Ferrari 599XX 2

Lamborghini Reventon 2

Mazda RX8 2

Cadillac Sixteen Concept 2

Which would you rather drive on the Federal Highway in Kuala Lumpur at 6pm on weekdays?

Hmmm...another Toyota Prius (3rd gen) versus Honda Civic Hybrid IMA shootout?

Look closer...the Civic unit above is a plain vanilla Civic 1.8 i-VTEC, a perennial top seller in its segment for these couple of years in Malaysia. The comparo is unintentional but makes for delectable food-for-thought that for RM115k versus RM175k (no prize for guessing which is which), many of us 'smart' consumers and motorists alike would be better off saving the RM60,000. More than enough for petrol costs for over say, the 5 - 7 years of motoring/hire-purchasing? I think someone has this base covered with the Civic hybrid versus Civic 1.8 sometime back and he's with a popular online news portal now. Anyway, keep your little calculator stashed away, you can never compute the RM60,000 in savings unless you drive the Prius to Mars and back over 10 years.

I would have totally agreed to the above had it not for the massively unpredictable (or is it unpredictably massive?) traffic jams on our Federal Highway during rush hours. Or after a traffic accident on either side of the highway capable of causing both sides to just choked up! Ironically, sometimes for no noticeable reason at all.

Looking at the rather feminine Prius outlook (especially in pearl white, as above), I was totally taken a back when I found it cool to be caught in traffic jams. Yes totally cool...figuratively and literally. The DC motorised airconditioner compressor totally rocks with its whisper cooling, even when the combustion engine is not running.

Furthermore, if you have tried a DC inverter airconditioner at home you'd realised that there's no off-cycle to the cooling. Say, even if you set at 26 deg Celcius, the air vents will still blow cool air on a cold morning albeit at a lower 'concentration'. No more sticky, stale (occasionally moldy/smelly) or that transient warmer air blowing when the regular crank-belt-driven A/C compressor of an automobile (or regular home alternating current A/C compressor) cuts off. Lovely.

The 3rd gen Prius is mighty impressive at start up. After the Ni-Mh battery pack has warmed up, the vehicle is totally silent as you reverse out of your car porch. Zero emissions for the part of (cold-start) driving that's most polluting. Of course, the Civic Hybrid (2nd gen) has a part-time electric A/C compressor that works in stationary condition - at traffic lights - but once you get moving again, the engine has to restart. That's what termed as soft-hybrid i.e. with a small electric motor. Not for the latest Prius when you do say 10 km/h - and most of the period in a bumper-to-bumper crawl - dependent on load and state of battery charge of course. It's a great feeling to see the onboard computer reading 0l/100km/h of fuel consumption in a traffic snarl!



For those interested (who's not these days?) in fuel efficiency facts, the Prius' on-board computer displayed an average figure of 5.6l/100km. With some hard driving, mostly calm cruising, the tripmeter was reading 514.7km + another 136km to go before empty. Isn't this so darn cool too?

Now you can't chill out so much in a regular Civic 1.8, can you? :)

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric: The first 5,000 kilometres

Click on images to enlarge

The ultra high-performance (UHP) tyres segment are dominated by established names like Michelin Pilot Sport 2, Continental ContiSportContact 3, Bridgestone Potenza RE050A being the default choices for those who have no issues with the equally ultra-premium cost of these rubber donuts. The latest entrant into the fray of UHP realm - since 2008 in Malaysia - is the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric which replaces the unidirectional GSD3 for sizes 17" and upwards.

The front tyre that you see above is 225/40 R18 'Made in Germany' items fitted to my Boxster 2.7 (986) for 5,000kms now. As it got scrubbed-in beyond 1000km, I found the grip and rear squat to be more balanced. Though not Porsche's N-spec endorsed, I have no problem clipping apex of corners at triple digit velocity though some technical SC people would say that N-0, N-1 and so on spec tyres have softer sidewalls which accommodate better to Porsche's suspension tuning. I can't comment on that until I swap to the other set of Michelin PS2 I have in my garage. However, I can say this though: the Eagle F1 Asymmetric definitely gives better steering response and road feel than the PS2 on my close associate's Cayman S (987). Even he concurred to this after swapping his Porsche with mine on a road trip. For the record, scores of Porsches down south across the causeway are happily swapping to these latest Eagle F1s when their standard issued rubbers got worn out. The story with Porsche Club Malaysia (PCM) members' tyre choice may be a different tale but that's another story for another day.


So far, I am very happy with my Eagle F1 Asymmetrics. It has totally changed my perception of the Goodyear brand with old memories of the mediocre OEM NCT5's on my previous Honda Accord and Mercedes-Benz E200 Kompressor. Perhaps it's time to break to monotony of either Michelin, Conti, Bridgestone or that occassional Pirelli on the mindset of UHP tyres users when a replacement set is due? And in the process saving more than a few bucks for the now premium-than-ever RON 97 fuel...yes?

RON 95 and Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ver.10

There has been a lot of buzz regarding Malaysia's latest fuel: RON 95 gasoline which has taken over as the de facto standard petrol for most Malaysian motorists (previously RON 97). Never mind that it is now Euro2-M, being cleaner to the environment and the cost-effective alternative being promoted et al. Subaru has really opened a new horizon for the application of this lower 'grade' fuel to high performance cars.



Imagine my enlightening experience when I picked up a test unit of the latest WRX STI from Motor Image Sdn Bhd and it was fueled to approximate 1/3rd tank with Shell RON95! Apparently, this is a matter of company policy which states that no more than RM20 for fuel for any top-up at one time and no RON 97 for a car that actually runs optimally on RON 98 or even RON 100 in Japan!




Needless to say, over the 24hr loan period, the 2.5L boxer with high pressure (I was told it was an LPT) turbocharging (300bhp and 400Nm) guzzled up all the 40% tankful of fuel in no time! Doing what a rational driver would do, I used BHP Infiniti 97 and also refilled with Caltex 97 with Techron on two separate occassions later. And oh! what a difference it made! The hot-hatch became more responsive and willing, smoothly climbing up the rev range upon slight prodding. I had 90 percent my drives in S.I. Sport-Sharp mode. It's like having a Sprint Booster (of my ex-Mercedes E200K fame) which you can turn on at the twist of the dial (pic below). Ooooh...wicked!




Noticed that I didn't mentioned redline because the test unit was programmed for cut-off at 5,700rpm where you can actually feel the turbo boost losing its puff. Pity. To protect the engine it seemed, I was told. By the way, I was getting constantly above 18L/100km with absolutely wallet-busting level of 20L/100km of fuel 'economy'.





The new WRX STI is a lovely car despite its odd hatchback looks. The spaciousness inside belies the pregnant wheel arches bolted a rather smallish body. Its tenacity around bends defies all gung-ho bravado that you can muster and throw at it. The rack is sharp and quick with good feedback to it, better than its Mitsu arch-rival's item which goes limp (and listless) above 180km/h. The latest Scooby also rides pliant enough to be a daily car while the power burst i.e. turbo kick seem a lot more livelier than the Evolution X. But getting caught in a jam in PJ immediately after pick-up has sored up my left calf muscle considerably.




Makes you appreciate and yearn for that twin-clutch robotic assistant or that friendlier clutch pedal in the FD2 Civic Type-R. Perhaps that why the Evo X is more popular in Malaysia? (even though marginally so since both aren't meant to be volume sellers).