mid life crisis cars

Here is an interesting question. What is the best mid life crisis car?! having seen my uncles and relatives go through mid life crisis, one would wonder what is a good mid life crisis car. I cannot say that there is just 1 best mid life crisis car because that would simply be impossible as each person has different budget, driving expectation, performance expectation and preference.
Some people may not agree with my list but here it is anyway:
this list based on brand new cars available in the market.
Budget between RM150k to RM250k
- VW EOS and Peugeot RCZ
Budget between RM250k to RM350k
- Audi TT or Audi A5
Budget between RM350k to RM450k
- BMW Z4
Budget between RM450k to RM550k
- Porsche Boxster
Budget between RM550k to RM650k
- Porsche Cayman S or Porsche Cayenne S
Budget between RM650k to RM750k
- Porsche Panamera or BMW 630i
Budget between 750k to RM850k
- BMW M3

For recond cars at the current market prices but not exceeding 5 years old:
Budget between RM150k to RM250k
- Audi TT or Audi A5
Budget between RM250k to RM350k
- Porsche Cayman S
Budget between RM350k to RM450k
- Porsche 911 Carrera 4S (997 model)
Budget between RM450k to RM550k
- Porsche 911 Turbo (997 model)
Budget between RM550k to RM650k
- Ferrari F430 or Audi R8 4.2
Budget between RM650k to RM750k
- Lamborghini Gallardo or Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Budget between RM750k to RM850k
- Ferrari 599 or Mercedes SLS

why did I not include any Japanese cars? That is because most people aspire to buy a nice European sports car or sports coupe when they are young and can only afford it when they get older. The Japanese cars are always tagged with boy racer image and does not have the brand prestige to go with it. When you are in your 40s, you wouldn't want to be seen driving a Japanese sports car like a Nissan 370Z, you would look like a guy who still thinks he is in his 20s.

Evo vs Subaru

Having owned a Mitsubishi Evo TME and a Subaru STi before I will provide a comparison for these cars:
Evo:-

• super small fuel tank (can hardly reach 300km on a full tank of moderate driving)
• minimal turbo lag and faster turbo spool up
• practically no understeer
• engine is very thirsty and need to watch engine seals for leaks
• easy to drive fast and make yourself think you are a hero!
• stiffer suspension makes city driving a bit uncomfortable

Subaru STi:-

• slightly bigger fuel tank compared to Evo. (difference is 5 litres)
• turbo only kicks in around 3000rpm but more torque is available from 3,500rpm
• understeers when you push it hard into corner
• engine is thirsty but not as thirsty as Evo
• more comfortable to drive in city
• unique looking (some say it is ugly)

These two rally based cars were the hot items in the 1990s and the early 2000. Since the 10th generation were introduced about 2 years ago their appeal has deteriorated as their cars got uglier, fatter and heavier. There are also more choices for fast cars (some maybe not as fast as the Evo or STi) such as 350Z or the 370Z (now), Golf Gti, Renault Megane Cup Sport, Civic Type R, Integra Type R, Nissan GTR and Scirocco. 

Things have changed and the buyers these days expect better comfort, better fuel economy and less turbo lag. Mitsubishi already announced that they will not be making any more Evos and Subaru has changed it direction to focus on the upcoming GT-86 coupe. Looks like the boy racer scene will change and these two cult rally heros will be a thing of the past very soon!

tyres

Every time I change a set of tyres I would talk to the shop owner or the workers there to determine if they really knew about tyres. The most common statement I hear is that "the tyre is noisy.. meaning it is lousy!!".
Lets now discuss about this statement. Tyre noise are caused by the escaping air rushing out from the tyre tread. The wider the tread grooves the more air will be pushed out causing a louder "
wooong" sound. Saying that a noisy tyre is a lousy tyre is not entirely correct as most layman who are not familiar with tyres will think this way. If the tyre is noisy this means that the tyre tread groove is wide and this also means that it will enable the tyre to expel water more efficiently that quiet tyres. Noisy tyres usually have V shaped grooves for better water dispersion but the tyre noise level can be high. High performance Japanese tyres have a tendency to be a bit noisier but it gave good wet and dry traction. These type of tyres are better suited for performance based cars or drivers who want better grip and don't mind louder tyre noise. European tyre manufacturers on the other hand have developed quieter performance tyres that use wide grooves in the middle that are able to disperse water in a straight line and reduce the tyre noise. However these tyre are usually a lot more expensive than the Japanese made tyres.

I feel that the basics of buying the right tyre for your car is not well understood. Buy the tyre that suits your car and your driving style.
If you are driving a family car, buy a comfort based tyre as these offer a slightly narrower groove pattern and is less noisy. the wet weather grip may not be as good as performance tyres but these tyres last a lot longer and you aren't exactly driving this car at crazy speeds.
If you are driving a small car to save fuel, buy an Eco based tyre (if possible) or a comfort based tyre. These tyre are cheaper and longer lasting than the performance based tyres. Avoid hard compound tyres and avoid low end Malaysian made tyres such as Sime and Silverstone. These are notorious for hard compounds, poor grip in the wet and dry and have a tendency to blister.
If you are driving a large luxury car, buy a semi performance tyre that is geared towards comfort but with the performance edge such as Continental ContiSport or the Michelin Pilot series.

tyre shop employees are not always the best people to get advise from as they are driven by profits, the brand they are representing and many of them simply lack the technical knowledge on tread design, tyre compound, brand (not all unknown brands are bad! and not all established brands are good).

Malaysia: one of the most expensive places to own a car

For most developed countries owning a car is like owning a mobile phone. It is just a product and it is just used mainly for transportation purposes, sometimes with some luxury appeal and status symbol.
In Malaysia owning a car is a luxury, especially an imported car. Being a developing country, Malaysia ranks right up there with countries which slaps some of the highest import tax and other associated levies on imported cars to  protect its local car manufacturer Proton, which was created by the Prime Minister at the time, Dr Mahathir.
Being a nation going through industrialization the idea seemed to be a good one at the time but as time went on more and more protection was created to help Proton grow. However the main idea of creating Proton was to make car ownership affordable and an average income family can afford to buy a car. This concept went out the window when Proton got so complacent with Govt protection they didn't care about the quality of the cars and coupled that with corrupt officials inside Proton taking kickbacks to purchase substandard parts for the car. The price of Proton cars steadily climbed and this made owning a Proton increasingly expensive.
The quality of the car were down right shocking with power windows not working, constant rattling of the dash board (new car!), creaking sounds from the steering column, no safety laminated front windscreens, cheap two layer body paint to name a few. These cars were also not crash worthy.
Fast forward 28 years to the present day, given a choice no Malaysian would want to buy a Proton. The company has introduced numerous new models but their own creations fail to impress anyone and the sale of the car is based purely on price. If the automotive market was open in Malaysia, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai would crush Proton in terms of out right sales. For a measly few thousand Ringgit more, all Malaysians would opt for a better designed, better made and better specced foreign car. The biggest insult to Malaysians is to pay high prices for lousy quality cars.

A simple comparison with the US, an average American earning US$2000 a month could easily afford to buy an entry level Honda Civic for US$13,000 in less than 2 years. In Malaysia an average Malaysian earning RM2,000 a month would have to save for easily 4 to 5 years for the down payment on a RM50,000 Proton. With this, we are not even comparing apple for apple. The RM50,000 Proton is far inferior in terms of quality, design, fuel efficiency and technology compared to the base model Honda Civic. The same Honda Civic model would cost RM115,000 which is almost 3 times more.
What this really means is that the Malaysian govt is not doing any justice to the Malaysian public. slapping crazy taxes on cars means that more of a person's salary is used to repay the car loan. The Govt will argue that they subsidize the fuel prices in Malaysia however I know many car owners would rather pay less tax on a car and pay slightly higher fuel prices. An average driver will not spend more than RM20,000 in fuel over the ownership period of the car. Saving RM20,000 or more on the price of the car makes more sense.

Malaysia may have the second highest car prices in Asia, it is still one notch better than Singapore which currently holds the title for the highest car prices in the world!!

korean cars

I've had the good fortune to either test drive, own or driven car made by most of the main stream car manufacturers ranging from Japanese, Malaysian, Korean, chinese, American, British , German and Italian. I have to say that in the last 6 years the Koreans namely Hyundai and Kia, have made massive improvements to their car in terms of styling, engine technology, gearbox technology and even safety. With all these improvements they have been eating into the market share where it was firmly held by Japanese auto makers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Coming from behind and playing catch up the Koreans were able to learn from the mistakes made by the Japanese auto makers and create cars that people love looking at and will consider owning especially in this glum economic climate.
The big break through came with the introduction of the new range of cars lead by Hyundai with the handsome looking Sonata YF and the new Tucson. This new fresh design created a lot of interest in crowds where traditionally they would not even touch a Korean made car. Saying this, Kia (the sister company of Hyundai) also embarked on a bold step to pinch top car designer from Germany (Audi) to head their design team. The net result was a spectacular looking Kia Optima K5 and the new Sportage. As an avid car buff I was simply astounded with the progress made and the bold innovation that the Koreans took. Not to say that the Japanese auto makers were sleeping, the Koreans simply make a quantum leap in terms of design. They also manage to develop their own twin clutch gear box for high range Hyundais which was something that the Japanese didn't even bother and instead stuck to their CVT gear boxes.
The heavy investment is paying off handsomely for Hyundai and Kia as you can see their market share climb in almost every market they are in. Hopefully this momentum can be maintained as there are still many unconvinced consumers out there who previously had bad ownership experience with their old Korean cars. This was mainly caused by cheaper or inferior built quality, high fuel consumption and replacement expensive parts.
Despite all these improvements, the Koreans still have not quite made it to the levels of the Japanese or Germans. what I mean by this is that the driving experience is not as involving and something is still lacking. There is still this hollow feeling when you drive a new Hyundai. Unlike a Toyota or Honda or VW, the Hyundai or Kia may excel at certain points about the car but as an overall package, it still cannot command the premium expected by a Toyota, VW or even a Skoda.
Given another few more years and a bit more learning I believe the Koreans will be challenging the Japanese for a bigger slice of the world automotive market. Whether it can compete with the Germans is another story all together.
The next big wave in will be the emerging challenge from China made cars.

Bad driving
Why are people's driving getting so bad these days? Are the people in the road oblivious to other or are they just selfish and don't give a damn about other drivers on the road. Just the other morning when I happen to drive past the Indian Embassy at Taman Duta, this place is notorious for the inconsiderate drivers who randomly park their cars all over the place with no regard for other cars that need to pass. A guy driving a white van decided to stop at the corner of the street (narrow) and had a long chat with his mate who was planning to get out of the van. He didn't care if the cars behind where honking at him.. he just kept on chatting with his mate until he decided he should move the car!
I seriously feel that the Indian Embassy should be relocated to Ampang where all the other embassies are located. The current location is in an upmarket residential area and I am very sure that most of the residents there are not happy with the traffic caused by these visitors to the embassy.
On another note, I have also noticed a lot of ignorant drivers who drive with one wheel on each lane with their cars wandering from lane to lane because they cannot be bothered to hold the steering wheel with two hands. People seem to forget all the basic driving rules and create new ones to suit themselves.
If you have driven in a Western country you can see the courtesy of other drivers and nearly all of them observe the law. It not so much about fearing the law but they respect other road users.

I recently came across a new Iphone App named Waze. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to use and also how useful the information is. Other users could report traffic incidences such as traffic jam, car stopped on road shoulder, speed camera, police road blocks and even weather. The idea behind this was excellent because instead of having cameras fitted (which don't work properly in the first place) around the country, users who were at the location were able to report live information for other users to use. This dynamic reporting is real time and is far better than our ITIS system in Malaysia. The app is free and available on Iphone and Android platforms. The more people use it the better the data becomes! Lets all join the bandwagon and help each other manage save time and have a smoother drive.