Having finally bought myself a 997 Carrera S, it took me a while to really come to terms with this car. I have owned all types of front engine turbo cars with front drive and rear drive and even four wheel drive. I test drove a lot of 911s in my life together with the Caymans and Boxsters but never owned one long term until recently.
I did spend 2 full days in a 997 turbo prior to my purchase and I found the car too light at the front for my liking but then again that car had a tonne of torque which meant that under heavy acceleration the front will naturally lift and make the front end feel very light.
The 997 Carrera S was actually very easy to live with and having a naturally aspirated 3.8 litre engine mated to the PDK gearbox the car was very tractable at low speeds. The newer 3.8 litre engine in this car had direct injection which helped the car's engine response even with the slightest touch of the throttle.
Most people who say that having driven a 997 Turbo you would love to have that extra 80hp but in reality the Carrera S is fast enough and gives you a greater sensation of control and feel of the car rather than just the massive shove in the back when the turbo kicks in. The front end of the car did feel light like a typical 911 but it was not as pronounced as the turbo model. The car's turn in was good and the wide rear tyres was confidence inspiring. Where I live requires me to drive through a winding street that snakes around a hill giving me plenty of chance to put the car through its pace. If a car does not have good handling the effect is very clearly demonstrated on this piece or tarmac. The 3.8 litre engine is very linear in power delivery which means that it is very predictable to drive.
the only 1 gripe with the car is the brakes. It takes a bit of getting used to. The driver has to press quite hard on the brake pedal to initiate any kind of speed retardation but once you get used to this the brakes are actually very good.
The best part about the car was the Sport Chrono function which came with the Sport Plus button. This little button really changes the behavior of the car from sporty to very angry. The engine would very willing spin to the redline and the suspension will stiffen up to reduce body roll. The animal really comes out and feels like the car will squeeze out the extra 5 to 10hp. It is definitely more applicable on the race track but nevertheless it is still fun on a empty piece of road.
Many motoring journalists have given good reviews about the 911 as the sports car of the century. I have to agree. The engineers have poured in enough hours to improve the car to such a point that it is a real driver's car. they also managed to overcome the rear pendulum effect and made the car drive very well.
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
Monday, 17 March 2014
F1 - the new vs the old
The new Formula One season just kicked off with the Australian GP. The big difference this year is the introduction of new regulations with new engines and new KERS system. All the changes were made to make the sport more exciting and also to make the sport Greener! if that is ever possible!
The new 1.6 litre turbo engine is aimed at higher fuel efficiency but it has taken away the shrieking exhaust note from the old 2.4 litre V8 engine. Many fans complained that the car has lost its character and is no longer as interesting. Apart from the sound the new regulations have made the sport more interesting from the spectators point of view. The new KERS system is much more powerful with 160hp extra power and 33 seconds worth of boost. The drag reduction system also has a greater effect allowing easier overtaking.
The smaller front and rear wings also mean that the cars will have less down force making it more tricky to drive this will see more drivers making mistakes to allow more overtaking. The first race was a good preview of what is yet to come for this season. Some of the former midfield teams may just pull out some surprises over the top teams.
Several of the rookies showed their skill in the season opening race with Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo making a name for themselves by taking on the former world champions and beating them convincingly. The 2014 will definitely shape up to be an exciting season indeed.
The new 1.6 litre turbo engine is aimed at higher fuel efficiency but it has taken away the shrieking exhaust note from the old 2.4 litre V8 engine. Many fans complained that the car has lost its character and is no longer as interesting. Apart from the sound the new regulations have made the sport more interesting from the spectators point of view. The new KERS system is much more powerful with 160hp extra power and 33 seconds worth of boost. The drag reduction system also has a greater effect allowing easier overtaking.
The smaller front and rear wings also mean that the cars will have less down force making it more tricky to drive this will see more drivers making mistakes to allow more overtaking. The first race was a good preview of what is yet to come for this season. Some of the former midfield teams may just pull out some surprises over the top teams.
Several of the rookies showed their skill in the season opening race with Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo making a name for themselves by taking on the former world champions and beating them convincingly. The 2014 will definitely shape up to be an exciting season indeed.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Proton asking USD1billion to develop a new car
It is hardly surprising to read that Proton is once again struggling. No one really wants to buy their new car or existing cars unless they cannot help it financially. Their sales figures have been on the decline and new models are not selling as fast as they had hoped. They recently asked the Malaysian government for US$1 billion to help them fund the research and development of a new model. The level of corruption in Proton is well known among many suppliers who previously supplied parts to them. The US$1 billion request is scoffed at by the public as many believe that half of that money will end up in the pockets of a few people in the company.
Realistically Proton could easily adopt a much easier route if they were serious about developing a new model in the attempt to do real honest business. They can easily buy an existing chassis from a major car company and buy the engine and transmission from another, or simply do a rebadging job and alter the physical appearance to call it their own. Since they don't have the right engineering team to develop a car ground up that is worthy to compete on the global market, they are better of just doing a rebadging job. Saves them time, money and they can offer more models to the market which will help them take a slice in the market in various market segments.
With the founder Dr. Mahathir leaving the company as advisor, the company is in a predicament where they do not have someone of power to lean on to for help. The company has been protected long enough and until today they cannot compete in the domestic market without protection. Shouldn't it be time for this poor excuse for a car company to shut down and call it a day instead of continuing to burden the Malaysian public!
Realistically Proton could easily adopt a much easier route if they were serious about developing a new model in the attempt to do real honest business. They can easily buy an existing chassis from a major car company and buy the engine and transmission from another, or simply do a rebadging job and alter the physical appearance to call it their own. Since they don't have the right engineering team to develop a car ground up that is worthy to compete on the global market, they are better of just doing a rebadging job. Saves them time, money and they can offer more models to the market which will help them take a slice in the market in various market segments.
With the founder Dr. Mahathir leaving the company as advisor, the company is in a predicament where they do not have someone of power to lean on to for help. The company has been protected long enough and until today they cannot compete in the domestic market without protection. Shouldn't it be time for this poor excuse for a car company to shut down and call it a day instead of continuing to burden the Malaysian public!
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Has Japan finally caught the engine downsizing bug?
It appears that Honda will be among the first Japanese car makers to follow the Europeans to downsize their engines and couple it with a turbo charger. It is about time too!! The Europeans have been doing this for about 10 years. The news is definitely exciting as Honda was a proponent in turbo charging back in the 1980s and now they are back to it again.
It will be interesting to see how Honda's new engines will compare against the European car makers. The newer turbo technology has made turbo charging more appealing than before offering better efficiency and also less turbo lag.
The soon to be released Honda Civic Type R will be the first of the Type R models to feature a turbo charged engine with impressive performance figures. This car will likely give VW and Audi a run for their money performance wise and it is likely that the car will also be cheaper than the VW and Audi.
We shall see which other Japanese car company will follow this direction.
It will be interesting to see how Honda's new engines will compare against the European car makers. The newer turbo technology has made turbo charging more appealing than before offering better efficiency and also less turbo lag.
The soon to be released Honda Civic Type R will be the first of the Type R models to feature a turbo charged engine with impressive performance figures. This car will likely give VW and Audi a run for their money performance wise and it is likely that the car will also be cheaper than the VW and Audi.
We shall see which other Japanese car company will follow this direction.
Sunday, 26 January 2014
2014 National Automotive Policy
The Malaysian Govt recent announced the much awaited National Automotive Policy. This is the new policy to be introduced since 2009. It appears that nothing much has changed and protecting the local automotive industry has done nothing for improving the country's automotive industry.
The 2014 policy saw the removal of the tax exemption for imported Hybrid vehicles and the government back tracking on its pledge to remove the APs (approved permits) for importation of cars at the end of 2015. As expected the policy is geared toward protecting Proton and the companies linked to the Government leaving the man on the street to bear the high cost of car ownership.
During the announcement several top management executives from major car companies were seen cringing and make statements such as "Unbelievable!" due to their frustration. It is evident that the policy has only benefited a very select few and the rest are left to work within the framework. Frustrating as it may be there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the Malaysian automotive industry. The policies so far has yielded insignificant levels of investment from foreign car makers and many have opted to focus their investments in neighouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
The recent KL International motorshow was a good example of the state of affairs for the Malaysian automotive industry. The government claims that they cannot lower the taxes of the cars due to the fact that the Government is in need of money. Heavily taxing the cars only causes more financial burden on the public and in a country where public transport is not well planned and inefficient buying a car is a necessity.
Now there is rumour that the government will revoke the fuel subsidy for people with a certain level of income and provide the subsidy for the poor. this is again open to abuse and cannot be adequately policed effectively.
The 2014 policy saw the removal of the tax exemption for imported Hybrid vehicles and the government back tracking on its pledge to remove the APs (approved permits) for importation of cars at the end of 2015. As expected the policy is geared toward protecting Proton and the companies linked to the Government leaving the man on the street to bear the high cost of car ownership.
During the announcement several top management executives from major car companies were seen cringing and make statements such as "Unbelievable!" due to their frustration. It is evident that the policy has only benefited a very select few and the rest are left to work within the framework. Frustrating as it may be there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the Malaysian automotive industry. The policies so far has yielded insignificant levels of investment from foreign car makers and many have opted to focus their investments in neighouring countries such as Thailand and Indonesia.
The recent KL International motorshow was a good example of the state of affairs for the Malaysian automotive industry. The government claims that they cannot lower the taxes of the cars due to the fact that the Government is in need of money. Heavily taxing the cars only causes more financial burden on the public and in a country where public transport is not well planned and inefficient buying a car is a necessity.
Now there is rumour that the government will revoke the fuel subsidy for people with a certain level of income and provide the subsidy for the poor. this is again open to abuse and cannot be adequately policed effectively.
VW's reputation in Malaysia
Volkswagen did a great job in the last few years promoting its cars and its brand. Their market share increased significantly over the years and is the top selling German car brand in Malaysia. With the growth it naturally sounds good but the problem came when they did not put much emphasis on after sales. With more cars sold the number of problems also grew. Many were the lower powered engined cars with the dry clutch DSG transmission.
Of late Facebook has been the place where disgruntled owners have vented their frustration about the lack of support and service by VW centres. The cars are all sold with 5 years warranty with the warranty made up of 2 years manufacturer's warranty and the balance of the 3 years supported by Allianz insurance. The problems came when the owners made claims after 2 years of ownership and Allianz would drag their feet to honor the claims. There are also cases where the VW warranty is not honored when the customer supposedly missed the service or was late to service their car by 300km which in our opinion is ridiculous considering that scheduling a service will take 2 weeks and to tell the owner not to drive their car for 2 weeks fearing that their warranty will be void once the buffer mileage will be exceeded.
To makes matters worse the customer service crew at many of the VW service centers were not adequately trained to handle unhappy customers.
It appears that in the attempt to go for large volume sales VW has compromised on its quality and attention to detail. The number of complaints is mounting every month giving VW a bad reputation. This is quite surprising considering the VW should have known about the problems with the cars and put more emphasis on service and support. Once a customer has had a bad experience with a brand, they will unlikely return to buy another. We all know that it is hard enough to win a customer, it is even harder to retain a loyal customer.
Looking at the present situation, if VW does not step up its customer support and provide better after sales service, their honeymoon period of good sales will come to an end soon.
Of late Facebook has been the place where disgruntled owners have vented their frustration about the lack of support and service by VW centres. The cars are all sold with 5 years warranty with the warranty made up of 2 years manufacturer's warranty and the balance of the 3 years supported by Allianz insurance. The problems came when the owners made claims after 2 years of ownership and Allianz would drag their feet to honor the claims. There are also cases where the VW warranty is not honored when the customer supposedly missed the service or was late to service their car by 300km which in our opinion is ridiculous considering that scheduling a service will take 2 weeks and to tell the owner not to drive their car for 2 weeks fearing that their warranty will be void once the buffer mileage will be exceeded.
To makes matters worse the customer service crew at many of the VW service centers were not adequately trained to handle unhappy customers.
It appears that in the attempt to go for large volume sales VW has compromised on its quality and attention to detail. The number of complaints is mounting every month giving VW a bad reputation. This is quite surprising considering the VW should have known about the problems with the cars and put more emphasis on service and support. Once a customer has had a bad experience with a brand, they will unlikely return to buy another. We all know that it is hard enough to win a customer, it is even harder to retain a loyal customer.
Looking at the present situation, if VW does not step up its customer support and provide better after sales service, their honeymoon period of good sales will come to an end soon.
Monday, 13 January 2014
2014 Tokyo Autosalon
It is Autosalon season again and this year the show is as big as last year's! so many crazy tuned cars and so many bodykits on display. The show organizers did cut back on the number of Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ on display. A better variety of cars were on display with some serious bizarre looking vehicles which look totally unrecognizable.
As usual there were plenty of girls to grace the cars and also big collection of new wheels on display with a massive 32" set of wheels put on a Lexus GS model. Some of the cars were wrapped in extreme graphics and new textured wraps. It is amazing to see how creative some of the tuners get when they have unlimited budgets.
The up and coming tuner, Liberty Walk was on display with their ultra wide body Ferrari 458 and several other models. Subaru took the chance to display their new upcoming Levorg model which is similar to the upcoming WRX wagon. Not sure if Levorg is the name that will be used in Japan only but the car looks good nevertheless. It is definitely a big improvement over the previous Subaru models. Nissan also took the chance to display their new X-Trail and Skyline which also looks much better than previous models.
There were also American muscle cars on display such as the Hennessey Corvette C7 and the HRE Ford GT. Over the 3 days, the Autosalon easily attracted over 250,000 visitors cover all 11 halls. The show's support came from car makers which now recognize the Autosalon as a major automotive show that they cannot miss.
Many tuning companies and parts suppliers also displayed their product for all to see. Racing teams also took the opportunity to show their race cars for 2014.
As usual there were plenty of girls to grace the cars and also big collection of new wheels on display with a massive 32" set of wheels put on a Lexus GS model. Some of the cars were wrapped in extreme graphics and new textured wraps. It is amazing to see how creative some of the tuners get when they have unlimited budgets.
The up and coming tuner, Liberty Walk was on display with their ultra wide body Ferrari 458 and several other models. Subaru took the chance to display their new upcoming Levorg model which is similar to the upcoming WRX wagon. Not sure if Levorg is the name that will be used in Japan only but the car looks good nevertheless. It is definitely a big improvement over the previous Subaru models. Nissan also took the chance to display their new X-Trail and Skyline which also looks much better than previous models.
There were also American muscle cars on display such as the Hennessey Corvette C7 and the HRE Ford GT. Over the 3 days, the Autosalon easily attracted over 250,000 visitors cover all 11 halls. The show's support came from car makers which now recognize the Autosalon as a major automotive show that they cannot miss.
Many tuning companies and parts suppliers also displayed their product for all to see. Racing teams also took the opportunity to show their race cars for 2014.
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