1. I wanted a fun car
2. I wanted a small car
3. I wanted a family car (with 3 seats in the bag)
4. I wanted a well built car
5. The price had to be reasonable

With that in mind, i made a list of all possible cars i could test drive. On the list, cars that fit the bill where not that many.

The North American cars, other than the Mustang where not that fun. Toyota and Honda had nothing really that is fun either. BMW, yes they had fun cars for sure, the new 1 series looked good, and of course the 3 series is also awesome, but both the 1 and 3 series are pricy. Further the 1 series only had a 2 seater in the back.

So the list was quickly narrowed down to 3 cars. The WRX 265, the Mini S and the Mitsubishi Evolution

I test drove all 3, and the WRX 265 fit the criteria best. So far day 4 with the car, i love it

The Mitsubishi.

That car is a great car, i have to tell you, you would fall in love with seats alone, well built, and a fun ride as well. But why did i not go for it? a) it was a bit too loud b) the price tag was high, you can get a BMW for that price, so i passed, but great car

The Mini S

This is also a fun car, performed well, and at 170 HP for that little car, the thing flys, but the car is also too small, and only 2 seats in the back. Also the price put it close the WRX, which offered more kick and more room, So i passed. The Mini i have to admit has the coolest interior of any car i have seen. whoever designed it, deserves serious brownie points

The WRX

Well the winner by far, but that is its own post

Instead GM is in talks with Chrysler for a possible merger.  General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Cerberus Capital Management LP have held preliminary talks about a merger or an acquisition of Chrysler by GM.

Ford  sold Jaguar and Land Rover earlier this year to Tata Motors for 1.15 billion , and according to sources Tata Motors might also be buying a stake in Mazda Motor Corp. 

The auto industry has been hit hard in recent weeks by the effects of the credit crisis, prompting GM and Ford to issue statements Friday to dispel the notion that they might be headed for bankruptcy. GM and Ford shares were battered with the rest of the stock market this week, falling to lows not seen in decades.

Ford shares have plunged  to a 26-year low at $1.99 and its U.S. rival General Motors Corp to a nearly 60-year low to $4.89

Both companies have been reportedly struggling, and GM's shares have crashed from $43 to $5 in the matter of a few months. There's been serious talk of bankruptcy talk for GM which is America's largest automaker and was, until recently when they were overcome by Toyota, the worlds.

The merger would return GM to being the world's largest automaker, however, the fundamental market problems which are causing GM's problems will remain unchanged. The automaker still has yet to adapt to a market demanding smaller vehicles, their is still little or no credit available in the market, which is why GM sought out an AIG-style loan from the Secretary of the Treasury.

While overall the merger could possible save both businesses, merger inevitably mean lost jobs, part of a trend likely to continue through the recession, as larhe American companies continue to collapse into each others arms.

-Marc-

[Imagini: Autoblog]

He edged out Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who had led most of Q3.

Felipe Massa languishes down in 5th, with Heikki Kovalainen and Fernando Alonso filling in the gap.

It was dry and not wet! Amazingly enough, it was nice to see the track being used at full speed rather than with water-ski's!

Also, if you have a look at the results, note how team mates seem very close to each other if not next to each other on the grid.  F1 Hierachy?

Pos  Driver        Team                     Q1         Q2         Q3     
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.071   1:17.462   1:18.404
 2.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:18.160   1:17.733   1:18.644
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.220   1:17.360   1:18.821
 4.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:18.290   1:17.871   1:18.852
 5.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:18.110   1:17.287   1:18.874
 6.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:18.684   1:17.931   1:18.979
 7.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:18.501   1:17.541   1:19.026
 8.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:17.945   1:17.670   1:19.118
 9.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:18.559   1:17.714   1:19.638
10.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:18.593   1:18.102   1:20.167
11.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:18.303   1:18.187
12.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:18.300   1:18.274
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:18.372   1:18.354
14.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.640   1:18.594
15.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.740   1:18.672
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:18.835
17.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:18.882
18.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:19.100
19.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.163
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.910

Q1 was startling in two aspects - Firstly, we had the fastest car in the Toyota of Timo Glock, who pulled off a 1m 17s right at the tail end of the session. Secondly, there was a BMW in the relegation zone at the end of it all! Nick Heidfeld's bad qualifying form caught up with him at last, having eluded him for the past few races. Whilst many thought Glock's performance was a bit of a show-putting by the Toyota team, Heidfeld's showing was maybe due to a technical glitch or something. The dying moments of Q1 saw Singapore GP winner Fernando Alonso haul himself back into contention having dropped down to 16th. The ones who did not make it were Heidfeld alongwith the two Honda's of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello and the two Force India's of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Parity was somewhat restored in Q2 as Ferrari's Felipe Massa comfortably topped the timesheets with the two McLaren's of Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton behind him. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 7th fastest though. Once again, the two Toro Rossos made into the top 10 whereas the two Red Bulls did not. Those who were relegated: David Coulthard, Nelson Piquet, Kazuki Nakajima, Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg.

Q3 was a straight shootout between the top two teams and the initial pace-setter was the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Massa was following closely but kinda dropped out on his second run. Hamilton's second run was quickest of them all and he snatched pole position from Kimi Raikkonen. Quick runs from Alonso and Trulli had pushed down Kovalainen but with his last run, the Finn managed the third-fastest time. The race will be an intriguing one as Kimi would hope to keep  in Lewis from streaking away into the distance and Heikki doing the same with Kimi. Massa, however, will have to play catch-up and with Alonso in front of him, won't be an easy task. He has to have a perfect start and if he can get ahead of Alonso, Heikki and Kimi, he and Lewis can duel out in the front as Kimi keeps the field at bay. Gonna be a cracker of a race, for sure!

Image Courtesy: Getty Images/Telegraph.co.uk

Timo Glock has topped the time sheets for the second practice session at the Fuji Speedway. His best lap for Toyota was a 1:18.383, putting him ahead of Singapore Grand Prix winner, Fernando Alonso, who went just 0.04 seconds slower for Renault as lap times noticeably improved from the first session.

The top two finished ahead of the main title rivals, who stayed in the same order as the in the morning session, with Lewis Hamilton extending the gap to 0.2 seconds ahead of Felipe Massa's best lap. Kimi Raikkonen followed the two closely throughout the session, whilst Mark Webber pushed his Red Bull into the top six. Kazuki Nakajima continued his strong pace at the circuit, proving his knowledge of the track, and improving to seventh for Williams in front of his home fans. Sebastian Vettel kept Toro Rosso in the top ten, beating McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen could only manage tenth ahead of Jarno Trulli, Robert Kubica, Nelson Piquet Jr, Nico Rosberg and Sebstien Bourdais. Toyota had more reason to celebrate as their arch-rivals, Honda, had a poor session with Rubens Barrichello in fifteenth and Jenson Button last, despite being only 1.6 seconds adrift of Timo Glock. Adrian Sutil, David Coulthard, Giancarlo Fisichella and Nick Heidfeld joined Honda at the bottom.

Friday action is complete, and as F1 heads into the final practice session and qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, the battle this time looks to be set between the title rivals, unless Toyota or Renault can spring another surprise.

[dailymotion id=k3LwDYMcv3DsbNqh7M]

VW geçtiğimiz günlerde dünyanın en çok satan üçüncü otomobil üreticisi ünvanını Ford'un elinden almıştı. Şimdiyse Beetle ve Veyron'un yaratıcısı, Toyota'nın elinden otomotiv endüstrisinin - dolara çevrilmiş piyasa sermayelendirmesine dayanan - en değerli şirketi ünvanını kaptı. Sebepse şu:

Toyota'nın hisselerinin değeri %5 azalarak son dört yılın en düşük seviyesine gerilerken, VW'nin hisseleriyse Porsche'nin firma üstündeki girişimlerinin etkisiyle %87'lik müthiş bir değer artışı gösterdi.

Buysa, geçen sene 100,000'den az araç satmasına rağmen gene de kendi rekorunu kıran ve endüstrinin en küçük oyuncularından biri olan Porsche'yi esas oğlan yapıyor: dünyanın üçüncü en büyük otomobil üreticisi olmak üzereler; ve bir süreliğine de olsa, en değerli üreticisi. Bir Cayenne'in yarattığı farka bakın.

I say that and the fact that their product lines don’t meet the consumer’s expectations and the poor quality of vehicles they sell.  The fact that Ford won’t even discuss the leaking window problem shows a lot of arrogance towards the consumer.

And speaking of arrogance and the ME generation!!!!  I found this article (although I don’t usually read this blog but a Google search brought me to it) and it was substantiated at more mainstream sources that, for four months of work at Ford in 2006,  the CEO, Alan Mulally earned $39.1 MILLION.  The company lost $12.7 BILLIION but they could afford to pay this guy $39.1 million dollars.

But could they afford to fix my window and compensate me for the repairs to my vehicle, repairs that would have been unnecessary if the guy on the line had put the window in right?

No, they pay some guy $39.1 MILLION to do what – bring the stock down to less than a gallon of gas?

Good investment??? …… I think they should spend all that loose cash they have on customer relations, fixing their built in problems, building actual quality ( not advertised quality ) and maybe make the pay package of the line guys based on quality control. - the better the built vehicle, the more in the pay package.  If you screw up, well, the money goes to the consumer to fix the problem.  Sort of like ownership of your product and therefore pride in what you accomplish.  Not advertised bull shit ‘BUILT FORD TOUGH” but real world, takes responsibility built in quality.

Alex Hughes's blog is only 400 views away from reaching 10,000 total views. From such humble beginnings its amazing to think that that many people have visited the site over the time it has been online.

It's going to be a close run thing between the two throughout the whole weekend, and you get the feeling that if one of them makes even the slightest error - or a big one, like ripping a fuel rig out or beaching themselves in a gravel trap for example - that the other will be quick to capitalise on it.

They both look supremely confident on track and in interviews, with neither of them giving anything away. If there's nerves there then they're not showing them.

Lewis was even crowd-pleasing during free practice with some tail-sliding, which always puts a smile on the Top Gear office's face at least.

Renault's Fernando Alonso continued with his car's new found form to occupy the second spot, just 0.043s shy of Glock, and Kimi Raikkonen kept to himself in fifth.

We're certianly amped up for qualifying tomorrow - live on telly at 5:15am if you're man enough - and getting very twitchy for the race.

After I jinxed Lewis last year I'm not going to make any calls about who's going to win, but you are more than welcome too...

Toyota will be happy with the first place in FP2, as this is their home circuit.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:18.383            44
 2.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:18.426  + 0.043   41
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.463  + 0.080   40
 4.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:18.491  + 0.108   40
 5.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:18.725  + 0.342   39
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:18.734  + 0.351   39
 7.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.734  + 0.351   36
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:18.761  + 0.378   23
 9.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:18.803  + 0.420   32
10.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:18.863  + 0.480   45
11.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:18.865  + 0.482   39
12.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:18.888  + 0.505   43
13.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:18.981  + 0.598   41
14.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:19.040  + 0.657   41
15.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:19.258  + 0.875   42
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.287  + 0.904   41
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:19.327  + 0.944   36
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:19.482  + 1.099   44
19.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:19.894  + 1.511   37
20.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:19.999  + 1.616   42

He was 0.153 seconds ahead of title rival Felipe Massa.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)   1:18.910 +         23
 2.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)   1:19.063 + 0.153   24
 3.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)   1:19.279 + 0.369   20
 4.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)   1:19.399 + 0.489   31
 5.  Alonso        Renault             (B)   1:19.473 + 0.563   30
 6.  Piquet        Renault             (B)   1:19.743 + 0.833   35
 7.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)   1:20.121 + 1.211   30
 8.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)   1:20.160 + 1.250   26
 9.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)   1:20.182 + 1.272   34
10.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)   1:20.217 + 1.307   25
11.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)   1:20.288 + 1.378   26
12.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)   1:20.350 + 1.440   28
13.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)   1:20.620 + 1.710   24
14.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)   1:20.628 + 1.718   23
15.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)   1:20.657 + 1.747   33
16.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)   1:20.753 + 1.843   32
17.  Button        Honda               (B)   1:20.769 + 1.859   27
18.  Glock         Toyota              (B)   1:20.823 + 1.913   37
19.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)   1:20.905 + 1.995   24
20.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)   1:21.014 + 2.104   28

Glock berhasil  sukses menjadi yang tercepat di sesi ini. Pembalap Toyota tersebut  mencatat waktu terbaik yaitu 1 menit dan 18.383 detik di Sirkuit Fuji Speedway.

Glock berhasil unggul dari pembalap Renault Fernando Alonso berada di posisi kedua. Namun persaingan antara pimpinan klasemen Lewis Hamilton dengan rivalnya, Massa tetap menjadi perhatian publik pecinta F1.

Hamilton berada di posisi ketiga dengan catatan waktu 1:18.463 detik. Meski demikian, Massa yang terpaut tujuh poin, tetap melancarkan perlawanannya kepada Hamilton di posisi keempat dengan waktu 1:18.491 detik.

Sedangkan Kimi Raikkonen berada di posisi kelima. Ia unggul atas Mark Webber dari tim Renault dan pembalap tuan rumah Kazuki Nakajima dari tim Toyota yang menempati posisi keenam dan ketujuh.

bayangkan anda mempunyai duit tunai rm80 ribu,letak dalam bag. tetiba terasa nak masuk toilet;  maka anda bagi abanglong pegang beg tersebut kerana anda memang percaya kepada kejujuran abanglong.

bila sudah lepas hajat; anda kembali kepada abanglong and i bagi balik beg tersebut. but i said to you;nah rm75 ribu saja. hilang 5 ribu sebab abanglong rasa abanglong layak pulangkan 75 ribu saja!

scenario 2

anda ada seorang sahabat berada diluar negara. bila dia nak balik; anda transfer rm4000 untuk beli handbag kegilaan anda.. branded beb. tetiba bila dia balik dia beli beg yang harga rm2800 dan baki tidak dikembalikan. alasan dia ? beg kedua tu ikut harga pasaran dan ikut trend.

scenario 3

nak raya haji, kita and family tempah lembu sekor nak buat korban. dah bayar full payment tapi lembu tu still kat tuan dia sebab dia yang ternak and dia yg bagi makan. full payment dia dah dapat nih. tetiba lembu tu mati; and dia ganti ngan kambing. alasan dia, lembu ngan kambing sama jer pahala diaaa !

tentunya kita, sebagai seorang yang normal dan sebagai seorang pengguna akan mengamuk/melenting/mencarut/marah/bengang/ dan apa apa saja yang sewaktu dengannya bila benda benda diatas terjadi. kita secara nalurinya akan terus membantah dan akan meminta pampasan/baki/balance yang sepatutnya kita dapat. dan tak keterlaluan kalau abanglong cakap, we would do anything to get what we deserve rite!

itu secara normalnya.

tapi ini tidak berlaku dalam kes insuran kenderaan dan kita hanya menerima sahaja tanpa banyak cakap. insurance people; correct me if i'm wrong okeh. let say you insured your precious toyota alphard for rm265 ribu and u're paying almost 5k per year for the insurance policies; and tetiba bila terjadi kehilangan atau kemalangan, syarikat insuran dengan selamba katak saja menilaikan kereta tersebut beharga rm192 ribu. dengan alasan itu harga semasa; walhal premium yg kita bayar adalah untuk nilai 265K. so apa apa baki (rm 265-rm 192= rm73K) tu; lu pandai pandai la cari sendiri utk cover.

betul tak ?

kita tertindas dan kita tak dapat buat apa apa !

dan sekiranya kereta itu terlibat dalam kemalangan, tidak pernah kita diberitahu yang kita kena bayar beberapa peratus dari harga alat ganti kenderaan tersebut.ianya akan bertambah dari tahun ke tahun. ie usia 1 yr = 2% of the total alat ganti, 2 yrs=3% 5 yrs =10% and so on so on. walhal kita dah insured to cover everything.

lagi sekali kena tindas dan kita tak dapat buat apa apa !

macam !@$%)(*^&%$$&*^(&(*_)*(&(*%$^%#&%&^(*&)(*&^&%^%##@!@@#@$%#^  huhuhu panjang sumpah aku tu !!!!

well, sebenarnya abanglong terlibat dalam kemalangan semasa balik raya that day. an unfamiliar driver two cars infront of me tetiba emergency brake pada tempat yang tak sepatutnya, mungkin dia terkentut dan tertekan brek. maka kereta kereta dibelakang brek mengejut dan abanglong juga emergency brake. walaupun ada ABS, ETC, EBD, RHB, JKR, DAP, PKR dll i just could not stop in time maka kereta abanglong telah meliwat belakang kereta infront of me - read langgar bontot.

alhamdulillah; abanglong dan family tidak cedera. yang maut hanya beberapa ekor kerengga yang gigit abanglong masa abanglong dok tepi jalan tengok keta kena tarik oleh tow truck.

keta depan abanglong, amazingly tak rosak teruk. just bumper belakang jatuh and cermin depan retak.tu pun sebab wife dia tak pakai seatbelt and terhantuk kapla kat cermin.

my car yang teruk, bumper hancur, radiator and aircond radiator pecah, lampu pecah, bonet bengkok. itu yg visual, organ dalaman lom tengok lagi sbb bonet mmg takleh bukak.

pastu masa gi balai.buat report and nak tarik gi bengkel. masa ni baru tau yang once masuk balai, kereta kalau nak keluar dari balai kena ada fotostat geran. polis tu siap cakap, lain kali make sure ada fotostat geran and polisi insuran dalam keta when travelling !!! itu macam kaaa?

masa kat workshop, tak kena tak tau. dulu dengar2 je orang cakap. insuran will cover amount that they rasa layak.bukan kita yg decide even kita insured to that amount. let say kita insured 50k and the damage was 10k. syarikat insuran suka hati lembu dia nak bayar 6k or any amount yang dia rasa sesuai.

and one more sial, makin tua keta tu, akan ada some percentage payment utk alat ganti.  cam (&*&^%%#%^$&%*^(&)*(^&$##@%@^%*&)(*_)*)(*&(^&*%#$@#!$%*&^*(&((_)(+_()&*^&%^$%#$@#!#@#@%$^&%*&^(*&*(&)

hah...lagi panjang aku carut!

sapa menteri hal ehwal pengguna ? bak mai dia punya cell number!

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note-i'm not driving the alphard.

General economic stress and credit availability may lead to an "outright collapse" of the auto market in 2009, J.D. Power and Associates, an industry tracking company said.

"J.D. Power and Associates forecast U.S. light vehicle sales would fall to 13.2 million units in 2009 after likely settling at 13.6 million units this year, adding that a pronounced recovery is more than 18 months away." Reuters reported.

A Chevrolet on display at an auto show in Shanghai - 2005 file photo. [newsphoto] Source: China Daily. Image may be subject to copyright.

"While the global automotive industry is clearly experiencing a slowdown in 2008, the global market in 2009 may experience an outright collapse," said Jeff Schuster, executive director of automotive forecasting for J.D. Power.

"While mature markets are being impacted more severely than emerging markets, no country or region is completely immune to the turmoil," he said.

I saw these pictures of this Supra from the JDM Theory 2008 Japanese Festival and all I could think to myself is wow that car is very clean, especially for a car that has to be at least 10 years old. I'm not a big Supra fan but I have to say i love the way that this car looks aggressive and clean at the same time. This is the exact look I hope to achieve when my Z is done. This Supra is a fine example of how to keep an aged body style looking fresh.

Picture Sources:

Club Lexus Forum, My350z