This is the one and only Lamborghini Aventador in that came out of the factory in blue glauco, a one off mixture of blue and green that has a subtle hint of Tiffany’s signature shade.
The car belongs to Robbie Dickson, an exotic car collector who certainly has a taste for exotic color.
Audi came up with the A3 Clubsports concept car that really shines not only in the way it looks but also in terms of the overall performance package.
In the heart of this compact 2-door 4-wheel drive sports sedan is a heavily tuned 2.0 liter TDI diesel engine that churns out 221 bhp with a massive 332 lb/ft torque that you would expect from a diesel. A six speed gearbox completes the package. The car is capable of 0-100km in about 6.6 seconds.
Audi A3 Clubsports quattro
The car was built specifically for an annual VW and Audi get together in Austria, lets see if Audi will bring this baby to the market. With that kind of performance and look it should be able to sell very well alongside popular offerings such as the VW GTi
It’s been a number of months now since the launch of the much anticipated Naza Bestari (rebranded Peugeot 206). One of my friends has gotten her order delivered and had been driving the car for the past few months. Naturally, I test drove the car and are ready to give a full review with some of the minor details that might not otherwise be evident when you look at the car at the showroom.
the Naza Bestari (Peugeot 206)
The performance:
The TU3 1.4 liter engine that is the heart of the car generates about 75 horsepower. As far as everyday driving is concern, it is pretty sufficient and have no trouble going uphill. However, due to the relatively heavy weight of european design (1025kg curb weight), this car isn’t exactly a screamer at all.
As a comparison, the Kelisa is around 760kg while producing about 55 horsepower with its 1.0 liter engine. In terms of horsepower over weight ratio, both cars are almost the same (around 0.073 hp/kg). However, the slightly cheaper Proton Waja 1.6 is 1175kg with the campro engine generates 115 horsepower, 0.098 hp/kg.
As far as fuel consumption is concerned, this car isn’t exactly a super saver’s dream. A RM70 full tank only gets you around 400 km in city driving (RM 1.92 per liter). Not terribly cheap to operate for a 1.4 liter car, but it is over one tonne in weight.
the nicely illuminated meter cluster
Transmission:
The 206 comes with the 4 gear automatic transmission with tiptronic. In my opinion though, tiptronic is a feature that ultimately many will never use. While in automatic mode the car performs pretty much up to expectation, however, shifting into tiptronic mode has a noticable, if not slightly annoying lag. That said, it might be that I am spoilt after testing the 2.3 liter Mazda 6.
There are, however, two other features that might be quite useful, the snow and the sports option. The snow option attempt to give the car more grips, while in Malaysia we are not going to expect any snow, it is useful during heavy down pours. Another use of this option might be during long downhill drives if you do not want to shift down to lower gears with the tiptronic.
The sports option delays gear change till higher RPM, thus letting the engine rev longer to give the car more power for overtaking maneuver. Then again, the relative lack of engine horsepower pretty much limits what you can achieve anyway.
The current gear is also shown on the meter cluster if tiptronic is used.
audio control, head lamp height control, tiptronic gear shift, side aircond vent
Other nice features:
There are several very nice features that comes with the Peugeot 206, some of which you can’t find in Japanese cars of similar prices.
Built quality and the missing headrest:
It is reported that over 200 components on the Bestari are locally made in Malaysia, and not surprisingly, this is shown in the overall built quality. My friend has to send the car back to the dealer twice to fix an annoying rattling sound at the left rear of the car. The fittings in the car are less refined, if you notice the lower right picture above, the gap between the door and dashboard is big enough to fit a thumb.
Then there’s the plastic cover of the oh shit handle on the driver side that keeps opening up. That was solved using glue instead. The last annoying thing is the lack of headrests on the rear passenger seats. Instead, there were hard plastic covering the six holes where you would expect the three head rests. Worse still, there seem to be no way to purchase the headrests from Naza. It is very annoying if you are a rear seat passanger going on a long trip and constantly getting your head knocked on the hard plastic covers.
Finally, the spare tyre is mounted under the car instead of inside the rear luggage compartment like most other cars. It means that the spare tyre gets dirty easily and also makes refilling the spare a slightly trickier affair.
Overall conclusion:
Overall, the car still offers decent value for RM 68,888 including roadtax and insurance. Afterall, it is a good price to get the European feel. Especially you are those sort of person who loves the exclusivity of having something that isn’t as common as a MyVi or Waja.
I went to the Petronas Gallery for the famous BMW Art Cars exhibition with the Snark over lunch time. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, and all we got was a poster and a bookmark.
According to the website:
The BMW Art Car Collection is a series of BMW production models transformed from automobile to art by some of the world’s foremost artists.
free bookmark and a poster
There were four cars on the exhibit, the BMW 320i by Roy Lichtenstein. Frank Stella’s BMW 3.0 CSL. A stunning M3 by Ken Done. And the hand painted BMW M1 by Andy Warhol.
The cars were not only beautiful art work, but menacing mechanical contraption too. Specifications of the car and performance numbers were stated. For example, the 3.0 CSL is stated to produce 700 hp. There were also some videos on display.
The exhibition runs from that 15th of September to 22nd of October, at Petronas Gallery on the 3rd floor of Suria KLCC mall. Admission is free, the hall opens Tuesday through Sunday. If you happen to be in KLCC, go check it out.
Spotted this BMW 3 series E36 for quite some time now, laying bare at the Crimsom Apartment car park since at least a couple months back. It looks like an abandoned car, even the engine bay unlocked.
rear lights and all the wheels are gone
The car is just resting on top of some bricks, all the wheels are removed. Side skirts and front bumpers are damaged as well. A peek at the engine reveals that it’s a 6 cylinder model, meaning most likely a 320, 325, or 328. The more popular 318 came with a four cylinder motor.
E36 resting on some bricks
It is pretty weird to see a car like this just abandoned right at the parking lot. I wonder if it belongs to the owner who stays at this apartment complex, or the car was just being disposed conviniently here?
engine bay, not in any good condition
