MIROS crash tests a 23 year old Proton and declares it unsafe.....What a load of crap.

Photo:via cbt.com.my from Miros

There was, putting it bluntly, a really stupid piece of news made by the Malaysia Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) stating that cars that are more than 12 years old are not safe to be on the road. MIROS added that there is a higher risk of death in an accident because such cars could be faulty without the driver being aware of it and that most cars are designed to have a lifespan of five to twelve years. MIROS also stated that cars made more than twelve years ago were also lacking in safety features. This conclusion was derived after a car collision test at the Asean New Car Assessment Programme (ASEAN NCAP) . The test car was done on a...23 year old Proton Saga. 

I have to say that this test and press statement made by MIROS officials are right down stupid. You state that cars older than 12 years of age are unsafe and then test a 23 year old Proton Saga? Hello MIROS, you're testing a car that was designed in the early 1980s. Please note that the Proton Saga, nee Mitsubishi Lancer first came out in 1983 which meant that this was a car designed as early as 1980. This car was definitely designed prior to airbags as standard requirement. 

Anyway, the actual reason why this test is really stupid is the fact that the Proton Saga was sold till 2008 with only a bumper change most of the time. If the Saga from twenty-three years ago suffered from massive damage after hitting something at 64km/h what makes you people at MIROS think that a last batch Proton Saga from 2008 can manage to keep its occupants safe? This test has no bearing on the reason that older cars aren't safe because the test model shows that newer cars aren't safe too. 

Some Rumours on the New Suzuki Swift for Malaysia and another Suzy

Old vs. New Part II: 1990 Mercedes Benz 200E W124

Hello again and welcome to Part II of the Old versus New article. Previously I wrote about the newly facelifted Proton Persona SE Elegance. It is an affordable Malaysian made car which I think is a good car to drive. Albeit with a compromised driving position. The car I drove was fresh out of Proton's car lot and was quite a decent drive. Surprisingly it also felt well screwed together. Cheap, but well put together.This car is something that I would recommend to a person who wants a sprightly drive yet is still looking for this at the lower end of the car buying spectrum.

But there is another choice. A twenty year old Mercedes Benz E-Class. The W124 E-class is as I said earlier a future classic, and driving it again after a while is a revelation. The car I drove was a 1990 200E. I sat in it as passenger from Kelana Jaya to a custom body shop in Subang Jaya and then to a signage shop in Shah Alam. Sitting in that car allowed me to appreciate the very simple and austere interior. The 200E had creamish grey coloured seats, standard zebrano wood inserts and a black dashboard. Nothing was out of place or missing. The seats were very comfortable and supportive and the ride was good, even on AMG monoblock styled 17 inch rims on 215/45/17 tires.


When I drove it all around Kuala Lumpur a short while later, from Segambut Dalam/Mont Kiara (Yes, Mont Kiara is actually right beside Segambut Dalam and only the glamorous name separates it) to Pandan, to Kajang and then back to Kelana Jaya. Everything felt tight as the previous owner of the car, my friend's father had changed all the bushings as well as the shocks in the car a few years back (and with very little use back then too).

When you climb into the driver's seat you get yourself familiar to the controls, and being a Mercedes it is easy to do so. Everything seems to fall into place, even with that foot operated park brake, the springy two step throttle pedal and that very slow reacting steering wheel. Somehow the ergonomics are spot on as the 200E does not feel like a large car. Maybe because it really isn't compared to Mercedes of today. With that slim and slender (tallish) body with those very slim A pillars it looks like something where styling took priority over safety.

But don't get me wrong, a W124 Mercedes feels like it was hewn from a solid block of granite and feels like it will go on forever. If you recall the Proton advertisement for the Persona that I mentioned in Part I, the difference here is that with the W124 you wouldn't need to avoid those deers on the road, or clip the safety railing or any other stunts as the pregnant lady would only need to run over those doe eyed deers, smash through the railings and destroy everything in its path while safely bringing that lady to the hospital to get her baby delivered. This is the biggest difference in engineering compared to the Persona.

The other thing is that the car needs a different driving style. While it is noted that my demeanour changed as soon as I started turning the steering wheel. Driving the 200E was so utterly relaxing that after a few hours in the driver's seat I still felt as fresh as when my friend and I (and later his cousin) started the journey to all those places mentioned above. I actually hustled this car all for the sake of you readers out there. Really.

So how is it to actually hustle a W124? Pretty memorable. The first thing you notice is that the ancient recirculating ball type steering wheel has tons of freeplay and no feel whatsoever. You could move an inch left or right and the car still goes straight without any worries. It sometimes makes me wonder on how Mercedes can keep on using this steering setup until the W202 C-class was launched. I suppose it was how Mercedes wanted to cocoon the driver from road imperfections so that no irritating vibration would have a detrimental effect on him on long journeys. Actually this may be a good point as I have mentioned that even in this old Mercedes you would not get tired driving it for more than a few hours straight.

Then it somehow makes you adjust to its driving style. It somehow cools you down and makes you take your time driving it. You want to waft along at 90km/h instead of trying to tear down the road at 160km/h. You also want to plan your corners ahead and take it in stride smoothly. But all for the sake of science I basically floored it once we arrived at the Jalan Semantan interchange into Jalan Duta. For those familiar to this stretch of road you will notice that it is a downhill left hander that is like an inward corkscrew.

I line up the car on the outside lane around 90km/h, tap on the brakes a little, manually downshift the 4 speed automatic into 3rd, and then you aim for the apex by entering into the inner lane of this 2 lane interchange....or try hard in aiming for the apex as the understeer was horrendous. This rear wheel drive Mercedes actually refuses to corner as soon as you start hustling it. By the time I reached the apex of the corner or mid corner I was wrestling with the steering wheel. Who said that Mercedes steering wheels don't have feel? I felt the wheel getting heavier and heavier till I have to sit up a bit more and use some upper body strength here. And I was already in a straight up driving position.

After making the behemoth aimed properly I added more throttle and then aimed the car back towards the outside lane again before straightening the whole car out while merging into the light Saturday traffic on Jalan Duta. By then my friend, who was in the front passenger seat and his cousin right behind me and I were in hysterics, laughing silly at what had just happened. We had just coerced a barge-like car into doing what it isn't normally supposed to do. I was also thinking that if I had a little more power, like if I drove the 2.6 liter 260E version things would be better as I would have power to pull the car through the corner. But in a 200E with about 129bhp and 1450kgs, it becomes slightly harder, even though this car rode on wider tires. The stock car came with 195/65/15 tires all round and it would have understeered even earlier than this car.

Blame the horrid, terrible and ridiculous understeer on Mercedes tuning their cars into having something called Progressive Understeer. Progressive Understeer is basically a simple cornering principle. The more you want to turn the more you have to turn the steering wheel and the engineers at Mercedes basically tuned in the understeer to make things easy for the drivers – more understeer equals to more steering inputs and slower cornering speeds. It actually is a 'play safe' type of handling and a point that Mercedes seems to make as it wants everyone in the car to be cossetted and feel comfortable instead of making the car handle yet make its passengers puke at all the lurching and heaving as the car takes a corner. Those were the days when Mercedes were still conservative and basically concentrated on important stuff like quality, quality and quality. Nothing wrong with that actually as if you actually drive the car like its meant to be driven it is a dream.

The ride is fine and it will handle high speed cruising with aplomb. At Malaysian highway cruising speeds of slightly above 110km/h is feels planted and stable. It also feels tactile wherever you put your hands on. The steering wheel, the signal and wiper controls, the gearknob and the pedals (brakes pretty decent with almost no real feel except they work fine) all feel mechanical and solid. Nothing like a digital and electronic Playstation as everything seems to be bolted together and is mechanical is feel . It is a record player playing records in this Ipod age and it feels fabulous.


On a few other stretches of road of fast road driving I drove it like how a W124 is supposed to drive. You have to plan ahead for the corners in the 200E and then take it. When you get into a rhythm it feels rewarding. It is not like a tricky sports car or like those golfers who think they've gone to heaven when they got their swing right after 200 tries. It is something that you can master and once you do, it becomes second nature to you. Like learning to ride a bicycle. This is what driving the W124 is like.

The Volkswagen Golf 1.4TSI Test Drive and Delusions of Grandeur

The one major problem I see that is caused by the artificial and slightly high car prices in Malaysia is that people think the car they bought is manna from heaven or as I stated earlier their car is a golden chalice from heaven. Some also think that their RM100,000 to160,000 car is a super-duper luxurious status symbol of a car. I see this problem in many owners of cars that cost a tad bit more than the usual below RM100,000 bread and butter models. Yes they work hard to pay their monthly car installments and all that but it is the fact that we are paying so much duty and excise tax that we think we actually bought gems in the first place. One should actually keep a level perspective in the first place and not think like what I will say in the next paragraph.

What I intend to say is this - They think that their Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0GT is a Lancer Evolution. They think that their Honda Civic 2.0 is a Civic Type R. They think that their Volkswagen Golf GTI is a supercar. They end up paying RM215,000 for a slab sided, dull looking hot hatchback and think that they can chase down Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and to a lesser extent properly tuned (the word here in properly tuned and driveable) Subaru Impreza WRXs and Lancer Evolutions. The VW Golf GTI folks is what it is – a fast fabulous handling front drive hot hatch and nothing more than that (which is already quite a lot actually).

You have at the most 210bhp going through the front wheels and you think you can beat the crap out of a 280bhp Lancer Evolution or a 300bhp Porsche 911 Carerra? It must be the RM195,000 9 year loan you took that is doing the talking instead of the actual car itself. What the Golf is, is a very fast hot hatchback and not a giant killer like most of the Malaysian owners think. Try adding more power (or close to 300bhp) and those front wheels will torque steer you to the other side of the road. Spending RM215,000 or so does not mean that you're buying something great. It basically means that you chose to buy a slab sided fast hatchback instead of a RM235,000 Audi A4 1.8TFSI which is a much nicer car to own in the long run for only a little bit more.

Anyway, before I digress a little too much from the actual over RM100,000 to RM155,000 price range I shall rein it all back in by stating that it is the high prices that cause artificial feelings of grandeur in Malaysian car buyers. If we were in the UK or Australia we'd have a Golf going for GBP25,000 or so and this would mean that a Golf GTI would cost someone the price of a Toyota Corolla Altis or a Volkswagen Polo 1.2TSI here in Malaysia. So I suppose it is rational, or irrational, that people think that their RM100,000 over car is a sex symbol. So sometimes, if you buy a RM200,000 hatchback, the delusions of grandeur gets worse – which is why some who buy the Golf GTI think its an Audi R8 in drag.

Now those that cannot own a Golf GTI but yearn for one THINK that they can get away with owning a RM155,000 Volkswagen Golf 1.4TSI. It has the same shape (it IS a Golf....how different can a variant be?) and it has a turbocharged and supercharged 1.4liter engine. But is it a mini GTI or a luxury continental like what some of the people who end up buying this VW or the smaller 1.2liter Polo (This little car is also looked as if its a hot hatch or a luxury car but it actually isn't). I love to blow your bubble but the Volkswagen 1.4TSI is actually a bread and butter model that is actually a family sized hatchback and nothing more.

The 5 door hatch comes with that 1.4liter 160ps , 240Nm torque and balloon 205/55/16 inch tyres. It is very well built internally and externally but it is slightly dull in terms of styling. The only exciting bit about the exterior are the LED daytime driving lights and the only interesting to say about the very, very well built interior is that the interior is very, very well built and it feels good. Aside from that the exterior and interior are styled by humourless Germans who think that everything should look like a laboratory.

Driving one is like driving any other VW Group car. Everything is in the same position and while this makes it very easy, it also makes me feel like there is no point to upgrade to another VW or Audi or Skoda once you buy one . If you bought this car and then graduated to an Audi A6 you wouldn't be confused. You could get in and drive right away without feeling awkward. If you downgraded from a A6 to a Golf, it would feel like you haven't downgraded at all. However if you bought a Polo, it would feel different because the Polo is truly austere and plain. A different story there as that folks, is a VW that is built to a much cheaper budget and spec.

But this standardization is a little bit dull. I think VW hasn't found a proper way to differentiate their interiors like how BMW or Mercedes Benz can. And so, I find it a little tedious and boring to jump from one VW group car to another. Of course if you bought one it is one of the best interiors to be sitting in day in, day out. But don't expect it to be anything but clinical and plain.

So the VW Golf TSI is off to a decent start. It feels good sitting in one with everything in place. The seats are good, the interior is dull but well put together. It comes with a 7 speed DSG gearbox. Not the same one fitted in the GTI but still a dual clutch thingamajig. In this newly registered car it has some creep issues which may be due to quality issues. It isn't a deal breaker as in traffic it still feels competent. The DSG box mated to the TSI engine feels good in the cut and thrust traffic of the Federal Highway.

The engine is indeed a marvel of modern technology. The 160ps turbocharged and supercharged engine is very torquey at low speeds and pulls from low revs with gusto. Gun it from a junction and it feels fast. The 8 or so seconds it requires to reach 100km/h feels pretty spot on and the DSG gearbox suits the engine perfectly. It can cruise at 90km/h easily in 7^th gear and reacts pretty well upon kickdown. It will accelerate pretty briskly afterwards.

It does start to lose its grunt above 160km/h but what do you expect from a such a tiny engine even though it is force inducted time two. I am a fan of this engine. It is like the 1.4liter turbocharged Alfa Mito engine I tried a few years ago – small in size but more than ample poke. It pulls hard from idle and has a zesty mid-range too. It feels close to a normally aspirated 2.0liter engine in performance but that force inducted torque makes it feel like it has an even stronger mid-range pull.

The car's visibility all round feels good and you can easily maneuver the car in traffic and tight spots. But I have to note that the steering feel is lifeless – light for maneuvering but feels numb. There is a distinct lack of feel in this department. It does what it is supposed to do, which is a device for you to guide the car through corners and nothing more.

The ride is disappointing too. It feels all springs and under damped absorbers. Much like how Audi was with the B6 Audi A4 but with even softer dampers. It feels artificially nimble due to this as the car feels like it is eager to change direction but this eagerness is offset by the fact that the car floats where it isn't supposed to do so. It feels like its at sea. Honestly. On the long sweeping corner/interchange at the Subang Jaya end of the New Pantai Expressway heading towards the Federal Highway it felt as if the Golf TSI wanted to punt me over the concrete barrier and into the rows of houses down below. And that slightly inert and numb steering isn't helping by filtering out all the feel from the road. Again, this betrays its family hatchback design background. It isn't a mini Golf GTI in terms of handling. Want it to handle? Get rid of those balloon 16 inch tyres for a set of 17inch tyres and invest in a set of coilovers. This means at least spending RM 7,000 before it can corner like a psudo Golf GTI. Expensive in my opinion. Springs alone won't do as it is the dampers that isn't helping the handling here.

CKD Volkswagen Polo 1.6 Sedan out soon & this is the ONLY Volkswagen you can safely buy.

Took a peek at the Volkswagen Malaysia website earlier and have noted that they've reduced the price for the 2014 Volkswagen Polo 1.6 sedan. The car will soon be sold at an estimated price of RM86,888 from the previous price of RM99,000 or thereabouts. The reason for the drop lies probably with the fact that the Polo Sedan will be locally assembled instead of being imported from India. Good for us isn't it?

It also comes with better specs - a better radio, rear air-conditioning vents, a center armrest, bla, bla,bla, yadda, yadda, yadda. There are more goodies, but in my opinion the price drop is the biggest good thing that happened to the Polo Sedan. Actually I am recommending you people out there who are yearning to buy a VW to get this (quite pathetic) car because it is my opinion that this is THE MOST reliable Volkswagen you can buy in Malaysia at the moment. I'll tell you why.

You see, I have always found it hard to recommend any Volkswagen to any of my relatives and friends. I would recommend any Volkswagen to my enemies or to people I do not like (hence I'd like some of the local politicians to buy a few) as these days I have been hearing horror stories of Volkswagen-Audi Group cars dying due to excessive engine oil consumption and a very jerky as well as seriously unreliable Dual Clutch Gearbox (DSG).

I have driven Golfs which aren't smooth in traffic (check out one of my reviews on last generation's Golf 1.4TSI) and I have friends in Polos, Golfs and Passats with the same problem. This has something to do with the mechatronic gearchange controller according to a Audi specialist who seems to have to change handful of VW and Audi cars every month (those that are out of warranty). I also hear the same thing from people within the industry about this and it isn't just a localized thing. Sometime last year, VW Singapore did a recall for cars fitted with the DSG.

 And when I was over in Perth, Australia earlier this year I happened to watch the news on telly that VW was suffering from a whole lot of customer complaints regarding the engine. It's a global thing. And  I've very recently read that VW will not be fitting the DSG in cars that aren't performance oriented (do a search if you do not believe in me). Of course they're denying any claims that there have been reliability issues. It may be true as here in Malaysia, things get ridiculously humid and it could be this humidity that affects sensitive electronic equipment. Whatever the case, I tell my friends and family to avoid DSG equipped VWs and Audis and tell my enemies to buy as many as they want so that they feel pain and suffering. Great isn't it?

Anyway, this is the reason why I am recommending the VW Polo Sedan. It may be slightly dull and clinical. It is well built and put together. But it comes with a very basic 1.6liter engine that does not suffer from excessive engine oil consumption (due to a lack of direct injection TFSI/TSI setup and the extremely high compression ratios that comes with it causing extra stress to the engine overall) as well as the fact that it has a traditional 6 speed torque convertor automatic.

I also have to mention that my Brother-in-Law bought one and has been running it for a year. It has not caused him or his wife one bit of trouble. It is simply because the car does not have the TSI or DSG. In fact, he was told a few months after buying the car by his salesman (who became his friend) that this was THE ONLY VW that he would recommend people to buy. The rest is shit. Putting it bluntly.

And so, if any of you out there wants to buy a Volkswagen, you can only buy this car. The Polo Sedan. Not the Golf, Scirocco, CC, Passat. Of course you could and if you're one of the lucky ones will never face any problems. But I somehow have a bunch of friends and acquaintances who still have to face such problems as they're stuck with their cars for awhile. Or you could say, no pain, no gain. It may be painful to buy a faster VW, but you gain from it? Yeah, righttttt.

So go ahead and book this car. The 2014 Volkswagen Polo Sedan the safest, most reliable Volkswagen you can buy. It may not be the glitziest, fastest, best looking, sexy VW, but its the most reliable. Remember that folks.

2013 Suzuki Jimny - This Cute LIl' 4WD could be launched here soon

It seems that Suzuki Malaysia will launch the newly facelifted for 2013 Suzuki Jimny here in Malaysia. The car seen here at the recent 2013 NST Motorshow is powered by a 84hp 1.3liter petrol engine. From what I gathered from the staff on duty at the motorshow the Jimny has been through JPJ type approval so it should be launched soon and may have a price tag of between RM85,000-90,000. 

The 2013 Suzuki Jimny comes with revised front and rear bumpers as well as a faux bonnet scoop (which can be opened with some tools but something I wouldn't recommend as the fuel rail and some sensors are located right under it). It was also displayed with a four speed automatic transmission for urban 'off-roaders-, if there ever was such a thing. This basically means that the target crowd are those looking for something cool and chic to drive. But be warned, the Jimny in this current form was launched 15 years ago and from what I remember, it rides and drives terribly. Since this is just another facelift, it may only be good off-road rather than on-road.

Oh yes, whilst the cabin is equipped with the usual amenities - power windows, automatic gearbox, radio etc, it is all hard plastic. A typical work horse even though it looks half the size of the regular off-roaders. Still, I rather welcome the return of this modern icon. And it does add more choice into the sub-RM100,000 price range. 

UPDATE: The little jeep has been launched and is priced at RM87,305 (manual) and RM92,435(auto). I guessed correctly. The tiny Suzy is offered is a standard three-year or 60,000-km warranty. 

Try ignoring the people in the car......they're just car enthusiasts going ga-ga over somethi

Happy Chinese New Year!

So you may have your bonus around this time or you may have some ang pau money after this. What should you do with it if you haven't spent it on beer, shandy, vsop whilst blowing over a night's worth of poker, gin rummy, bacarat (if you're James Bond)? How about two nice BEFORE and AFTER photos for you to get going. The car may be a barge...but what a barge it is after a wheel swop. Enjoy.

2012 acura advanced sports car review and wallpapers

Cars we still adore: Alfa Romeo 164

The Alfa 164 is a truly beautiful car. Produced from 1987 to 1998 it was a 4 door saloon that was designed by Alfa Romeo to go head to head with traditional German executive saloons like the BMW 5 series and the Meredes Benz W124 series. Of course, being an Alfa Romeo, it was drop dead beautiful. I spotted a beautiful example earlier today, an 164 3.0 in full Cloverleaf specification - bodykit and 17 inch telephone dial wheels. I thought I'd say a few words about it. 

The 164 was based on something called the Type Four platform. The 'Type Four' came from the fact that development of the chassis was shared between Alfa Romeo (164), Fiat (Croma), Lancia (Thema) and Saab (900). According to legend, the 164 had the most variation when it came to chassis design and had a special front suspension setup compared to the rest. 

Anyway, of the four, the Alfa Romeo 164 was the best looking. It had a body designed by Pininfarina. An it looked stunning, especially with the bodykit and telephone dial wheels (I had to say it again). At an era where BMW and Mercedes Benz had stately and traditional lines the 164 was unique. It also came with a  rorty sounding twin spark plug 2.0liter 4 cylinder engine and the most beautiful looking 3.0liter v6 in the world which sang as if it were angels trumpeting. You couldn't get better than this when it came to engines. Of course, when it came to everything else other than looks and performance, things started to go slightly downhill.

It was Front Wheel Drive. To some this wasn't traditional enough. But the 1980s was an era where almost every car manufacturer started using front wheel drive. It was quite a handler even though it had it wheels driven by the ones in the 'wrong' place. The steering was sharp and the car felt smaller than what it was. For left hand drive markets there was the all-wheel drive 164 QV which added all weather grip and abit more 'cred' to its specifications.

It also suffered from the typical Alfa Romeo reliability issues especially in humid Malaysia. Electrical gremlins and slightly underbuilt controls like the ones that controlled the air conditioning broke. Spares were slightly expensive as not many people wanted to cater for Alfa Romeo here. So the car was sold to local Alfistis and a smattering of people who were curious and wanted to know why were there grown men going 'ga'ga' over the brand. This basically caused Alfa Romeo second hand values to be lower compared to other brands. Of course, this benefited Alfa Romeo enthusiasts who couldn't afford splurging the required RM215,000 or thereabouts for the 3.0 v6 in the early 1990s. 

Anyway, the 164 (also called 168 in Feng Shui sensitive countries) was, and is a fabulous car. Typically Alfa Romeo with its idiosyncrasies,  flaws and all (if it were a Proton it'll be thrown into the drain, nuked and covered up in a landfill) yet still wanted and yearned by many. 

So now if you wanted one and scoured the local wanted ads, like this one plucked from mudah.my, you could be the owner of an Alfa Romeo 164 for about RM13,500.00 for the 164 3.0 Super pictured below or even cheaper (below RM10,000). And the prices are negotiable too. Of course, you could be digging your own grave buying one and may be a frequent visitor to the workshop. The boss of the workshop will be your best friend and he will be on your speed dial. But it isn't all too bad. You would be owning a fantastically beautiful modern classic of a car. 

Modified mehran in pakistan