Happy New Year 2009 to everyone... May you WORK SMART to embark on your journey to success AND SEE YOU AT THE TOP!!!
This is so boring I know... Will dig up some fireworks photos to put it here... Watch this space... 11.54pm (same day), fireworks arrived...
That's all folks... Thanks for your support in 2008... More stuff for 2009, will include more diverse blog entry such as Books review, movies review, sports, and anything EXCEPT POLITICS (Sensitive issues). My target, DOUBLE 2008 postings. This means AT LEAST 136 entries... Watch this blog...
For the month of December, the Civic made 2 rounds to the Airport. One to KLIA and the other to LCCT and few rounds of PJ => Bandar Metro Puchong => PJ.
The Civic's running well and ever powerful, in 1 incident, I didn't realised that I'm doing from 90km/h to 135km/h in LDP (in less than 10 seconds) after being "tailgated" by a Nissan Sentra 1.8. The driver of the other car cannot do anything. The Sentra was getting smaller and smaller from my rear-view mirror (I presumed poor acceleration (11.8 seconds - Sentra 1.8 vs 9 seconds - Civic). Again (why always happened to me?), the driver cheated, as I slowed down approaching the Toll booth, at the Puchong TOLL (using Smartag), the driver blocked me and overtook from the Emergency lane (2km after the toll).
As I'm typing this, my dad just came back driving the Civic up to Genting Highlands (yesterday). All I know is he used the "Paddle Shift" and when uphill windows' down ...
Without further ado, let's proceed to the Logbook.
Year of manufactured: 2008 (Duh!) Current Value: RM113,000 Purchase price: RM128,000 Mileage when bought: 0008km.
Mileage last month: 8337km. Mileage NOW: 9063km Average mileage per month: 1812km Fuel consumption: 33L worth of petrol good for 387km (11.7km/L) mix driving of 70% city, 30% highway. Highest: 239km on 20L of petrol (RM40) => 11.95km/L. A decrease over last month. Why higher FC?
It's because the car's in my hands/feet as I'm heavy-footed most of the time. Note the mileage per month decreased. It's because my dad's outside Malaysia for most of December. But hey, at least it's consistent.
Expenses: NONE for this month apart from petrol fill-ups
Here's a parting shot of the Civic:
That's all folks, do comeback next month. (End of January).
With the new 2009 BMW 7-series comes another option for the privileged few. BMW will offer all-wheel-drive on the luxury sedan starting in late 2009.
BMW has been doing final cold-weather testing of its all-wheel-drive 750i prototype in Rovaniemi, Finland. In late 2009, the option should become available to the public as an ‘xDrive’ version of the 750. This marks the first time all-wheel-drive will be offered on BMW’s flagship sedan. It should be a welcome addition to those in the north tired of driving Audi A8s and Mercedes-Benz S550 4Matics.
The xDrive system offered will feature the same technology as the xDrive system on the X6. That system allows torque to be distributed electronically to each wheel, there is an added feature, however, on the 7-series. The 7-series will get hill descent control for traveling down those treacherous snowy mountain passes. The 2009 BMW 750 with xDrive will be the first sedan in its class to offer this feature.
Expect to pay for ordering xDrive. The option will cost somewhere between $3500 and $4000 when it debuts. Impressively, it only adds 110 lbs to the vehicles already hefty 5700 lb curb weight. BMW also claims fuel economy does not suffer too badly with xDrive added.
The Alfa Romeo 159 is a compact executive car produced by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo since 2005. The 159 was introduced in production form at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show as a replacement for the successful Alfa Romeo 156. The 159 uses the GM/Fiat Premium platform, shared with the Brera, Spider, and concept cars Kamal and Visconti. The 159 was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in collaboration with the Alfa Centro Stile. The nose features a traditional Alfa Romeo V-shaped grille and bonnet, and cylindrical head light clusters. A high waistline broadens until it reaches the rear "C" pillar. The interior also features styling treatments familiar from earlier cars, including the 156, such as deeply recessed instruments which are angled towards the driver. However, the 159 is larger than its predecessor at 4660 millimetres (183.4 in) long (some 225 mm (8.9 in) longer than the Alfa 156), 1828 mm (71.9 in) wide and 1417 mm (55.7 in) high.
Take "Tiger" and "Iguana" and you get "Tiguan" - Nope, I'm not kidding!
2 liters of Goodness from the Old Country
By: Nathan Adlen
Even in its base ‘S’ form, the 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan is a well executed, handsome vehicle. The outstanding 2.0 liter, turbocharged 4 cylinder engine offered in the current GTI is the only engine available in the new Tiguan.
Thank goodness!
With 200 horsepower and 206 lbs feet of torque, there’s lots of getup-and-go in the Volkswagen Tiguan. The Tiguan ‘S’ has a standard 6 speed manual (an optional 6 speed automatic transmission is offered for about $1,000). What you don’t get with the S is Volkswagen’s excellent 4Motion all-wheel-drive system which is available only with the automatic on the upper level SE and SEL packages.
You will get slightly better mileage with the manual and front-wheel-drive. I averaged in the low 20’s while driving like a fool. I’m sure it can achieve the mid to upper 20’s with a conservative driver. The 4Motion system drops the efficiency a tad.
I highly recommend the excellent 4Motion system for anyone who drives in snow, ice, mud, gravel or a mix of anything else. Most Coloradans will appreciate the seamless 4Motion system when slogging through slush and ice. Couple that to standard 4-wheel discs and a well tuned 4-wheel independent suspension. Steering can be light at slow speeds, but the electronic power steering unit builds effort as speeds increase in a predictable, linier fashion.
Compared to the Volkswagen Tiguan’s main competition (Subaru Forester, Mazda CX-7, Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson etc.) the Tiguan absolutely has the most sophisticated interior. Though not quite as driver orientated as the Mazda CX-7, the Tiguan’s interior is comfortable and supremely well made. I found a very comfortable perch and loved the fully adjustable steering wheel. The ride height is near ideal and this is a very easy vehicle to load.
The Volkswagen Tiguan is an excellent platform for small families to be sure.
The Tiguan S's interior. This is the base model... It gets nicer from here!
Just feel the plastics, leathers and real metals and you can tell where the money went. No one in this price bracket (about $24,000 base to around $38,000 fairly loaded) can match Volkswagen’s interior quality. The price is the main concern for the Tiguan as the competition can be noticeably cheaper.
It all comes down to quality, driving dynamics and design.
The 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan has all three in spades.
