Dangerous driving

Driving in developed countries such as the US, Australia, Germany, UK, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and Singapore are all deemed very safe and orderly. Having a matured motoring culture and long driving history does have a significant impact on road safety, good driving etiquette and good driving behaviour. This however is not the case in the less developed countries such as India and China.

China and India has the highest accident rates in the world. China and India are the fastest growing economies in the world and car ownership is relatively new to many of its citizens. Only having a driver's license in the last 10 years and having just bought a car less than 10 years ago contributes to the lack of driving experience and couple that with very congested road network leads to chaotic driving conditions. China who were once filled with bicycles are now filled with cars. Many of the drivers in China do not care about the traffic laws and think the breaking the traffic laws are nothing serious. While in India, the country used to be filled with cows and bullock carts but now the roads are high filled with cars.

China and India combined boast the world's most dangerous highway network in the world. Dangerous in the sense that the motorist flout the law, there are no street lights (in India) on the highways, the drivers weave in and out of traffic without considering about other motorist on the road and stop in the middle of the highway because they missed a turn or have a problem with their car. India currently lead the statistics in the most road accidents in the world, their highways are not lit at night and trucks with no lights are plying those highways on a daily basis. Trucks will stop in the middle of the highway to change tyres, and vehicles will drive in opposing direction to the traffic flow.

These two countries can be economic power houses but they are sorely lacking proper driving etiquette and attitude. In countries such as Malaysia where driving etiquette used to be good, it has since gone down hill. These days you will find silly drivers who miss a turn on the highway reverse dangerously on the highway instead of taking the next turn off. You will also find many drivers beating red lights or driving in opposing direction to the traffic flow. All of these silly acts are down to the silly attitude and lack of consideration of the drivers.

motorcyclist on a death wish

In the last 18 that I have been driving in Malaysia I have seen no less than 30 accidents involving motorcyclist which resulted in at least one motorcyclist dying each time. It is a terrible statistic but this happen everyday in Malaysia. We have moronic people who ride motorcycles without helmets, do not strap their helmets on properly, weave in a out of traffic at high speeds, ride their motorcycles while lying on their stomachs (superman position), chatting on their mobile phones while riding, and doing stupid weaving stunts. Half of the stunts I have seen were not done alone but with a pillion rider behind.

Most of these motorcyclists are young (under the age of 30) and their only means of transport is their mopeds. Some who have extra money will modify their mopeds for more power. Others will just decorate them. Many of them will race each other in a large gang at night while some just do it in broad day light.

The statistics of motorcycle accidents is one of the highest in Malaysia. In most incidences the accidents are not caused by the car drivers but the silly motorcyclist who are trying to weave in and out of traffic and not taking notice of other vehicles on the road. A slight contact with a car or a truck will send the motorcyclist flying off the moped and onto the road where on coming traffic may not be able to avoid hitting them.

These people are risking too much for a bit of fun.

brand new tyres, retreads and regrooved tyres

When we buy tyres we have a choice of brand new tyres, retread tyres and now regrooved tyres. Naturally the cost of retread and regrooved tyres are much cheaper than brand new tyres. Having cheaper prices does have its impact in this current economic climate however there is always dangers associated with cheaper alternatives when it comes to tyres. Tyres the only contact point the car has with the road and having tyres with no grip will spell disaster in a matter of time.
Here are the differences between the retread and regrooved tyres:-

- Retread tyres: are tyres which have already worn out its original treads and a new layer of rubber with treads on it are glued on to the original tyre. This is highly popular with trucks and buses as these are much cheaper than brand new tyres. If you driving on the highway you will occasionally notice a large strip of rubber tread sitting on the side of the highway. These are the retreaded strips that have come off the truck or bus tyres. It is highly dangerous if the retreads are not done properly and not affixed properly. Usually the tyre shop will glue it onto the old tyre but these glue or adhesives are not designed to handle the heat from the tyres when it is in motion, couple that with the harsh road conditions the retreads will come off very easily. Retreads have been around for more than 30 years. Dangerous as it may sound, the truckers and bus companies seem to not care about the safety aspect and continue to use this. The cost savings are very significant considering the average truck uses 12 or more tyres. Professional retreaders who have been in the business for decades will know how to properly apply the new treads. Retread tyres for passenger cars are not as common as commercial vehicles but as the world economy is in recession more people may opt for retreads to save money.

- Regrooved tyres: this is quite new considering that it only was made available about 5 years ago. This type of tyre is highly dangerous as old tyres that are bald are regrooved meaning that new grooves are cut into the tyre tread area and a new layer of carbon black is applied to make the tyre look new. Every tyre has a certain limit of tread depth that is deemed safe however with this regrooved tyre, it is pushing the limits of safety. The less tread depth available them ore dangerous it is for the car. Small sharp objects can easily cause a puncture and result in very quick deflation. Tyre blow outs my also occur causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Regrooved tyres also cannot handle as much heat as a normal new tyre due to the thinner tread the heat build up is greater and cannot dissipate as effectively.

Making the right choice will effect the safety of your car.

Going for bigger wheels

Car companies are coming out with new cars with increasingly larger wheels with each new model. 10 years ago a typical 1.5 or 1.6 litre engine car would run on 13" or 14" wheels. Now you can see 1.6 litre engine cars running on 16" and 17" wheels. This is the same for 2.0 litre engine cars that were running on 14" and 15" wheels 10 years ago. Now you will see a 2.0 litre engine car running on 17" and 18" wheels. The reason for this is to provide better grip as the engine becomes more powerful with improvement in technology. BMW has been leading the way with large wheels for their cars. The BMW 5 series (E39) in late 1990s were running on 16" wheels, the current BMW 5 series (F10) is running on 18". Comparing this with Mercedes of a similar class such as the E-Class, it is only running on 17" wheels.

The Japanese car manufacturers have also been increasing the wheel sizes for their cars but not nearly as aggressive as BMW.
However, some new car owners will find the original size too small for their liking and size up even further. It is no uncommon to find a current model Honda Civic running on 18" wheels. It may look outlandishly big but it somehow makes the car look better.

The original wheels and tyre combination chosen by the car manufacturing is designed to take into consideration the grip level, fuel consumption, speed rating, tyre wear and ride comfort. Once the new set of larger after market wheels are used, many factors will change and it is not always for the better. Sizing up wheels and tyre can lead to several issues such as aqua planing when driving in heavy rain, poor fuel consumption, faster tyre wear and speedometer inaccuracy.
Making the car look good with bigger wheels is one thing but with larger tyres it also means more expensive replacement cost. Large tyres are without a doubt more expensive than smaller tyres and large low profile tyres wear out a lot faster than smaller tyres.

Thailand automotive accessories industry

Thailand has one of the most vibrant automotive accessories industry in South East Asia. Over 60% of new cars that are sold every month will have some sort of accessories added to the car. The most popular among the young car owners are to change new wheels, add body kits or change the original radio to a unit with a LCD monitor and TV tuner. The reason for all these changes are to make themselves different from the others and also add in-car entertainment to keep themselves entertained when they are stuck in the notorious Bangkok traffic jams. Having nothing to do in traffic jams, watching TV is the natural choice among Thai people. In car entertainment is a much bigger business in Thailand than compared to Malaysia.

The annual Bangkok Motorshow has some of the most elaborately decorated and modified cars in this region. On average many new car owners will spend over US$2000 on their cars. The modifications are not limited to men. Women are starting to spend money on their cars to make them look better and have better quality audio systems. Surprising as it may be, the industry's growth is not fuelled by men only, women are contributing to the growth.

On the more extreme end of automotive accessories industry, you will be able to find hardcore modifications such as engine swaps, performance tuning and cosmetic modifications like wide body kits. The illegal street racing scene in Thailand is very much alive and kicking. One would be able to watch illegal drag racing at night and even street level drifting. All this fuel the automotive accessories industry in Thailand.

Buying cars with small weedy engines

In Asia where the road tax is calculated based on engine capacity really puts a damper on buying cars with large engines. In Malaysia where the road tax cost increases exponentially once the engine exceeds 2,000cc is very painful for people who buy cars with engines larger than 2,000cc. For example, a Toyota Estima with a 3 litre engine would cost RM2900 to register each year compared to a Toyota Camry 2.0 which cost only RM390 to register each year! This is one of the reason why we see so many small engine continental cars such as the 520i, E200, 320i, C180 and S280. The buyers will opt for the smallest engines possible to keep the road tax as low as possible and also to keep the fuel consumption low. Asians are notoriously stingy when it comes to paying for fuel.

The problem with this is that these cars will be under powered. When I say under powered I mean not having sufficient power to pull the weight of the car when fully loaded with passengers.
Here are some of the typically under powered cars:-
- Kia Carnival 2.5
- Hyundai Trajet 2.0
- Proton Exora auto
- Proton Gen2
- BMW 318i, 320i
- BMW 116i , 118i
- Mercedes E200 (no supercharger)

Some of these models have just enough power to pull the weight of the car and 1 occupant. Once fully loaded these cars will struggle to go uphills, struggle to accelerate beyond 120km/h and naturally guzzle a lot of fuel in the process. This can be dangerous when the car has insufficient power to overtake slow vehicles. Many drivers underestimate the lack of performance and this has led to accidents.
The fault is not with the engine as the engine is designed to work to provide a certain level of performance however the weight of the car is a problem. If you have a car that weighs 2,000kg (fully loaded) and the engine only has 140hp and 180Nm of torque, it will naturally struggle. Apart from just struggling to haul the weight, the engine is also put under tremendous stress having to squeeze out every last horsepower and newton metre of torque just to make the car move. The extreme stress on the engine will lead to high fuel consumption and high wear and tear on the engine components. Engine parts will inevitably fail sooner.

Now with the introduction of small engines with forced induction (turbo or supercharger) have tremendously helped by boosting torque and horsepower. These days you can see cars such as Peugeot 5008 MPV with a 1.6 litre turbo and the VW Cross Touran with a 1.4 Twin charge engine (turbo and supercharge). These cars are one of the best examples in down sizing engines but yet maintaining a respectable level of performance.

Next time before buying a new car, take the time to test drive it (with several passengers if possible) and test the performance of the car. If it is going to struggle with passengers on board, consider buying something a little more powerful. This will make the driving experience less stressful and more enjoyable.

Drifting

Drifting started in the 1990s when a few Japanese race car drivers experimented with doing power slides going down a hill outside Tokyo. This style of driving caught on and was made even more popular with the Japanese manga Initial D. Drifting is often considered grass root motorsport since all you need is a rear wheel drive car and a LSD. Peoples started buying old cars and modified the suspension to learn how to drift. This sport has now grown to the global level where drifters from across the world compete in international competitions for recognition, bragging rights and reputation.

What was once considered a cheap motorsport to get into has now progressed to a relatively expensive sport like any other motorsport. Old rear wheel drive models that were once considered old and out of date with little residual value became popular and the prices started going up. The best example was the Toyota Levin AE-86 and the Nissan Silvia S13, 14 and 15. These cars had the right platform for drifting but needed some modifications to the suspension and a LSD. As the sport grew the cars became more powerful, more sophisticated and had more modifications. Drifting exploded globally when drifting started in the US and the sport was commercialized. The Formula Drift races are televised creating the necessary exposure for the sport.

Driver skill and car setup were the most critical factors in drifting. It is not uncommon to see drifters and newbie drifters practicing their skills in empty car parks and empty streets. The secret to drifting is the ability to balance and control the car when it is going side ways. It is not as simple as merely pulling the park brake after turning the steering wheel. It takes skill, feel and courage to make a car go fast side ways. Drifting is like losing control of the car while still in control. Too much throttle input will cause the car to spin, too little throttle input the car will not drift, too much steering input the car will spin, too little steering input may also cause the car to spin.. there are many factors to consider and all this happen in a split second.

I personally have seen several people try to practice their drifting after rain at the Securities Commission car park. I have also seen drifter who practiced at the wrong place and ended up driving their car into ditches or large drains.
Malaysia despite being a small country has some of the best drifters in the region. Malaysian drifters have regularly finished in the top 4 in region competitions and some have even made it to the top 16 in US competitions.

These days drifting can be divided into various categories. Tandem drifting competitions where two cars will drift side by side. Long drift where car and drivers compete to see who can hold the longest drift.
Drifting is now the fastest growing motorsport in the world and it is open to men and women. It is also one of the best spectator sport in the motorsport world.

Are you getting ripped off by workshops?

This is a very common question among car owners. Do we really know what is really done by the workshops when we send our cars for repairs?
Most of us just send the cars to the workshops when something is wrong and we usually don't stand around all day to watch what part is being replaced or whether the parts are being repaired at all. Having a busy schedule and without any technical knowledge also does not help.

I have discovered that numerous workshops have been ripping off customers when their cars are sent in for repairs. In many cases where the cars are sent for repairs, the problem from the car is very minor and the parts can easily be repaired but the workshops will sell brand new replacement parts instead of repairing the broken part. Doing this increases their profit margins and also reduces the time taken to trouble shoot the problem. Saying this, there are also many unscrupulous workshops that claim to have changed a broken part with a brand new one but in actual fact all they do is swap a working used part. Most car owners will not open the bonnet to check which part has been replaced and most don't bother to even see the original broken part. Some workshops will place a broken part on a piece of newspaper to show that they have taken it out and replaced it with a new one, but do we really know if that part was originally from your car?!

Trust is a big issue in the automotive industry and workshops ripping off customers are happening everyday. The Automotive Association in Malaysia have tried to control this by coming out with a schedule of prices listing our common service and repair work. However rarely do field audits take place and workshops are free to charge what ever prices they want.

To protect your wallet, I personally recommend taking the trouble to understand the problem of the car when it happens and also ask to see the parts that were changed (the original and the new).

Converting cars to run on natural gas

Several years back a friend asked me if it was advisable for him to convert his Toyota Corolla to run on natural gas. The conversion cost was about US$2,800. The price per litre of the natural gas was significantly lower than RON95 petrol. However the key question here is how much does travel everyday to justify the conversion cost and when was the break even point. Dumping US$2,800 for the conversion was not as simple as just modifying the engine, the problem with doing this type of conversions is that once the engine has been converted to run on natural gas, the modifications cannot be reversed. The power and performance of the engine is also not as good when running on natural gas as compared to RON95 petrol. The latent heat created by the natural gas also meant that the engine would be running at higher temperatures and potentially could cause far wear on certain parts of the engine.
After finding out that he only travels an average of 100km a day, I couldn't see the real justification to convert the car to natural gas. His break even point would be about 1 year but that is also dependent on the price of RON95 petrol at that time (which was hovering at RM2.70 per litre) and that price could change at any time.

He proceeded to make the conversion to run on natural gas and within 2 months, the Govt announced the revised RON95 petrol price to RM1.90 per litre. This meant that his break even point just got a lot longer and since the modification is not reversible he is stuck with it. Now he faces problems with getting natural gas supply because he has to queue up with taxis at selected Petronas stations which are only available at few locations across the country and couple that with the small natural gas tank that only provides a short range of 240km per tank.

Conversions like this should only be done for commercial vehicles that clock up more than 300km a day, such as taxis and delivery vehicles.

Worrying experiences at workshops

In Malaysia there are thousands of car workshops offering service and repair jobs for all types of cars. Many of these workshops are opened by technicians or mechanics who previously worked under a master or in a large authorized workshop for a car manufacturer or distributor. Those who were working with the car manufacturer or distributor would have undergone a certain level of training necessary to handle their day to day jobs, however those who were the understudy of a so called master would have far less training. Technical wise those who were officially trained under the car manufacturer or distributor would have the necessary knowledge to work on the cars they have experience repairing or servicing. Those who were just the understudy would just learn whatever they could through experience and without proper technical training.
The workshop industry is not well regulated where mechanics or technicians require certain level of technical qualifications before they could carry out repair works. This is where the problem begins.

I have had shocking experience observing and talking to workshop mechanics who didn't know what they were doing. I have even seen technicians at tyre shops who put Uni-directional tyres facing the wrong direction!

Here are some of the shocking experiences I have encountered in the past 15 years:
- a mechanic told me that Subaru Impreza uses Rotary engines!!
- a mechanic pouring back old engine oil from another car into a car that just drove in
- a mechanic attempt to open the radiator cap with the engine (hot) running
- a technician removing brake pads and attempt to put the new set on backwards!!
- a workshop trying to rip off the customer by telling him that his car's air cond compressor is dead but the actual problem was just a blown fuse
- a mechanic telling the car owner to crank up the car radio to drown out the vibration noise from the engine because he didn't know how to fix the problem
- mechanics attempting raise the car on car hoist without check if the supporting arms are in the correct position
- mechanics who didn't know the difference between the radiator fan and air cond fan
- mechanics who told me that diesel engines need to change spark plugs every 30,000km!!!
- mechanics who said that it is ok to mix some water with diesel fuel!!
- mechanics who claim that mixing diesel and petrol is good for the engine!
- mechanics who told me the carburetor engines are the same as fuel injected engines
- workshop apprentices who think that taking the customer car for a joy ride is perfectly ok

With more technology being introduced into new cars, more unqualified mechanics will find themselves out of work. These days, the basic tool for a workshop is the OBDII diagnostic kit which allows the technician to diagnose problems before they start working on a car. If the technician is computer illiterate or has very little technical knowledge, this piece of equipment will be completely useless to them.

Sadly to say, in Malaysia there are more untrained mechanics than there are trained mechanics. Sending your cars to unqualified mechanics can spell disaster.

I have even met local university graduates who have a degree in automotive engineering who couldn't explain to me how the engine works!
I have been fortunate enough to know several highly experienced and qualified mechanics who know what they are doing and I would trust them with my car.

Multi tasking while driving

Driving on its own is a task that need concentration but yet humans will always have ingenious ways to do multiple things at once.

Here are some of the top multi tasking things people do while driving:
- picking their nose
- picking their ears
- putting on make up (yes! this happens more often than people realize)
- eating while driving
- drinking while driving
- chatting on the phone while driving
- text messaging (or sms) while driving
- playing games on smart phones while driving
- cutting nails while driving
- curling their hair while driving
- combing their hair while driving
- squeezing their zits while driving
- changing their CD or cassette (if your car still has a cassette deck! time to change up)
- scratching places where the sun don't shine
- surfing internet while driving
- fiddling with the GPS system while driving
- attempting to charge their mobile phone while driving
- checking themselves out in the mirror
- watching DVD movies or TV (if the car has a TV tuner) while driving - very popular in Thailand
- beating their kids while driving (happened to my best friend when he was in primary school!)
- jerking off while driving
- getting jerked off while driving
- attempt to make a sandwich while driving

With all these bad habits, there are literally millions of bacteria floating around the car. There are more bacteria on a car steering wheel and gear knob than the toilet seat!

World's biggest car park

When someone mentions traffic jams one would automatically think Bangkok, Jakarta or Manila which have been well known for crazy traffic jams day in day out. China now has taken over that title. The city in particular is Beijing. In 2010 Beijing experienced a traffic jam so bad that it stretched over 100km long!!! Many people who were stuck in the traffic jams actually abandoned their cars and walked to rest stops. Enterprising Chinese traders started to sell food and drinks to the people in traffic jams, some even came up with the idea of delivering the cars for the car owners and offered them a ride to the city on the back of a moped!
Beijing currently has 4.5 million cars on the road, despite the city council introducing new regulations to control the number of cars on the road (by way of number scheduling), it has still failed to stop people buying new cars and driving in the congestion ridden city.

So for us who complain about how bad KL traffic jams are.. just be glad that you don't live in Beijing. Traffic jams in KL are getting bad and all hell breaks loose when it rains but nothing that we experience can beat Beijing. The traffic jams are bad regardless if it rains or snows. In such situations having a small electric moped makes a lot of sense.
Shanghai traffic is also getting very bad but still cannot match Beijing. Beijing city was never plan to have such large number of cars. The municipal government has been frantically trying to build middle and outer ring roads to divert and disperse traffic. Having a middle ring road that is over 200km long has helped a little but the problem still remains in the city centre stretching 15km outwards. This is one city I will not want to drive in.

Ugly cars

I always wondered who gets the blame when an ugly car hits the road and the motoring media chews it up with their opinions. Do the designers get blamed or is it the management who approved the designs get blames? If the designer has bad taste or cannot design decent looking cars they could be said to have an off day.. however the people who approve the design are equally as blind since the designs were checked by them. Then again there are certain car companies who have been hit with the ugly bug since day one. This of course is none other than Ssangyong.
Here is my list of ugly cars (since 1990s) that have hit the road:-
- Ssangyong Kyron, Stavic, Rexton, Actyon I and Chairman
- Renault Espace
- Mercedes E Class W210
- Nissan Qashai
- Subaru Impreza GDA / GDB
- Dacia Logan
- most China original designed cars
- Hyundai Grandeur
- Hyundai Accent (1st generation)
- Hyundai Elantra (1st generation)
- Kia Sephia
- Ford Lynx
- Fiat Multipla
- Honda City (previous Generation)
- Subaru Tribeca
- Ford Taurus
- Chery QQ
- Suzuki Vitara (2000 model)
- Toyota Will
- Citreon XM
- Proton Savvy
- Proton Arena
- Proton Juara
- Citreon Evasion
- Toyota Avanza
- Proton Iswara
- Proton Tiara

What was going through the minds of the designers and the people who approved the designs?!

Here comes the Chinese... cars that is

I have been traveling into China since year 2000 and I have seen the evolution of the automotive industry in China. Without a doubt it has the fastest growing car market in the world. India and Brazil is coming in second and third. China now has more than 90 million cars on the road!! This was a massive jump from 10 million cars in 2001! China also has many new locally grown car manufacturers, some from truck assembly and others from other manufacturing backgrounds. The China made cars were initially totally ugly or simply bad copycats of other foreign car designs. Right now you can see brands like BYD which have copied designs from Toyota for their own cars.

China has since engage big names such as Giugiaro, Pininfarina and many other top design and automotive engineering companies to develop new cars for them. I personally believe that spending this money is justified as China still lacks the expertise to design desirable cars in the world stage. Their cars may sell well within China due to price advantage but selling their cars in foreign markets is growing slowly. Their initial hurdles when selling outside China has been the safety crash ratings of the China cars. Many early models failed miserably when they were put through the NCAAP safety crash tests. Most of them scored no stars or 1 star at best. However these China car companies invested heavily to improve their car's safety crash ratings to enable them to obtain reasonable safety crash ratings sufficient to sell their cars in foreign markets.
In the last 3 years, I have seen some decent looking China made cars on the streets of Shanghai. The driving experience is yet to be tested. From the technical specification printed in their brochures, I won't say that they would impress me but the China car companies are not here to impress. They are here to sell cars in bulk. Like any other Chinese business, it is all about profit and how much they can sell.

China car companies have the money to buy the necessary technology and also buy out dying European car companies. This basically helps them to take the technological spring board to jump from building poor quality cars with low technology to a level where they can compete with the Koreans or Japanese. I remember having a debate with my father who is an avid supporter of China's industrialization about the China automotive industry. I know that China cars are here to stay but I cannot say that they will have cutting edge technology just yet or even in the next 5 years. China car companies are not interested in investing in racing programs for research and development, and they don't have the racing pedigree to command a premium for their cars. They rather buy the technology from other people and save themselves all the trouble. There are however some China car companies who invested heavily in their own research and development to create niche cars such as BYD and their e6 model. This model is their first fully electric car that runs on batteries. I had the opportunity to ride in a BYD e6 taxi in Shenzhen and I was pleasantly impressed with the car. Quiet, smooth and reasonable built quality. I cannot say that the e6 is a great car but it is a decent effort from BYD and they have been one of the early birds to take the step to develop their own technology to compete with foreign brands in China and as well as foreign markets.

With the current global economic climate and shrinking disposable incomes, China cars will start to make a bigger impact on the global scene sooner than everyone expects.

I used to think that I would do my very best to avoid buying a China made car because I didn't have any confidence in their cars now, but with their ever strong will improve, I may have to rethink again.

Motoring journalists

I often wonder how impartial and neutral motoring journalists are when they review new cars. I notice that British motoring journalist have a tendency to favour their own British cars, but since most of the British automotive manufacturing industry is dead they seem to favour what used to be a British brand. As for the Americans they also have a tendency to side their yank tanks... and the Aussies, they have a tendency to favour their Aussie brute cars like the Holdens and Fords. The tendency to favour their own home made vehicles may not be very obvious for some but like in the case of the Aussies they just love their Aussie made V8s.
In Malaysia, I know the motoring journalists cannot give bad reviews about Proton or Perodua because it is the national car and the journalists may have his or her career cut short. The worst review they can give is neutral at best.
I used to think that Jeremy Clarkson gave very good reviews until it dawned on me that most of the cars he rated highly are 500+ hp supercars that most average person would not be able to afford. I also used to follow the Best Motoring series from Japan where the professional Japanese race car drivers would try out various types of cars on the famous Tsukuba race track but somehow their races would show that Japanese cars are better than the Europeans. A lot of viewers questioned the authenticity of the tests and whether the Japanese were deliberately trying to make their cars look good.

The motoring journalist play an important role in the marketing of the cars and how well the cars will sell in most countries. I remember many years back when Jeremy Clarkson gave a very bad review for the Ford Mondeo and the sales of the car plummeted until Ford UK wrote a stinging complain letter to the BBC to keep Jeremy Clarkson off the Top Gear program. On the flip side, motoring journalists who collectively give good reviews on certain models do help boost the sales of the car. I have to admit that if you take a comparison of car magazines (printed and online) and take note of the cars that they all similarly rate highly, the car is definitely good. The simple example I can give is the VW Golf GTi Mk5. This car was highly rated by European, Australia and American car journalist, and it won car of the year by many car magazines and car TV programs. Having driven it myself I cannot help but agree with their findings. I ended buying one myself!

I think it is almost impossible to find a 100% neutral motoring journalist who will give impartial reviews for all cars. Everyone will have their favourites and some will be more loyal towards their own home made cars.

Automotive Accessories industry Malaysia

Malaysia has one of the highest number of automotive accessories retailers per capita in the world. For a population of 27 million, there are over 4,000 automotive accessories retailers spread across the country. The automotive accessories retailers can be divided into a few groups:-
- Tinting or window film applicators - 50%
- Audio and automotive electronics - 30%
- performance tuning and performance parts - 15%
- body kits and cosmetic enhancements - 5%

I didn't categorize wheel and tyres as these should be classified as replacement parts and many cross sell wheels with tyres and also offer oil change and other related services.

Being in a tropical country, adding solar control window film makes a lot of sense to reduce the internal temperature of the vehicle. It is also one of the biggest no brainer automotive product to sell as 98% of cars are now fitted with solar control window films. This business is also highly profitable if the retailer does not slash prices to attract customers. On average the profit margin of applying window film on a car is approximate 500% to 800%!! Hence you can see almost 1 to 2 window film applicator shop in every suburb.

Audio and automotive electronics used to make up the largest numbers of automotive accessories retailer prior to the introduction of window films. In the 1980s and early 1990s, cars that rolled out from the assembly line didn't offer much in terms of high quality audio or alarm systems, these automotive accessories retailers took the opportunity to offer higher quality audio system and installed alarm systems. As time progressed the automotive manufacturers included better audio and improved security systems, this business is no longer as lucrative as it used to be.

Performance tuning and performance parts segment of the automotive accessories market has been consistent throughout as more new products were introduced to match new models of cars. Since the introduction of the Sepang F1 race track and further developments in the motorsports industry the performance tuning and performance parts business has seen some growth.

Body kits and cosmetic enhancement industry maybe the smallest of the 4 main automotive accessories segments but this industry has grown significantly in the last 10 years. The body kits and cosmetic enhancement industry is mainly fueled by the enthusiasm from the young car owners who want to create an identity for themselves and make their cars look different or some would say better. As the prices dropped, more car owners opted to add complete body kits or just simple parts such as small tail spoilers, front chin, side skirts or LED day driving lights.

Having so many automotive accessories retailers does not always mean good business. On average of 200 automotive accessories retailers close down after Chinese New Year every year. Some of them did not even last 1 year in business while many others did a little better but did not survive beyond 3 years. On the surface the automotive accessories business may look attractive but it is more cut throat than many people realize. More than 50% of the new start up automotive accessories retailers are nothing more than an apprentice who formerly worked with another automotive accessories retailer who thought that he could replicate the same business on his own. Gathering some seed capital from family and friends these ex-apprentice attempt to do business the same way they saw their previous employer did. However having learn their skills and knowledge from work experience and not having sufficient technical or no real technical training at all, these new start ups are basically risking more than they bargained for.

I have personally observed many cases where the inexperienced or lack of experience or simply lack of technical knowledge technician (or some cases owner of the automotive accessories shop) was dumb founded when he did not know how to handle certain types of cars because he had never experienced working on them before. For someone who was properly trained (attended technical schools) he would know how to handle it. For the car owner, the risk is in dealing with some of these new start ups if the background of the owner and technicians are unknown. Giving them a rare car such as an Aston Martin, Ferrari or Lambo could prove costly to the owner not in terms of the items bought but the potential damage that could happen if the technician is unfamiliar with the car.

The Malaysian public being car crazy, despite crazy car prices, will fuel the survival and growth of this industry. There will always be someone out there who will want to have their car windows tinted, get more power from their engine, buy new body kits or upgrade their alarm systems.

Why certain brands of cars struggle to sell in Malaysia

Here are a list of car brands that struggled to sell in Malaysia:
- Chevrolet - due to inconsistency in distribution, poor after sales service network and poor selection of models. The residual values took a hammering especially when the previous distributor DRB dumped prices for unsold units at 40% discount! Many of the previous owners of Chevrolet cars were furious and refused to buy another Chevrolet.
- Renault - Renault has bad reputation for poor reliability in the past coupled with poor service network and terrible residual values. With the recent introduction of the sporty model such as the Clio Cup R and the Megane Sport, there has been some injection of enthusiasm into the brand but the sales of these models are limited.
- Alfa Romeo - only popular among enthusiasts, the poor reliability and residual values kept the brand from selling well. Die hard fans will still buy the Alfas but with the dwindling model range, Alfa Romeo will continue to struggle in Malaysia
- Citreon - poor reliability, poor after sales service network and lack of available parts make this brand a real lemon to own. quirky designs don't help when it comes to service and repairs. The residual values are one of the worst in the market
- Ssangyong - had reasonably strong sales in 2005 / 2006 but when news of the company going bankrupt came, the car sales practically dried up and the resale values tanked. Quirky designs meant that the car only appealed to some people who could live with the way it looks. Having a limited after sales service network also meant that it was not convenient for owners to service their vehicle.
- Audi - the poor reception of the Audi brand is down to the distributor. Audi hasn't had the luck to deal with the right distributor until now. Audi struggled to sell cars in large numbers (exceeding 200 cars a month) because both distributors (in the past and the present) have done lousy jobs in marketing the brand. The previous distributor Auto Dunia did not focus on dealership development and did not stock the necessary parts to support the after sales network. The current distributor DRB does not order sufficient cars to stock up and sell, leaving customers to wait for 5 to 12 months for a car! DRB only has 3 locations to cater for sales and servicing. This is a real shame as Audi is one of the top selling brands in Europe and the grey importers have been selling more A4, Q5, Q7 and TTs than the official distributor.
- Subaru - Subaru is one brand that has struggled tremendously to sell via its official distributor. With only 1 sales and service centre, the after sales support is simply insufficient. The make things worst, the distributor does not even stock commonly replaced parts. The grey importers combined sell more than 30 times the number of Subarus than the official distributor Motor Image.
- Land Rover - considered a luxury brand with prestige but Land Rover cars are probably one of the fastest depreciating cars in Malaysia. Land Rover cars are not known for their reliability and couple that with high prices and only 1 location to service the car.. it is going to be difficult to see the brand grow. Only with the recent introduction of the Evoque, the sales of the cars have hit double digits per month.
- Skoda - always considered the poor cousin of VW, Skoda's distributor has struggled to make an impact with the brand. Relatively unknown in Malaysia and limited after sales service network made it difficult for the brand to grow. With VW having a strong market presence and good price strategy, Skoda will continue to struggle to compete and VW is able to price their cars cheaper than Skoda.

Combining the factors of poor after sales service network, lousy reliability, expensive parts or lack of parts, lousy distributors and lack of marketing, many of these brands will continue to struggle.

Car insurance in Malaysia

In Malaysia car insurance is mandatory in order to register your new car or renew your car's registration. This is definitely important to protect the car owner as well as the other road users. Previously the typical car insurance would protect the car against theft, burglary (break ins) and road accidents. However due to the crazy weather patterns in the last 10 years more people are starting to pay for extra coverage against flood. My father being a classic example of trying to save a few bucks decided against paying the extra premium to cover for flood damage for his E60 BMW. Two weeks after renewing his insurance (without the flood damage coverage), his car was stuck in a flash flood which resulted in him having to fork out RM50,000 to replace the entire engine and other components! Ouch!! Expensive lesson...
In comparison with car insurance in the UK where calculating the premiums for car insurance is like a super science, the insurance companies take into account numerous factors for working out the premiums such as:
- age of driver
- driving history
- type of car bought
- horsepower of the car bought
- where the car will be parked at night
- is the car parked on the street or a garage at night
- where  the car will be park during the car
- whether the car is on the hot list (high theft list)
- is the car modified
- can the car be easily modified
- is the car turbo charged or super charged
- the category of driver's license possessed by the new owner
- accident history

Taking into consideration all these factors the insurance premiums can sometimes be higher than the value of the car especially if the car is a used car and the owner is under 25 years old and is a male.

The car insurance industry is rather backward in Malaysia as none of the insurance companies take into consideration these factors except for the high theft rate vehicles (such as Toyota Hilux, Toyota Harriers , Honda CRV, Mercedes E Class and a few more) where some insurance companies require the owners to install tracking systems.
Having a backward insurance system meant that a person could own a 300hp car at the age of 18 without additional premium penalties. This comes back to the question of safety. Wouldn't it make sense to slap a heavier premium on such cases ? It only makes sense to do so to protect other road users and discourage parents from giving their child with a new driver's license the ability to drive a vehicle beyond their control. It is like giving the child a loaded gun!

turbo diesel engines in Malaysia

Common rail diesel engines have been around for more than 10 years now but common rail diesel engine cars only started to become popular in Malaysia around 2005 where people started buying pick up trucks such Hilux, Ford Ranger, Mitsubishi Tritons and Isuzu D-max. These pick up trucks fall into a unique tax category which made them far cheaper than normal passenger cars which would normally be cheaper in other countries. The pick up trucks became popular for its high driving position and ground clearance. The strange thing is the most of the people who buy these pick up trucks do not go off road and drive it in urban areas 95% of the time. Having a pick up truck do have its advantages when it comes to flash floods (which happens very often in Kuala Lumpur) and hauling stuff. People in Malaysia think of trucks and lorries when you say you drive a diesel vehicle! Right now the number of turbo diesel engine cars on the road is still very small in Malaysia.
In Europe, turbo diesel engines are very popular because of its superior fuel economy compared to petrol engines (easily 30 % to 40% more mileage per litre) and also the hefty torque that the engine produces. More than 60% of new cars sold in Europe are turbo diesels. In Malaysia due to the inferior fuel quality (Euro 2M) and very high sulfur content, turbo diesel cars running on super clean diesels (Euro 4 and above) are not imported. The high sulfur content in the diesel caused a lot of sulfur corrosion on the injectors which led to expensive replacements. Mercedes Benz was one of the early proponents of turbo diesel engines back in 2004 with their CDI engines. However due to the poor fuel quality and the high number of warranty claims for damaged injectors Mercedes Benz has since pulled out their diesel models from the market.
This is very sad because firstly diesel engines are far more efficient than petrol engines and secondly the huge torque that the engine produces makes hauling additional weight very easy.
Having owned 2 turbo diesel engined cars in the past, I have had good ownership experience. I have tried driving from KL to Singapore and back clocking 1,000km on a single tank of diesel. I was not exactly driving slowly at 150km/h for 70% of the journey. I was fortunate enough not to encounter any problems with the injectors.
Right now, apart from the pick up trucks, the only company that is still consistently promoting diesel technology is BMW. BMW Malaysia sent local quality diesel to their factory in Germany for evaluation and then made modifications to the engine to run on the local quality diesel. With the cars modified to run on lower quality diesel, BMW did not encounter the sulfur corrosion problem like Mercedes Benz.
BMW Malaysia has done a good job to clean up the image of diesel engines. Currently diesel engine models account for 20% of their total sales which is very encouraging.
I am hoping that the Malaysian govt will introduce better quality diesel fuel soon so that we can have a wider range of turbo diesel engine cars to choose from.

Driving super cars

Lately in the news there have been several accidents associated with supercars such as Ferraris and Lamborghinis. I often wonder if the people who buy these cars really know how to drive the cars properly. Having a lot of money and buying a supercar is one thing but knowing how to drive it properly is another thing.
Ferrari and Porsche organizes driving courses for new owners to educate them on how to drive their cars properly and teach them how to handle the cars. Naturally with a lot of power it is no long as simple as applying the brakes to stop the car. These high powered cars have different handling characteristics compared to normal cars and they often make the driver feel that they are very good behind the wheel but in reality the design of the car couple with technology helps keep the car on the road. However nothing in the car can stop you from crashing it if you don't know what you are doing. Hence the importance of driver training programs.
When I was in China last year I heard a scary statistic of 7 out of 10 Ferraris sold in China are crashed by the owners within the first 2 years. Ferrari China has been actively organizing driving programs but many of the new owners do not bother to attend.
In Malaysia, more than 70% of the supercars on the road are sold via grey importers and are not brand new. These grey importers naturally do not organize driving programs for the new owners and some of these new owners virtually jump from driving a 200hp Mercedes to a 550hp Gallardo! Some might argue that 90% of supercar owners never even extract 70% of the potential of the car. This may be true but barreling down the highway at 280km/h and suddenly having to brake hard because of slow trucks over taking each other is very dangerous.
This goes back to the saying "with great power comes great responsibility!".

Boring cars

Here are my list of car brands that in my opinion makes some really boring cars to drive:
- Lexus - all models except for the LFA and ISF
- Honda - all models except for S2000, Civic Type R, Accord Euro, Integra, NSX
- Nissan - all models except for Pulsar GTi-R, GTR and 370Z
- Mitsubishi - all models except for EVO X
- Ford - all models except for Focus ST
- Suzuki - all except for Swift Sport
- Kia - all models except for Optima K5 2.0T
- Hyundai - all models available in Malaysia (possible exception is the Veloster turbo)
- Toyota - all models except for Supra (but that is too old) and the upcoming GT-86
- VW - all models except for the Polo Gti, Golf Gti, Scirocco, Passat CC, Golf R and Scirocco R
- Chery - all models
- Subaru - all the Naturally aspirated models

When I say boring I mean the car does not have anything special about it to make it interesting. It may not handle very well, insufficient power to impress, dull interior, no feedback from the steering wheel, dull brakes, lousy chassis, too quiet and no exterior design appeal.

To me the car companies that consistently design interesting cars or entertaining cars are:
- BMW - their regular 3 series right up to the M cars are truly driver's cars.
- Mercedes - the AMG models are awesome
- Audi - the S and R series have always been admired
- Porsche - with the introduction of every new model, their just keep getting better. The only exception is the bland basic 3.6 Cayenne. The engine just isn't good enough for the car. The least Porsche could do is pinch the 3.0 Turbo from Audi and put it in the Cayenne as a base model unit.

I won't even go into the super car range because those cars are made for speed and handling.

Driving experiences

I have been fortunate enough to drive various type of cars in my life and I would like to share it:
- Go kart (100cc and 125cc racing karts) - one of the best bang for your buck thrill without breaking your bank account. It looks easy and like child's play but driving a racing kart fast around an go kart track is not as easy as it looks. It takes a toll on the body and definitely gives you a real work out. It is completely different from driving a car as the go-kart is very darty and reacts instantly to your steering, throttle and braking inputs. Going fast round turns also meant that your body is crushed against the side of the bucket seat, pulling 1G around a turn also meant that all your body weight is forced against the side of the seat. With adrenaline pumping through your veins at that time you may not feel the pain, but when you stop you can start to feel tingling sensation on body and the real pain kicks in the next day. These go-karts are also less forgiving to drive than a normal car as the go-kart has no suspension to help with the bumps, weight transfer effect and also no body roll. I was at the Elite Go-kart track with my buddy 12 years ago and a bunch of guys turned up after we just finished our session. These guys were part of some BMW group and were boasting about how easy it was to drive the go-kart fast.. male ego showing through at its best because there were some females present! after about 20 mins of boasting the guys took their turns on the track with a 100cc go-kart.. within 2 minutes they already spun their karts twice on the track! from then onwards they kept their mouths firmly shut and didn't utter another word about how easy it was to drive a go-kart fast!
The problem is that many people who have never driven a go-kart before do not realize that you do not brake and turn at the same times (like you can easily do in a car), this will just result in the kart spinning as the weight transfers forwards when you apply the brakes an the rear has less traction than the front.
Until today I firmly agree that go-karting is the best foundation for anyone who is aspiring to be a race car driver. It teaches you all the basics you need to know and helps you hone in your skills necessary to be a better driver. Go-karts are still regularly used by top Formula One drivers to practice on during the off season.

- Rally car - had the chance to try this out in Gold Coast Australia about 3 years ago. Interesting experience driving a fully race prepared rally car around a dirt track. The concept of driving the rally car is the complete opposite to driving a road car on a race track. The grip levels are completely different and if you think you can slide the car like Sebastian Loeb, think again! making the rally car turn when you want it to turn feels strange because what you think is the correct of steering input is just wrong. With the instructor next to me, he would yell "turn turn turn", and this meant putting a lot more steering input that you would think necessary. The logic for this is to force the tyres to dig into the dirt and give the car sufficient grip to turn. The power band of the car was also short as the car was tuned for short burst power to get out of corner before entering the next.
Rally driving is highly involving and you will find yourself constantly putting steering inputs to keep you going where you are suppose to go. Would love to have another shot at this.

- Formula car (Formula Asia) - I first tried this in Pattaya about 4 years ago when I attended a racing program organized by Taki Racing. I was first put in a proper touring car for about 25 laps around Bira Circuit to learn the lines and the braking points for the track then later in the day I was given the chance to drive the Formula Asia car. The Formula car was powered by a 1,600cc engine with a 500kg body. This meant that the it had great power to weight ratio and was quite an experience to drive. Having go-kart experience learning the lines around this track was not difficult but getting use to driving the Formula car was more difficult than I initially imagined. Firstly the slick tyres had to be warmed up. Coming out of the pits with completely cold tyres meant that the car was like a bar of soap on the track. Practically no grip at all and in order to heat up the tyre I had to drive much faster than I thought it was safe to do so with no grip. After about 3 laps the tyre started to heat up and that when the fun really begins.
The hardest part about driving the Formula car was changing gears. The shifter was on the right and was incredibly difficult to engage into the correct gears. I had gone round the 70% of the track and jammed into the wrong gears. Putting in a fast lap was harder than I realized due to my inconsistent gear shifting. After about 30 minutes of wrestling with the gears I finally managed to hook up several fast complete laps.
One of the interesting things I noticed about driving the Formula car was the down force from the front and rear wings. This meant that I could push harder and faster around the turns than I thought possible. With the wings attached the faster I went around the turn the more grip I had however there is still a limit to this. I remember taking one of the turns much faster that I thought possible. Driving the car to its limits it a delicate act. Once you exceed the limit of grip offered by the tyres and the aerodynamic aids, the car will bite you back. I would count this as one of the best experience I've had in a race car.

I hope to try several other types of racing cars for experience such as V8 Supercars (from Australia), Indy Car (available in Las Vegas in US), Nascar (also available in Las Vegas and Texas), 4WD dirt buggy and LeMans cars (at Ascari track, Spain).

Car Clubs

In the recent 8 years there have been a lot of car clubs springing up. There is practically a car club (or multiple for some car models) for each car model. The idea behind the car clubs are good for new car owners who want to gather information about car ownership, maintenance, parts and etc. However it is also bad as many people abuse the car clubs for self interest. The self interests come in the form of organizing events for the club members or helping members organize group purchase of products but instead of doing it out of their goodwill some of the so called organizing members use these opportunities to make money for themselves or get free products for themselves. There has also been cases where the so called Treasurer in a car club ran of with the money contributed by the members for specific events.
Joining a car club is an experience on its own as some active clubs will organize Sunday drives to various locations around the country for lunch or dinner, some organize track day events at the race track and other organize driver education programs.
Car clubs can also create internal rivalry between members who think their car is better, faster or better looking. These ego exchanges can be seen from car clubs ranging from Proton BLM club right up to the Porsche club.
Overall being in a car club has enough benefits to justify joining one provided the organizing committee is not corrupt or have self interest before the club.

how to add more power to your car

Most of us who live in Asia we usually end up with cars with smaller engine due to the silly car registration being tied to the engine capacity. This naturally becomes a handicap when it come to having enough power from your car's engine to move the weight of the car unless the engine is turbo charged.
Here are some devices that we have tested and proven to work to boost engine power:
- high flow replacement air filter (not open pod)
- Power Mesh (converts nitrogen and helium to oxygen molecules)
- Power Charger (improves electrical efficiency to reduce load on alternator)
- Broquet (fuel catalyst that creates reaction with fuel for better combustion)
- Removing of catalytic convert and replacing it with centre box (less restriction for exhaust system)
- Thicker spark plug wires
- better sparking spark plugs like SplitFire (potentially gain 1 to 3 hp)
- Cyclone (works to create spiraling effect of incoming air), but has limited effect
- micro compressor (leans out the air fuel mixture for leaner combustion, problem is with filtration of the extra incoming air), this device needs to be constantly adjusted to enable it to work properly
- fuel magnets (some with the right polarity works by ionizing the fuel molecules) but has limited effect
- Voltage stabilizers (only effective for older cars with insufficient grounding, at most improve power by 1 to 2 hp)
- Far Infrared plates and wraps (using Far Infrared to radiate the air and fuel molecules, limited effect and can gain at most 2hp)
- changing exhaust manifold to faster flowing type
- ECU remap (if available for the car can be highly effective)
- piggyback ECU (works if properly tuned and is not over written by the car's ECU)
- tuning boxes (if available for the car can be highly effective)
- NOS (confirmed power gains but need to refill tank and is illegal)
- Water methanol injection kits (impressive power gains but need to regularly top up the tank and has to be properly installed)
- TSD Thermal coating for intercoolers (reduces internal temperature in the intercooler, highly effective to improve power and torque)

The car i would create

If I had a chance to create a daily use car here are the parts I would use:-
- multi link independent suspension with progressive dampers that allows 5mm initial travel to absorb bumps and road imperfections
- 4 port caliper disc brakes for the front and 2 port caliper disc brakes for the rear
- 7 speed wet sump twin clutch gear box with Sports mode and paddle shifters
- 2,000cc intercooled twin turbo charged engine with 280hp and 400Nm, with over boost function adding extra 30hp and 40Nm when SPORT button is used.
- gross weight 1,300kg
- Front engine rear drive lay out with rear electronic limited slip differential
- 4,800 Bi-xenon head lights
- adjustable bucket seats (similar to VW Golf Gti)
- auto folding wing mirrors
- traction control system with 3 settings
- auto climate air conditioning
- integrated touch screen multimedia system with GPS and multi view cameras for front, rear and sides (for blind spot)
- 4 doors with 5 seats configuration
- UV and heat deflecting windscreen and side windows
- Multi function display on dash board with trip computer, fuel consumption, battery, water, oil temp, oil pressure, turbo boost, range, average trip consumption, and odometer
- tuned sports exhaust system with silencer
- two layer sound insulation system
- B&O 10 speaker sound system
- soft touch plastics for dash board and door cards
- leather wrapped 3 spoke steering wheel
- aluminium inserts on dash board and door trims
- wing mirrors with small LEDs embedded under neath
- push button start
- auto illuminating door handles (interior and exterior), key slot and foot well

engine down sizing and Hybrid engines

Engine Down sizing
In the past in countries where the car registration is not tied to the engine capacity of the car, one would see many big engine cars (with engine capacity exceeding 3,000cc) on the road. This is a clear example in Australia, New Zealand, US, South Africa and Europe. However in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand where the car registration is tied to the engine capacity of the car, 90% of the cars on the roads are of engine capacity of 2,000cc or less. Having a car with engine capacity exceeding 2,000cc meant that one would have to pay a lot more money to keep the car on the road on a yearly basis. In Asia where most people just consider cars as a mode of transport would try to keep their ownership costs at a minimum and would opt for the car with a small engine.
Having a big engine car is naturally more fun when there is a lot more torque is available. The engine requires less effort to produce the necessary power to move the car. Personally having driven Fords and Holdens with 5 Litres blocks and also BMW M5 before, having a big block engine car is seriously fun.
Now, since the invasion of Iraq and the ever fluctuating price of oil, petrol and diesel prices at the pumps have risen too much for many people to think it is logical to buy a large engine car. Car manufacturers have also taken this into consideration and focused their resources on down sizing engines and adding turbo chargers to give a similar effect as a big engine minus the sheer engine capacity, weight and fuel consumption. Down sizing engines meant that by shrinking down an engine from 2,500cc to 1,600cc with a turbo enabled the engineers to save on several key aspects that would effect the fuel consumption and performance of the car. Smaller engines meant less weight and less heat, and also uses less fuel. Working in combination with a small turbo charger the recycled exhaust gases could be used to force more air into the engine at higher density and speed to generate more power while burning less fuel than an engine with a large capacity producing similar power.
A typical 2,500cc engine would generate 180hp and 250Nm, a 1,600cc engine with a turbo charger could generate 180hp and 265Nm (as seen on the new Ford Focus 1.6 Turbo). The average fuel consumption for the 2,500cc engine would be 9 litres per 100km, while the 1,600cc turbo engine would consume an average of 6.5 litres per 100km. This meant significant fuel savings and yet the performance is the same or better.

Engine down sizing has been around for many decades and the main proponents of this was Volvo, Saab and Audi. Volvo and Saab stuck to their 2.0 turbo engines since mid 1980s. VW and Audi have been using their 1.8Turbo engines in the Passat, A4, Golf, Jetta, A6 and TT since the early 1990s. This tried and tested formula proved to work well. With the introduction of newer turbo technology, the once dreaded turbo lag is almost gone and having a small engine car with a turbo meant that you could be frugal and yet have a fun car to drive.
The most recent car company that has made the best of down sizing engines is BMW. BMW who traditionally shied away from using turbo chargers in their car have jumped onto the bandwagon and did a cracking job of down sizing their engines for their new F30 3 series and F10 5 series. The down sizing exercise was also extended to their new F10 M5 which is the very first M car to be made with turbos. BMW's foray into turbo charging has been nothing short of spectacular considering they didn't have much a turbo charging history.  The new F30 328i promises good performance coupled with good fuel consumption, while for the new M5 the 4 litre engine is twin turbo charged offering 50hp more than the older M5 and 100Nm more torque while saving 25% on fuel. Now that is what you call progress!

Hybrid engines
Not all car manufacturers decide to follow this down sizing route. The Japanese companies have instead focused on Hybrid engines to improve efficiency. The concept is not new and the Japanese has been evolving this technology for more than 10 years and with great success.
I do believe that hybrid technology works but I am not a fan of it because on one hand the hybrid car is trying to be ECO and save fuel and reduce the carbon foot print, but on the other hand the batteries used in most Japanese hybrids are made from nickel metal hydride which are high toxic and difficult to dispose of. I think this is quite contradictory since you try to save the environment on one side but you forget that batteries are very toxic to the environment! The other point that I think is quite silly is that you may save say RM30 per tank of fuel each week with your hybrid which brings your total annual savings to RM1560 (if you refill your tank once a week for 52 weeks in a year). Multiply this by 7 years (7 years is the average life expectancy of the hybrid battery before it needs to be replaced) the savings is RM10,920. Less the cost of the new hybrid battery RM9,000 (this was an estimate given by Toyota for the Prius battery), the net savings is RM1,920 in 7 years!! this means that you only save RM274 per year! In this example I have not taken into consideration the degradation rate of the hybrid battery which is bound to happen because nickel metal hydride batteries are known for their limited recharge efficiency rate, that's why mobile phone manufacturers do not use nickel metal hydride batteries any more. If I take into consideration the degradation rate of the hybrid battery there will virtually be no savings at all.
Seriously there is something wrong with this picture.
The Germans have adopted a different approach to hybrid technology. They use it to help reduce fuel consumption and boost the performance of the vehicle with the electric motor adding more torque and power when it is needed. The Germans use Lithium Ion Polymer batteries which are more compact and lighter. The Germans consider it more as a range extender and a performance extender. I think personally think this makes more sense.
TopGear UK previously did a study on which engine would provide the best fuel consumption when driven over the same route across the UK. The route covered motorways, city streets, small town road, and country roads. The comparison was done with a small capacity petrol engine car, a small turbo diesel engine car and a Toyota Prius Hybrid. At the end of the test, the winner was the small turbo diesel engine that offered the best fuel consumption.

Hybrid cars are at its best when you are stuck in traffic jams. If you constantly travel on the highways on long journeys (exceeding 100km day on highways), I would recommend you buy a turbo diesel engine car.

In Malaysia buying a hybrid car is not a bad idea because of the tax exemption for hybrids and the savings in the price of the new car is hard to ignore. Given more choices of diesels cars in the near future, I would strongly recommend buying a diesel car (if our govt would introduce better diesel fuel).

Car brands and what they mean to people

Car branding is such a big deal in Malaysia. This is mainly because people associate quality, reliability and resale value with the brand. For example Toyota is always held in high regard among most Malaysians because toyota cars have traditionally displayed good reliability, decent build quality and can offer good residual value. Toyota's brand recognition is so good that half the time the car sales representatives don't need to really put much effort to sell the car. The customer who walks into a Toyota showroom has already made up their mind to buy the car.
On the flip side, brands such as Renault, Citreon, Fiat and Ssangyong have quite the opposite.
Having a weak brand image may not mean that this image will continue on forever. The best example of a brand turning around and commanding respect is Volkswagen. Under the previous distributor AutoDunia, the VW brand suffered due to lack of proper marketing, poor spare parts support and inadequate dealer network. When VW themselves came into Malaysia in 2007, VW undertook a massive marketing exercise to develop the brand in Malaysia. VW was able to demonstrate that their cars were reliable, offered better value for money than its rivals, better technology and good after sales support.
After 4 years VW is now a force to be reckoned with in Malaysia. With the introduction of each new model, VW has taken away market share from its rivals. VW now offers 5 years warranty for all their cars and this shook the car industry. VW was the first European company to offer 5 years warranty for their cars. Other brands had to follow suit to be competitive. It is no longer just about buying a car, it is about the ownership experience.
VW is one of the few brands in Malaysia where a VW owner will buy another VW car.

This cannot be said for Kia, where the after sales and warranty support is sorely lacking. Their cars may be nice to  look at and are of decent value for money but the attitude of the distributor kills the ownership experience.