Photoshoot : Nissan Navara

4x4's don't really appeal to me just because they don't really fit my lifestyle. I don't use it for anything big or to transport anything heavy. But they are good to have, just in case you need something transported urgently. Ever since the Petrol hike last year I did pay more attention to them just because majority of them are running on Diesel fuel which was cheap at one point of time. I haven't had a lot of experience in driving these 4x4's but I have had a chance to drive them on an obstacle course designed just for them.

This time around I had the opportunity to test drive a Nissan Navara and this Mother Trucker is big!. First thing you'd notice is how big the interior space is, lots of leg room at the rear seats and plenty to adjust to in the front. On the outside the truck does look wide and long and it is larger compared to the other competitors. Nothing really special on the electronics, standard 4x4 control knob, radio, adjustable side mirrors. Although there were some things that did catch my attention, the HID head lamps and the adjustable head lamp heights.

2.5L Turbo Charged Diesel with Common Rail Direct Injection engine power outputs around 170bhp @ 4000rpm and 40kg/m torque @ 2000rpm!. Now that's what I call power!. The best part is that the stats on paper didn't dissapoint when I took it out for a spin. The torque and power really made the truck seem like I was driving a car. I didn't measure the fuel consumption but it did pretty well based on what I saw when I returned the car.

Inside, the comfort level was better than expected, seats were comfortable and the ride was just nice. Handling is responsive and precise for a huge truck. Lots of positive response from the rear passangers with the bigger leg room and more comfy ride.

Overall I must say that this Mother Trucker is an excellent work horse for the daily driver, I wouldn't mind one myself. So head on over to the nearest Nissan dealer to check it out!

Photoshoot : Toyota Vios TRD 2009

TRD also know as Toyota Racing Development has always been a well known after market brand for the Toyota giant. Performance parts that have been researched and tested on the track and perfected for you everyday workhorse. This week I had the chance to test drive the new Toyota Vios TRD and I must say, it is impressive.

The red decals that Toyota has slapped on to the body of this Vios to give it a really aggressive sporty look, don't expect that to be standard when you get one, although they do stand out in the rear view mirrors on the highway. Apart from that the car has some boy-racer parts inside, standard seats have been replaced with full racing bucket seats for both the passenger and driver, a Momo sports steering wheel has been fitted and a TRD badged gear knob. Getting in and out of the car needs a little getting used to and the seats really hugs around you pretty well. Under the hood we have a standard 1.5L engine which produces 110hp, TRD air filter, radiator cap and engine oil cap have been installed, with a manual gearbox the car feel pretty fast. What really impressed me was the suspension, they are definately harder than the standard model and that improved the handling a lot. Bridgestone RE001 tires were wrapped around the rims, pretty good tires which helps the overall handling of the car in the corners.

One thing I must stress on about this TRD model is the confort level, it may still look like a typical family car but once you get rolling it gets bumpy. But with performance you would have to sacrifice comfort.

Overall I must say that if you are looking for a performance package that come out of the box, then this is the car to get, unfortunately I don't have the official price for the TRD model but my guess is that it would be somewhere around the RM70,000 price range.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X

Evo IX

I've always been a fan of Rallying and when I started watching the World Rally Championships I was mesmerized by the sheer speed, precision, skill and bravery that was shown by all the drivers in the sport. Of course on tight twisty tarmac, gravel and snow roads all these cars would have to be 4wd to be able to get the outmost grip. If you've managed to catch the WRC in the 21st century the 2 main manufacturers that are at the top of their game are Citroen and Ford. But turn the clock back and let's focus on the late 20th century, Japanese manufacturers Mitsubishi and Subaru were fighting for top spot with legendary drivers like Colin Mcrae, Tomi Makinen, Carlos Sainz to name a few have driven these finely tuned machines to their limit. Enough history let's get to the main topic.

If you hadn't already notice, the Lancer and Lancer Evolution models have slight differences on the outside which makes it hard to identify most of the time, but then again I have never seen any Evo X on the road here. I wondered why and looking at the price tag I can understand the reason to the limited number of units on the road. As I was approaching the Evo X I did notice the wider body kit and bigger tires, these caught my eye first. The next few things that I notice was the twin mufflers, diffuser and hood vents. "How about the intercooler?", well I didn't notice that because it actually looks like the radiator. Boot space was really limited, the engineers decided to put the battery and wiper fluid bottle there and to add to the space limiting a sub woofer too. I must say that the sound system was pretty impressive, well I'd expect that coming from a Rockford Fosgate system.

After I got in, I was only impressed by the surprisingly comfy Recaro seats. Everything else in the car was just normal. Radio panel is flushed and takes up most of the dashboard's space, air conditioning dials look somewhat similar to what we have in our local cars, not good. The automatic gear stick had a nice touch. On the steering you have your standard radio controls, behind the wheel there are the shift paddles. After spending 10 minutes looking through the dials and settings there were some buttons you could press to disable or enable some electronics which I won't go through in detail here. But I will mention that the auto gearbox has 3 settings, Normal, Sport & Super Sport. I didn't get the chace to play around with the other electronics like Tarmac, Gravel & Snow.

Off we went for our joyride and I was....dissapointed with the power. There was alot of lag before the turbo kicked in, changed the gearbox setting to sport...once again there was lag but the gearbox is more aggresive and shifts faster. Changed the setting to Super Sport and let me just say that I am not impressed with the car at that point, it took a full 2 seconds before the turbo kicked in and vaulted us down the straight. Top speed would be around 230km/h with a little push. Handling is pretty much depended on the tires, winding roads..no problem, but the turbo lag does make it hard to keep the speed up in the tighter sections. Suspensions are too soft and is okay for a nice cruise but when you push the car it is way to soft to take corners on the limit. Brembo brakes has good feel and does its job well to slow down the car.

So what do I think?.....the Evo 7 is faster than the Evo X hands down, and for the price to get one of these I'd have an option to get a BMW 1-Series. Not to say that I don't like it, but it just is lacking alot for such a buy.

More photos to follow.

Car Review : Nissan Sylphy

Here's a car that would have been overlooked had it not been for the recent fuel hike and with the 16km per liter sign on the test drive cars. Overall the car looks pretty sleek, although the design isn't as radical as the other 2 competitors, it does however look similar to the old Cefiro.

The simple and zen like design interior is easy on learn unlike the Accord that has an overload of buttons on the dashboard. All the other electronics that are pretty much standard on cars now days were found on this model, ABS, EBD, BA. I'm not going into details on those electronics because I didn't really have a chance to test them out.

I did however get the chance to test out the performance and I was pretty impressed with what the car had to offer smooth power with lots of control. I didn't think the drive by wire technology would be so responsive.

What really caught my attention is the price which was RM122k on the road, now that's impressive for a 4-cylinder, 2 liter, DOHC car.

Car Review : VW Polo GTi

A GTi Polo? Yup you read right! I was never very fond of the Polo, it looked very plain and when I checked out the specs, nothing caught my attention. But when they added the GTi badge to the car it sparked some interest. When I saw the GTi version, it does look a little more sporty, take note that the version we have in Malaysia is a 4-door version. When the car started up I noticed it has a sports muffler! Something that doesn't usually come standard on these kinda cars, very nice touch VW.

I got in the back and took a look around, space isn't bad, lots of leg room and very clean dashboard with big buttons. Nothing new there, after all it's a German car. The other thing I noticed was the 5-speed Manual, yes, Manual gearbox! I never expected that to be in a car like this with this kind of technology. I picked up the Brochure and started to go through the specs. Powered by a 1.8 Turbo engine with a 5-speed Manual gearbox and does 0-100km/h in 8.2 seconds, so I thought to myself that there isn't anything special about that.

My test driver took me for a spin on and boy was I surprised! The car jumped forward once the pedal was on the metal, almost instantaneous. I really felt good and addictive! You'd never have expected this from a small car of this size. What caught my attention next was the suspension system, the ride felt excellent over small pot holes and speed bumps, you'd never notice it until you hear a slight softly muted "thump" of the tire over the hole or bump. Like the EOS it also took corners well with little body roll.

Now this is a car I wouldn't mind owning.

Car Review : VW EOS

4 seater, 2-door, convertible? What more could you ask for in a car? I had a chance to ride in the new EOS a couple of weeks back and I must say that I was impressed! I'd never knew that VW was into the small car market. I'm not a convertible kinda guy but I was definitely blown away with this model. How would I describe it? It's as close as owning a real Transformer, I love the way the top folds down into the back, definitely a head turner on the streets.

Powered by a 2.0 Liter Turbo FSI engine coupled with the 6-speed Direct Shift Gearbox or DSG for short, expect to be pushed back by the G-Forces. Turbo FSI outputs around 200PS and does 0-100km/h in about 7.9 seconds is great for a small car like this. Suspension does feel sturdy enough to take corners and provides a smooth ride on the flats. I must say it's a car that I wouldn't mind driving to the club, with the top down.

On the outside the car looks almost normal, you would look at the car twice and ask yourself, is that a 2-door? looks like a convertible?. 17" rims come standard on the car which is okay, it would look much better with some after market rims but it does the job well.

I'd only hope to be able to test drive one soon :)