This is going to be a place for Malaysian new and used cars reviews and Automotive industry related stuff. Viewers contribution(s) are welcome... Active since 2006 with 1000+ posts and counting. We are Anti-Plagiarism Blog. Please E-mail me at whlim79@icloud.com if you spot any Plagiarism Element.
LONGTERMER #1: Update 29, Nov 2010: Ford Telstar 2.0i4 Ghia
In this blog entry, I'm updating my ride. The Ford Telstar 2.0i4 Ghia Auto. This is the 29th Update. What happened in the month of November?
Nothing much to update except I endured 1 OF THE WORST TRAFFIC JAM EVER. Left my Office in Wisma Genting at 6.10pm BUT REACHED HOME 7.40pm. Total 90 mins BUT my Odometer only covered 14km only. It's like 1/2 (45 mins) of the journey stuck along Jalan Perak and subsequently Jalan Sultan Ismail.
I think the Telstar is TUNED for Traffic Jam. Despite the MASSIVE JAMS, my Fuel consumption is STILL THE SAME as September (when I worked and stayed in Petaling Jaya). So far I worked 5 days a week. But over the last 30 days, I only drove 10 times to work. Rest of the day took LRT (Taman Paramount to Dang Wangi) followed by Monorail (1 stop).
So far, in the month of November, was again TROUBLE FREE.month for my Ford Telstar. (Touch wood).
Oh! ONE MORE THING, My Telstar is UP FOR SALE AGAIN! This time its SERIOUS! Any takers?
This month, I covered merely 826km, a drop compared to last month's 826km.
Without further ado, let's proceed to logbook:
Mileage last month: 158,861km
Mileage used last month: 826km
Mileage now: 159,722km
Mileage used in November 2010: 861km
Fuel consumption so far:
Best 10.2km/L (8 June 2010) (80% Highway Driving)
Worst: 5.9km/L (September 14,2009) 90% City driving
Expenses this month:
1) Fuel: RM240
2) Touch & Go top up: RM60
3) Parking: RM150
4) Car wash RM14
TOTAL: RM474
Before I go, here's a parting shot:
That's all folks, thanks for having the time and patience to read this blog entry. An Original Jeff Lim's Production. See you on 30 December for the 30th update.
The Star Business: Tuesday November 23, 2010 MYT 11:45:00 AM
India's Mahindra signs US$463mil deal to buy Korean Ssangyong
SEOUL, South Korea: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Ssangyong Motor Co. say they have signed an agreement for the Indian company to acquire the South Korean automaker for $463 million in new shares and debt.
The two companies announced the deal Tuesday after India's Mahindra & Mahindra was named the preferred bidder for Ssangyong in August.
They said in a statement that sport-utility vehicle maker Mahindra will take a 70 percent stake in Ssangyong. The companies said they expect the deal to be completed in March 2011.
SUV-maker Ssangyong went into court-approved bankruptcy protection early last year amid falling sales and mounting red ink. It was majority-owned by SAIC Motor Corp. until the Chinese company lost management control during the bankruptcy process. - AP
The News Straits Times MAYBANK Car of the Year 2010 Winners were announced at the COTY Gala Dinner held at The Saujana, Kuala Lumpur on 26 November 2010.
Appended are the winners by their respective categories.
The Gala Dinner pics are available at the CBT Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/cbtpage
COTY 2010 Category Winners
1 - Entry Level Car
Hyundai i10 (1.25 Kappa)
2 - Compact Car
Ford Fiesta - (Hatchback/Sedan)
3 - Family Car
Naza Kia Forte
4 - Executive Car
Hyundai Sonata
5 - Premium Executive Car (below RM300,000)
Volkswagen Passat CC
This is the 5th week I visited Topmark PJ and picked 5 of the BEST USED CARS. Topmark is a good place to buy used cars because their cars were Certified FREE FROM CUTS and JOINTS by Puspakom + Original Mileage as it is against their policy to adjust the mileage. So buy with peace of mind.
Also, selected Toyota Cars came with either 12 months (R1) or 6 months warranty (R2) for peace of mind.
Without further ado, let's proceed to the top 5 cars of the week:
CAR 1: SOLD!!!:Toyota Vios 1.5E(A), 2005, BHX 9030, 1 owner, R1 (1 year warranty), mileage: 79,000km only. RM54,800.
Car 2: SOLD!!!: Honda Accord 2.0iVTEC(A) 2005, Black. WMN 8819. 1 owner, Mileage: 125,000km, R3 (No Warranty), RM86,000.
Car 3: Proton Waja 1.8(A) PREMIUM (2002) Silver, WKL 5794, 1 owner, 117,500km only. BEST BUY: RM15,000 only. R3 (No warranty)
Car 4: SOLD!!!: WMS 3673. Honda City 1.5VTEC(A), 2005, Gold, 114,000km only. 1 owner. RM53,800 Neg. R3 (No warranty)
Car 5: SOLD BGR 515, Honda CRV 2.0iVTEC(A) 2002, Black, 2 owners, 120,000km only, RM64,500Neg. R3 (No Warranty)
That's all folks, thanks for having the time and patience to read this blog entry. See you on the 6th week. Ie. 2 December to 9 December 2010. In a meantime, do drop by TOPMARK Petaling Jaya to check out their FULL LISTS of stocks. Mention you saw the car through Jeff Lim's OTOREVIEW Blog for better deal. Their address:
No. 52, Jalan Penchala, Petaling Jaya
Selangor, 46050
03-7782-1155 Call: Bryan Su: 012-701-9389.
That's all folks, Thanks for having the time and patience to read this blog entry...
This is the 400th post. To CELEBRATE this Occasion, I'm covering Comprehensive review of Lotus Elise MK1. The Lotus Elise MK1's produced from 1997 to 2001 (1998 to 2003 In Malaysia).
The Elise is Quite rare in Malaysia. As a result, I don't have a car to test and brag about. All is NOT LOST, I dished out 3 videos review, 3 links to "Buyer's Guide", 1 Supertest by GoAuto Australia, and 4 Owners review sourced from Carsurvey.org.
In Malaysia, presently, there's 5 units of Lotus Elise MK1 on sale in Mudah.my. 1 1998, 1 1999 and 3 2000 model. From the 5 units, I worked out
the averaged Used Elise Pricing:
Video 2: Top Gear Best Handling Car In The World Part 1 of 2
Video 3: Top Gear Best Handling Car In The World Part 2 of 2
Followed by "SUPERTEST" by GoAuto Australia. ENJOY:
SUPERTEST: Lotus Elise MK1
Overview
IT'S big on price and short on equipment levels, but when it comes to
speed, handling and looks, the super-light Lotus goes off the scales.
Its lightness of being and a gutsy Rover engine provide the motivation
while the steering, brakes and handling will flatter the most ham-fisted
driver.
Such a shame it is beyond the budget of many sporty drivers.
Model release dates: January 1997 - June 2000
The Car
STUNNING. Distinctive. Small. Spartan. What else can we say about the
Elise? It's the work of Julian Thomson, who clearly had a wonderful time
styling the car. The heavily sculpted "clamshell" body is made from lightweight
glass-fibre composite materials and designed to provide a minimum of
aerodynamic drag and maximum of interest from anyone who sees it.
Did you know?Brit Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (1928-1982) founded lotus in 1955.
THE ACBC monogram is incorporated into the Lotus badge.
The Car - Seat Plan
THE driver's seat is nearer the vehicle's centre-line than the passenger seat,
which itself is fixed in the rearmost position. The aluminium chassis is left
exposed along the floor, under the dash and along the sides of the car. A
number of small trays and pockets are provided for odds and ends, plus a
document net behind the front seats. Getting into the cockpit requires hurdling
over the high sill - best to climb in feet-first.
Did you know?
Some of the significant Lotus moments were the launch of the Lotus Seven
in 1957, the Type 19 (aka Monte Carlo) in 1960, Elan in 1962, Elite in 1974,
and Esprit and Eclat in '75.
The Car - Seats
THE design of the seats was altered for the 2000 model year to provide
greater comfort, without compromising "seat of the pants" chassis feedback
to the driver. The traditional Lotus "pump-up" lumbar support for the driver's
seat has been retained. High seatbacks are used in preference to adjustable
headrests. Leather trim is available as an option. The passenger's seat does
not slide fore/aft.
The Car - Dash
A spartan dash with a Stack racing car instrument layout offers large dials
for road and engine speed. All other information is delivered by a multi-
function LCD readout. A cigarette lighter can be found, but there is no
ashtray, nor is there a radio in the base model's standard equipment.
The Car - Controls
THE indicator and wiper stalks are borrowed from GM cars such as the
Barina, while the windows and mirrors are DIY jobs. A row of five buttons
to the right of the steering wheel - sourced from Peugeots of a bygone era -
controls the lights.
Did you know?
The top-shelf Elise is the $140,000-plus limited edition (340 worldwide)
340R racecar, which has a revised gearbox, suspension and brakes.
The Car - Wheels/tyres
THE mid-engined Elise has a 39/61 per cent front to rear weight distribution
and as a result rides on 5.5x16 185/55R15 front wheels and tyres, and 7Jx16
205/50R16s at the rear. There's no room for a spare, just a tyre-inflating
aerosol can.
Did you know?
Lotus cars are built at Hethel in Norfolk, near Norwich
The Car - Luggage
The 2000 model year brought an improvement to the Elise's cargo carrying
ability, dispensing with the boot bag? A fully lined boot now uses the full area
behind the engine which is no Falcon or Commodore cargo space, but perfectly
acceptable for a couple of overnight bags
A piece of insulation underneath the boot carpet has also been added to shield the boot from exhaust heat. A further benefit of the larger boot is that the roof bows, previously stored behind the seats, can now be stored in the boot. There are two velcro clamps at the top of the engine bulkhead, which allow the roof bows to be easily stored.
The cloth hood and frame stow neatly behind the seats
The Car - Climate control
TO own an Elise means sacrifices must be made, and air-conditioning -
unavailable even as an option - is one of them. A minimum of heating/
temperature controls are provided - a fan knob and a control for heat and
air distribution.
The Car - Security
SECURITY is provided for with the inclusion of an engine immobiliser
- and that's about it.
Did you know?
A new generation Elise was due to go on sale in late 2001.
Our opinion
We like Light, sexy looks, clever use of advanced build system.
Room for improvement Tricky to enter, unexciting engine note, hilarious weather protection.
Our Opinion - Other opinions
"The Elise offers pure, basic motoring at its finest with compromises only to comfort. Sunburn, numb-bum, no luggage and too close an intimacy with the passenger are paybacks for a razor's edge experience at any speed. But still, love's like that."
"The Elise is a triumph - it is good enough to carry the rebirth of the marque on its shoulders and make Lotus great once more."
"Brilliant minimalist sports car, which unfortunately wears a maximalist price tag."
Mechanical
Mechanical - Plan views
THE Elise adopts classic "mid-engine" design to equalise weight balance
between front and rear wheels. The transverse engine makes it less of a
true mid-engine design than the Porsche Boxster however. The four-
cylinder powerplant is derived from the MGF.
Mechanical - Engine
THE 1.8-litre DOHC 16-valve four-cylinder Elise engine has been transplanted
- unmodified - from the non-VVC MGF and develops 88kW at 5500rpm and
165Nm at 3000rpm. They aren't particularly startling figures until you consider
the Elise weighs just 690kg. Independent tests have shown it can blast from rest
to 100km/h in 6.5 seconds, and even that is sixth tenths off the official Lotus claim.
The low weight saves on fuel consumption too, though premium unleaded is called for.
Mechanical - Suspension
THE Elise uses a double wishbone suspension with single coil springs and
dampers front and rear. Uprights of extruded aluminium were made by
Alusuisse. The suspension setting is firm, in keeping with the car's no-
compromise racecar potential.
Mechanical - Transmission
A FIVE-SPEED transaxle sourced from the MGF drives the Elise's rear wheels.
It's not the only item sourced from Rover - the K-series 1.8-litre engine and final
drive are straight from the MGF production line.
Automatic transmission is Unavailable.
Mechanical - Brakes
UNTIL the 2000 model year, the Elise used aluminium disc brakes which
saved a great deal of weight over materials such as cast iron. However, the
aluminium discs have proven unsatisfactory during sustained competition and
track work - where the car spends much of its time - and as a result Lotus
engineers have swallowed an increase in unsprung weight with the standard
fitment of steel brakes. Anti-lock braking is unavailable on the Elise.
Mechanical - Steering
TIPPING the scales at an incredibly light 690kg, the Elise's weight allows
power assistance to be deemed unnecessary. The steering system is rack
and pinion, with a turning circle of 10 metres. The unassisted steering goes
from lock to lock in just 2.7 turns.
Safety
THE lightweight aluminium chassis frame weighs a mere 70kg. Hollow
aluminium extrusions are joined by epoxy glue, with rivets added to
prevent peeling in the event of a collision. Side intrusion beams and a
roll bar are standard. A high-mount rear stoplamp is provided. Airbags
and anti-lock brakes are unavailable.
The Sport R version, which is set up for the racetrack, is shown above.
