like a coupe.

Look after the jump for a hi-res gallery and a video. Be sure to check out the video as it explains so much more about the concept (how it converts from a 2 seater to a 4 seater, how the pickup bed works, etc) than text and photos could ever achieve.

Click here to read the rest of Renault Sand’Up Concept based on Sandero