Archive for Cars

According to Wikipedia, The Transporter writer Luc Besson was originally inspired by BMW’s The Hire series of short films. The movie featured luxury German cars like the E38 BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class.

The Transporter 2 featured another German luxury saloon - the Audi A8. You got to see ridiculous unbelievably timed stunts such as the A8 swirling around mid-air to knock off a bomb. The movie also featured a girl that somehow prefers to fight wearing the bare minimum of clothes. Cars and babes, a perfect formula?

For the 3rd installment we’re getting the A8 again and another “two-wheeler” thats in the spirit of today’s high fuel prices. Look after the jump for the trailer.

Click here to read the rest of Audi A8 in The Transporter 3 Movie Trailer

Official details of the facelifted Honda Civic range in America has surfaced, which should lead to an announcement pretty soon on an updated Civic for our market. Though essentially the same car under the sheet metal, our Civic and the American Civic has a few styling differences especially on the rear end where the Civic has a totally different rear lamp shape compared to ours.

In the US, the base non-Si Civic is only available with the 1.8 liter inline-4 SOHC i-VTEC engine, while we have both the 1.8 liter SOHC and the 2.0 liter DOHC i-VTEC. The only 2.0 liter Civic there is the Civic Si with a high-revving 197 horsepower DOHC i-VTEC engine. For the 2009 model year facelift, the power output for the 1.8 liter motor remains unchanged at 140hp, mated to a 5-speed manual or a 5-speed automatic with dual overdrive ratios.

There are also not much changes to the interior except that the integrated head unit now features USB input as well as a built-in Bluetooth hands-free system. As for the exterior, the front gets a new grille and bumper while the rear gets a new tail lamp lense design as well as a large chrome panel between the headlamps.

Look after the jump for videos and a hi-res gallery of the US-market Civic facelift.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Honda Civic Facelift for US market

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Proton launched a special edition of the Proton Persona SE today, priced at RM59,800. The Persona SE is only available in two colours - Blue Haze and Brilliant Red. Like all new units of the Persona, the new Proton Persona SE is powered by the Campro IAFM engine which offers a smoother torque curve compared to the old Campro engine. It is only available with an automatic transmission.

The following are the differences in equipment for the special edition model:

• Leather-wrapped seats, steering wheel, gear knob and trim
• Meter panel from the GEN2 CPS
• Different alloy wheel design (15 inch)
• Cruise Control
• Smoked headlamps
• Silver matte door handles and front grille
• A bodykit consisting of front, side and rear skirts and a subtle spoiler
• A Proton-rebadged windscreen-mounted GPS navigation device

The GPS device loads its maps from an SD card, so it should be easy to replace the maps whenever there are updates. I noticed there were some points of interests loaded onto the map such as local restaurants so if you’re in an area you do not know and want to grab a quick bite the GPS should be quite useful in that sense.

Look after the jump for more photos of the Persona SE.

Click here to read the rest of Proton Persona SE now on sale for RM59,800

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Road Safety Department of Malaysia to support the government’s move for safer cars in Malaysia.

The Road Safety Department recently pushed for car manufacturers to install rear seatbelts on cars that did not have them for free, and Honda is the first non-national make to do so.

According to Honda Malaysia’s CEO Atsushi Fujimoto, there are 25,480 units of the Honda City sold between 2003 to 2005 that do not have rear center seat belts.

Free installation of belts for the affected cars will begin in October 2008 and all costs will be born by Honda Malaysia. It will be done in batches and owners will be informed on when they can come in to install their belts.

UPDATE: All Honda Citys do have 2 rear seatbelts at the rear. This exercise is to install a 5th seat belt for the middle seat.

It looks like our regular contributor Theophilus Chin got it almost right with his previously published rendering of the SEAT Exeo, thanks to these recently registered designs with the European trademark office.

SEAT has admitted that the new Exeo will be largely based on the previous generation B7 Audi A4 with only changes to the front and rear.

The only differences between the real design and Theo’s rendering are the shape of the headlamps and the bumper grilles which are slightly different in shape. Theo’s is sleeker and curvier while the filed designs show a more upright and angled design.

Look after the jump for more designs or click the image on the left for a larger version.

Click here to read the rest of SEAT Exeo images exposed at trademark office

The Citroen Grand C4 Picasso is a 7-seater version of the C4 Picasso. It is priced at RM168,000 with a 2 year or 100,000km warranty. The C4 Picasso loses its egg-like contour thanks to the third row which gives it a more traditional shape towards the rear.

It is powered by a 2.0 liter engine with variable valve timing producing 143 DIN horsepower and 200Nm of torque at 4,000rpm. The Euro 4 compliant engine is mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission.

The interior is particularly impressive especially at this price range as it features a massive glass sunroof that is laminated and tinted for anti-UV and anti-infrared properties. That combined with the panoramic windscreen and the large side windows gives the interior a very roomy and airy feel. There are air vents for all 3 seating rows, and the third bench folds down flat with a 50:50 split whenever you need the luggage space.

The second row features tables integrated into the front seats, like the ones you find in airplanes. The steering wheel features the trademark Citroen fixed hub which does not turn together with the wheel. Headlamps and wipers turn on automatically when needed.

Safety features include a 5-star Euro NCAP rating and 9 airbags (2 x front, 2 x front side, 2 x side, 2 x curtain and 1 driver’s knee). There are seatbelts with warning indicators for all 7 seats to ensure everyone including the third row buckles up. ISOFIX child seat points are found on the front passenger seat and three 2nd row seats. Stability control and ABS are standard.

A comfort pack is available which adds Bluetooth handsfree, ambient lights, and a telephone kit for RM3,000. Leather wrapping on the steering wheel costs an additional RM400 while leather for the seats cost RM1,800.

Look after the jump for more photos of the Grand C4 Picasso.

Click here to read the rest of Citroen Grand C4 Picasso 7-seater MPV

Click for hi-res photo

Renault has given the Renault/Dacia Sandero an offroader styling treatment and the result is this - the Renault Sandero Stepway. Its essentially the same vehicle as the Sandero but with a higher ground clearance and a different take on styling which gives the hatchback and off-roader look. Think of this as a budget Volkswagen CrossPolo.

Under the hood is the 112 horsepower 1.6 liter Hi-Flex engine that supports bio-ethanol as fuel, one of Renault’s popular bio-ethanol engines in Brazil.

One more rear shot after the jump.

Related Posts:
Renault Sandero: 5-door Renault Logan

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Citroen’s new Malaysian distributor Brooklands Motors Sdn Bhd has launched the new luxury D-segment Citroen C6 in Malaysia last week.

The C6’s 3.0 liter V6 puts out 215 hp DIN at 6,000rpm and 290Nm of torque EEC at 3,752rpm. It really looks quite different from any other car out there thanks to the notchback-like convex boot and the overly long front overhang. The doors are also frameless which make them quite sexy, something usually only found on coupes.

There are also a few technologies goodies in the C6 which sets it apart from the rest of its competitors, and just how the interior looks makes it fit to be called a gadget person’s car. It has a dual-mode active silencer which maintains serenity under normal conditions and improves performance under load.

A in-car entertainment system called the Citroen NaviDrive displays key information such as entertainment, climate control and navigation on a large 7 inch 16:9 widescreen LCD.

A heads-up display projected onto the windscreen displays key driving info such as driving speed and can also display navigation data. Citroen says HUDs can improve motoring safety as moving your eyes to look at traditional displays for this info can take up to 0.5 seconds of time at at speeds of approximately 110km/h this can mean 15 meters of travel or an average of 3 cars’ lengths.

The car also features the Hydractive III+ suspension system, which is an electronically controlled suspension which can vary different settings like damping and height. For example, the car’s height will always remain the same no matter how many passengers or luggage are loaded into the vehicle. Height is also automatically adjusted according to speed and road condition to optimise comfort, ground clearance and fuel consumption.

A Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS) warns the driver via vibrations in the seat if he accidentally leaves his lane by monitoring the white lines marked on the road via infrared sensors built into the front of the vehicle.

Priced at RM398,000 it offers an alternative to the likes of the “mainstream” A6 the E-Class and the 5-Series. The other luxury D-segment competitors are the S80 and the Jaguar XF.

Click here to read the rest of Citroen C6 luxury sedan launched in Malaysia

Abt’s kit for the Volkswagen Passat CC (Comfort Coupe) is quite limited at the moment but features engine tuning programs for both the 1.8 and 2.0 TFSI engines, a 4 tailpipe exhaust system, a choice of Abt wheels, a choice of either lowering springs or a full-fledged sports suspension with compression, rebound and height adjustment, as well as aesthetic bits for the interior. Look after the jump for two more photos.

Click here to read the rest of Abt kit for the Volkswagen Passat CC

The Renault Symbol (also called the Renault Thalia or Clio Sedan in some markets) is a low-cost 3-box sedan based on the Renault Clio platform. It also uses the same suspension as the Clio II (the Clio is now in its third generation). It will be unveiled to the public at the 2008 Moscow International Auto Show on the 26th of August 2008.

It looks like something you would expect out of the Saab design studio. The Symbol will most likely share the same engine options as the Dacia Logan, which is also a budget car based on the Clio platform. This is probably the same car with better styling to position it slightly higher in the market.

More images after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New Renault Symbol sedan based on Renault Clio