Yes I didn’t get the title wrong – this is not an Ironman 2 trailer featuring the Audi R8 Spyder, it’s more of an Audi R8 Spyder ‘trailer’ featuring Tony Stark. Now this movie is a seriously must watch, even if you’re not interested in Tony Stark’s upgrade from the regular plain jane R8 to the new R8 Spyder which lets him enjoy countryside drives with the wind in his hair. Yes yes, he can easily don his suit and launch into the air but with his helmet on most of the time, this is probably the only ‘topless’ high speed experience he’s going to get most of the time!
Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing – short test drive
April 7, 2010 at 8:44 pm Filed Under Cars, Local News, Malaysian Makes, Proton, Test Drive Reviews, Videos
We’ve been itching to drive the Proton Satria Neo R3 Lotus Racing the moment we saw it in the metal and read through the spec sheet. From the amount of interest generated by the posts about it on this blog, we reckon that you would also want to know how a RM115,000 Proton with an upgraded Campro, trick suspension and mega brakes would drive. Well, we just attended a media test drive session of the Neo R3 at Proton’s test track and guess what, it’s a cracker!
Continue reading the report after the jump.
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New BMW 5-Series Long Wheelbase for China
April 2, 2010 at 12:51 am Filed Under BMW, Cars, International News, Videos
BMW has unveiled details and photos of the new long wheelbase version of the 5-series. It definitely doesn’t look like a long wheelbase variant from the outside, instead looking quite ‘standard’ instead of disproportionate with the B pillar to C pillar stretched awkwardly. This is because the original wheelbase F10′s rear door actually looked shorter than the front door, and with this long wheelbase version the doors actually look about the same length now. I actually prefer look of the LWB model to be honest!
The new long wheelbase 5-er was designed for the Chinese market as the demand is huge there for longer wheelbase versions of cars. Even the Audi A4 has a long wheelbase version called the A4L there. The new range of LWB 5-er comes as 523Li Standard, 523Li, 528Li and 530Li models and the wheelbase has been stretched by 140mm to 3,108mm. That’s actually even longer than the short wheelbase version of the 7-Series (F01) or the 5-Series GT, which have 3,070mm wheelbases and compared to the long wheelbase E60, it’s 44mm longer.
There are rear-seat comfort options such as four-zone automatic air conditioning, rear-seat entertainment, a cooling box as well as electrically adjustable sunblinds on the rear side windows and a folding table integrated in the backrest of the front passenger’s seat. The high-comfort rear seat bench developed specifically for the long-wheelbase version offers space for three passengers, yet the two outer seats come with single seat contours with lower backrest angles for a more comfortable seating position.
The 523Li Standard makes 177 horsepower from its 2.5 litre engine which is actually down from what we’ve been enjoying in our E60 523i. Take away the “Standard” from the model name and you get 204 horsepower in the 523Li, a similar tune to the rest of the “23″ cars around the world including the Z4 sDrive23i. It’s only the 523Li “Standard” model which gets a further detuned engine. The difference in power accounts for 1.1 seconds in 0-100km/h acceleration time. The 3.0 litre engine in the 528Li makes 258 horsepower while the top of the line 535Li makes 306 horses.
The 5-er LWB is exclusive to China only which is a left hand drive market so don’t expect it to be found on Malaysian roads, not even through the grey importers. Look after the jump for hi-res images and videos of the car.
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VIDEO: Fiat 500C “Cool Bikini Contest”
For some reason, Fiat thought it was a good idea to produce this video called the “Cool Bikini Contest” set in a cold Amsterdam winter background. Those girls must have been freezing – it’s no wonder they had to keep dancing! But I don’t really know what this has to do with the Fiat 500C – more of a ‘viral video’ where people just wanna watch the scantily-clad women and it so happens that the 500C can be seen in the background.
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VIDEO: New Alfa Romeo Giulietta Promo Released!
March 22, 2010 at 11:52 pm Filed Under Alfa Romeo, Cars, Videos
Here’s another promo video for the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta and this time they’ve made it a little more exciting than the first one we checked out back in January. With Sime Darby AutoconneXion really getting the ball rolling with new models here in Malaysia (I just saw the facelifted Range Rover on trucks today across the Federal Highway), there’s a good chance we may just see the Giulietta here in Malaysia by the end of the year to accompany the 159. Four turbo engines are available at launch – two turbo petrols (120 bhp 1.4TB and 170 bhp 1.4TB MultiAir) and two MultiJet turbodiesels (105 bhp 1.6 JTDM and 170 bhp 2.0 JTDM). All these powerplants come with a 6-speed manual gearbox, but a dual-clutch transmission will be coming soon as the automatic option – with this, we can finally bid farewell to Alfa’s frustrating Selespeed!
Anyway, enjoy the new promo video after the jump.
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VIDEO: Datuk Syed Zainal presents the Proton Persona Elegance facelift at the COE
March 19, 2010 at 11:41 am Filed Under Cars, Malaysian Makes, Proton Persona, Videos
Proton invited a few Persona Elegance pre-launch booking customers from East Malaysia to the launch of the new Persona Elegance at their COE headquarters by the KESAS highway yesterday. They were also here to visit Proton’s plant, Proton’s test track and of course the launch itself. It’s all part of the My Proton Journey program.
But anyway just in case there are other Persona Elegance customers who would have liked to have watched the presentation by Datuk Syed Zainal, here’s a video recording of the launch for you to have been there ‘virtually’.
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VIDEO: Official Pagani Zonda R Commercial
While the rest of its competitors have slung back and sleek cab rearward designs, the Zonda is unique with its unusual cab forward design. This is the official video commercial for the Pagani Zonda R, and there’s also a really high resolution download link for you in case you want to enjoy it on your desktop. It features two units of the supercar trashing a race track, both dry and wet. Check the video out after the jump!
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VIDEO: Embrace life – always wear your seat belt!
We hanker on and on about wanting at least dual airbags to be standard in our cars but yet a lot of us (not everyone of course) sometimes forget to wear our seatbelts. I’ve observed many times where people usually drive around without their seatbelts and only put them on when they reach a main road or a highway.
I suppose the logic going through their heads subconsciously is that the slow speeds going through residential roads doesn’t require the use of a seatbelt in the case of an accident, but as proven in the recent MIROS crash test video even at a low speed of under 30km/h there can be some serious damage. So please, always buckle up when you are in a car, including those rear seat passengers!
Watch this really good seat belt advocacy video shown above by the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership to burn the message in your head!
Hear the Aston Martin One-77′s V12 howl!
March 7, 2010 at 10:35 pm Filed Under Aston Martin, Cars, Videos
I don’t know about you but an Aston Martin has always seemed to be like the more refined and gentlemanly alternative to more hot blooded cars like a Ferrari. I found that appealing. But now Aston Martin has developed a limited edition car with aggressive looks. Under its hood is a monstrous 7.3 litre V12 engine with over 750 bhp. Good thing is thanks to that V12 it has the soundtrack to accompany its looks – check out the video after the jump, which shows the One-77 undergoing some tests ahead of first customer deliveries. Let us know in the comments – are you liking the One-77?
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MIROS reveals outdoor crash test results, more videos added!
March 7, 2010 at 10:20 pm Filed Under Cars, Local News, Videos
The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research or MIROS has revealed at a press conference today the results of the outdoor crash test that was conducted last week at the Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology (MIAT) in Dengkil.
Just to recap, the objective of the test was to ascertain the effectiveness and level of damage sustained by the energy absorbing underrun installed at the back of a commercial vehicle, to analyze the safety levels involving a child seated in a child safety seat compared to a child wearing just the rear seat belt as well as to analyze the degree and type of casualties sustained by occupants of a vehicle involved with a rear-end collision against a stationary vehicle.
A self-developed propulsion system was used to get the Alza up to speed and the impact target was a 6-tonne stationary trailer. The Alza was occupied by five crash test dummies including two Hybrid III dummies fully equipped with various sensors, one non-instrumentation Hybrid III dummy, one P3 dummy with nominal instrumentation and a child dummy which simulates a 3-month old child. From these five dummies, one was an older child dummy that was secured properly on a child seat while the 3-month old child was held by an adult dummy.
According to MIROS, one of the reason why they decided to conduct the test at 30 km/h was because the runway wasn’t long enough. The institute would be able to conduct tests at higher speeds in its facility that is being built in Malacca. This facility is scheduled to be operational by June.
Below are the findings obtained by the analysts at MIROS:
- The underrun was able to prevent the Alza from being pinned underneath the trailer
- There were no visible signs of injury to the properly secured child. In contrast, the 3-month baby in the hands of the adult was thrown forward hitting the back of the driver’s seat.
- The frontal airbags on the Alza cushioned the impact to the driver and front passenger. The test revealed that the front occupants were subjected to a violent head acceleration equivalent to 50G. This is within the safe tolerance of 80G.
- There was no variable contact recorded at the knee of the driver and front passenger.
- There was no breakage of the Alza’s dashboard.
As mentioned earlier UNECE 58-specified underruns will be made compulsory for commercial vehicles by October this year and the enforcement will be done by the Road Transport Department (RTD). This is definitely good news as long as there is proper implementation. Continue reading to view some new videos of the crash test.
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