tzlee.com/blog

Category: Automotive

  • Another lazy Sunday; off to more car showrooms…

    OK, it was another idle Sunday not knowing what to do, so we decided to go poke around more showrooms after lunch at Old Town White Coffee along Chun Tin Road (Bukit Timah).

    First stop, Volkswagen

    We test drove the new VW Passat 1.8T (not the Passat CC) which was launched just 2 months ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the car – powerful, quiet, comfortable and feature packed.

    Assisted by a light pressure turbo, the engine’s torque can be felt as early as 1,500 rpm. By 2,000 rpm there was sufficient torque to haul the heavy 1.5 tonne car around. The 7 speed DSG was such a marvel – you wouldn’t notice it shifting. Moving off from a traffic junction, it shifts from 1 to 2 in about a second… before you know it, you’re at gear 7!

    Sound insulation was excellent given the 18″ alloys and low profile tyre – it’s about as good as it gets.

    I like the hold assist feature – it keeps the car stationary once you bring it to a complete stop; to get it going again simply just tap the accelerator. This is particularly useful at traffic junctions but when you are stuck in a traffic jam or are parking your vehicle, Hold Assist can get annoying. It can be turned off by flicking a switch beside your gearstick.

    On top of that, the Passat comes with a built-in GPS navigation (beautiful maps and touch screen, BTW) and a reverse camera with direction guide, i.e. it draws a line of your intended direction of travel based on the angle of your steering. This is nothing like the bolt-on 3rd party reverse cameras in JDM/KDM rides.

    For the price of $15x,xxx (after discount), this is easily the most value-for-money buy in the luxury sedan category. Not to mention the boot is HUGE!

    Comfort: 9/10 – Quiet, spacious and smooth ride. Great workmanship. Floor mounted gas pedals reduce fatigue on long distance drives.
    Features: 9.5/10 – Everything in, except for bluetooth. Love the navigation.
    Engagement: 9/10 – Very forgiving on the inputs but still precise. Engine torque kicks in quickly.
    Design: 7.5/10 – A little squarish for my personal taste, but still looks reasonably modern.
    Value: 9.5/10 – Certainly value-for-money for a car this size.

    Second stop, Audi

    So we went next door to the big brother, Audi, and tested the A4 1.8T. Vorsprung Durch Technikkkk… *boop boop* *boop boop*.

    The first impression of the A4 was so-so. Although the interior bore some resemblance to VW, it was actually lacking in features probably because the A4 is already a 3 year old model (launched in 2008).

    In normal (“Auto” Drive Select) mode, the engine felt slightly more responsive than the Passat and is perfectly suited for day-to-day city driving. Switching Drive Select to Dynamic mode made the steering heavier and improved throttle response. However, the gearbox downshifts a little too eagerly for my liking though it may be just my personal preference.

    What I did not quite get used to was the brakes – it was overly sensitive. For those who drive their car like they stole it, this aggressive braking behavior is fine. But for older folks, maybe not – they might unintentionally execute an emergency brake at a traffic junction. So now you know folks, don’t tailgate an Audi driven by an uncle.

    Oddly the sound insulation was a fair bit poorer than the VW (older car?) and the sportier drive actually made wife sitting at the back a little uncomfortable.

    No GPS navigation, a lower resolution display than it’s sister VW and rivals BMW and Volvo (more on that later), plus a not-so-intuitive joystick on the front panel instead of having it beside the gearstick (like the BMW) takes a lot of points off the A4. For a premium brand, from Premium Automobiles, I’d expect more. It does however feature bluetooth connectivity for your mobile phone – the Passat didn’t.

    For the price of $18x,xxx (after overtrade) for the “Ambition” model, it’s not a very good buy. They have a cheaper “Limited Edition” model at $15x,xxx (after overtrade) but it lacks lots of features, including LED Daytime Running Lights (DRL) which are probably the only other reason why you’ll buy an Audi!

    Also, just like VWs, Audis are FWD. For an additional $10k, you’ll get a Quattro 4WD; the rivals (BMW 3-series and Mercedes-Benz C-class) are RWD in comparison at similar price ranges.

    Comfort: 8.5/10 – Gear downshifts a little too quickly when accelerating in dynamic mode, brakes a little too sensitive for uncles. No floor mounted gas pedals!
    Features: 8/10 – No GPS, low resolution screen. Response of the MMI is a little laggy also.
    Engagement: 9/10 – Engine is powerful and responsive, 8 speed gearbox shifts seamlessly, unfortunately it is a FWD.
    Design: 8.5/10 – No DRL for “Limited Edition”, interior looks cluttered and confusing.
    Value: 7/10 – You can get a fully packed version of a VW for much lesser, or a fully-packed BMW with all the bells and whistles for an extra 10k.

    Third stop, Kia

    I hopped by Kia to take a look at the new Kia Optima K5. At $119,xxx it was indeed the cheapest of all the luxury sedans.

    The K5 had a fair bit of bells and whistles, although nowhere near the VW Passat. Factory fitted bluetooth, rear air-conditioning, electric memory seats, auto headlights, rain sensors, paddle shifters, cruise control, and the start-stop button made it stand out from the other KDM/JDM rides.

    According to the sales guy, the new units of the K5 arriving in Q3 2011 will also feature 6 airbags (instead of 2), a panoramic sunroof and a in-dashboard LCD display which is a huge step in closing the Continental vs KDM gap.

    Unfortunately I cannot rate the car yet – the sales guy was extremely talkative and that actually prevented me from asking for a test drive as it was getting late. I will try to get a test drive soon!

    Fourth stop, Volvo

    Since Volvo was just next door, I drove by and took a quick glimpse at the new Volvo S60. The built-in LCD was beautiful and in my opinion better than VW’s and Audi. The screen was of a very high resolution, similar to that of the new BMW iDrive (CIC). The controls were intuitive and lag-free and I loved the simplicity of the interior.

    One thing I didn’t like though was the type of leather Volvo uses – they are prone to cracking after 3 years. I’m surprised they have not changed the leather material.

    I didn’t have much time to look further into detail or ask for a test drive, but at first glance the S60 looks very promising. I will try to find out more soon!

  • A Sunday at two Car Showrooms – BMW and Lexus

    I got a call from Performance Motor Limited (“PML”) about a private sale, so guys being guys, I agreed to go down. Of course, I brought the wife along so she can play “finance manager” and say NO in case I get tempted.

    So the private sale was like this – you must be on the invite list, and must have a car to trade-in and they offered an insane price for the trade-in. The trade-in price was easily >$30K above market prices, which brought the BMW 318i price down from $180,800 to $14x,xxx or a BMW 320i from $203,800 to $17x,xxx.

    The discounted price for a 318i is good considering that a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord are selling at the same price in the current market.

    But I was more interested in the 320i. That’s a crazy price for a car, I’m sure. But I was pleasantly surprised by what the latest model offered – all the electronic gadgets makes me pee my pants. It has 17″ rims, iDrive with built-in navigation, bluetooth telephone w/address book and voice activated dailing, in-vehicle information display such as service intervals and other mechanical status of brakes, engine, blah blah blah, timer for air-con recirculation so you don’t get into a baking hot car parked under the sun, and here’s the best part – INTERNET. Yes, bluetooth tethering with the iPhone.

    The 320i also has fold-down rear seats (the old one didn’t, or was an option) and the audio system has been marginally improved with more powerful bass (up to +/- 10 step adjustments instead of +/- 6 on the old models).

    I also test-drove the 318i which had the new electronic steering system and it was indeed much lighter and easier to park the car, but there’s a slight lack of “road” feel. I still like it though, cos the wife doesn’t like the heavy steering on the old model.

    It was very tempting at $17x,xxx. Damn bloody expensive, I know, but I really liked it – it’s a dream car. We spent a few good hours in the showroom, and the salesman started giving an additional 1-2K off. But the wife said NO. Sigh. No new high-tech ride for me.

    So being unconvinced that BMW was the best car around, I went pouty faced over to Lexus to test the new CT200h which they claim to be oozing with technology. It is lower in price too due to government discounts on green cars.

    What a disappointment. The interior looks sub-par (compared to the BMW) and the sales guy also sucked – he treated me like I couldn’t afford a Lexus. Yeah, maybe I can’t but the showroom looks pathetic – it’s was EMPTY.

    The base model at $154K didn’t have leather seats so I asked him how the fabric looked like. His reply was, “Huh? Cloth lor.” I was like WTF? Like show me some samples? He said they didn’t have any.

    Anyway, no leather? For a Lexus? Borneo Motors, I don’t know what you were thinking.

    The higher “Plus” model at $158K had leather seats. That was the only difference – top up $4K for factory fitted leather.

    So I decided to cut the crap talk and asked for a test drive. Here’s a summary of my experience:

    The seats were manually adjusted. For a $158K car, I wouldn’t expect that.

    The moment I pushed the START button, the car feels weird – it was silent except for the air-con blower. I got on the gas a bit – still silent.

    Then at approx 30km/h the petrol 1.7 litre inline 4 engine kicks in and you suddenly hear a low rumble and more power.

    My first foot on the brake in the carpark felt weird too – it wasn’t progressive and the braking effect was sudden as if somebody else was braking the car harder than you wanted for you. My feeling is that it’s caused by the car engaging a flywheel of sorts to charge the NiMH batteries.

    After getting up to speed, braking felt slightly better but still weird – it’s just not progressive. Adding to the weird braking behavior, you could hear the whine of the dynamo/generator which was a little annoying.

    I was still driving in “normal” mode all this while. Then I switched to the “sport” mode – oh what a difference. The CVT gearbox kicks me into a lower gear and now the car takes off on it’s 1.7 litre engine. But again, this felt weird. The change was too abrupt – from a tame hybrid it was suddenly TOO responsive and I had to change my footing.

    Then finally I tried the “eco” mode which was oh my god slow as a turtle. I couldn’t stay on it for more than 5 seconds, so I switched back to “normal”.

    It was a short test drive, but it wasn’t a good experience at all. As a driver, I felt weird. The car’s behavior was abrupt, unpredictable and unrefined. The wife sitting quietly at the back also said the ride was rough and the interior didn’t give her a “wow” feeling. The audio system was terrible – in fact worse than my Nissan Latio. On the level of sound insulation, the BMW wasn’t any different. So whoever that tells me a Lexus is silent, I’m going to beat you up.

    At $158K, I’d rather buy the BMW 318i which would be packed with slightly more features and a more refined drive. The $10K difference could pay for lots of fuel – at least 3 years’ worth.

    I think that these hybrids still need some time to get their act right. To achieve 24km/l it might be worth considering a Toyota Prius instead.

    I’d love to test a BMW ActiveHybrid if it comes here though. I have confidence in BMW’s engineering to build a more progressive and predictable hybrid.

    OK, enough for the day. Back to reality. No high tech cars for me! 🙁

  • Welcome back

    As promised, I will attempt to revive my blogging.

    As I type, I’m actually watching “The Social Network”. Damn geeky, I know. Not the best movie of all time for a Saturday night.

    Anyway just to start off the new year – lots of shit happened in Q1 2011. My “Ultimate” Driving Machine™ had a cracked radiator which meant it needs to be replaced. Not too expensive but still ouch.

    A friend got into an accident with a bus that tried to flee the accident scene. Thank god he’s not injured at all – the bus hit the passenger side and he was alone in the vehicle. He was lucky he had a witness.

    My high BMI neighbours upstairs are still as annoying as ever, even right now at 1.25AM and I have another 3.5 years to put up with them and you bet I will.

    By the way, if you’re wondering – Singapore has no decent law against domestic noise. There’s nothing the government can really do if you have an imbecile neighbour like mine. All you can hope is to curse them to rot in their filthy home and get eaten by fleas so they’ll mixmash well with the herbs and spices they pound daily in their bedroom. I’m not sure if even an impending election would change anything since Bukit Panjang is still split into two.

    Just six hours ago I heard I got voted to be in the EXCO of KH. I’m puzzled how I got voted even when it was a no-show; I was at CGH and it wasn’t a lie. I don’t think I can commit and I will not bullshit my way into a role I cannot put quality effort into. This is precisely what I am going to tell them during the next meeting: Career, Family, Hobby. Choose two. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to answer that.

    I’m also trying to adopt a minimalistic approach to life. I’m trying to get rid of shit I don’t need and just keep the necessary stuff at home. I’ve always believed in buying things of quality versus price since high quality stuffs tend to last longer. Also you’re likely to only need ONE good, say, shoe than ten cheap shoes.

    That’s it for today. I need to watch my movie. Stay tuned for more updates.

  • Ayiah, Another $6 for Parking at NUS

    Ayiah, what to do. I was already one hour late for a meeting with my teammates, but as the saying goes better late than never so I decided to park nearer to COM1 so I have a lesser chance of being knocked over by the NUS shuttle bus or errant drivers while walking up from Yusoff Hall.

    OK, you know I’m lying. Truth is that I’m just fat, lazy and wanted to save 5 minutes of my time walking up a dreaded slope. So for that, I’ve paid my “fine” of $6.85.

    Prof. Ben told me learning is never easy. I didn’t know he meant my wallet!

    So meeting teammates was done over my “official lunchtime” and somehow every time I meet these folks, something interesting comes up. We ended up talking super enthusiastically about a potential gambling app but later found out that it was against Facebook’s policy.

    Damn, otherwise we’ll be the next millionaires by the end of this course. Another fat hope dream busted.

  • Lane One is for Overtaking, not Cruising

    Lane 1 on the expressway is called the overtaking lane, not the cruising lane. If you wanna roll your way home at 80kph like a loser, lane 2 is all yours.

    I commute to work daily from Bt. Batok to Tampines. On good days, I get to Tampines in roughly 20 minutes. On fucked up days such as 7am yesterday morning, I could be sitting for an hour in the traffic. It’s only 7am and there’s traffic that slows to a crawl at Paya Lebar! Thanks to OPC owners!

    I’ve been at work the entire night, and god save me, I met not one, but three selfish losers who refuse to give way. Coincidentally they were all driving big cars (e.g. Toyota Camry, Merc E class, BMW 7 series) and two of them were… you guessed it – ladies.

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