KL International Motor Show 2010 @ PWTC

Nissan GTR R600 

It's the time again where all the guys started rushing to PWTC with their DSLRs, digital cameras or phone camera trying their best to grab the best picture with the sexy model in this year KLIMS 2010. I think it was 4 years ago on my last visit over with my ex-colleagues. And this time around, they rang me up and asked me to joined them yet another time. This is place is so pack of people taking pictures of the models rather than the cars itself. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of professionals taking pictures of those nice cool rides. But after the official work is done, there's no harm taking a pic or two with the model now ain't it.

 Nissan Fairlady 370Z Roadster

Nissan does has a large stage this year with their big cars especially the newly launching Teana sedan. Not seeing any Cefiro though. Nissan's models are more reserved and professional if you ask me. 

 Chevrolet 'bumble bee' Camaro 

Bumble bee is in town. That is the headline that everyone is saying before. Finally I saw the real bumble bee in the flesh (or rather metal). Sadly that you need to pay extra to get an up close and personal picture with the yellow Camaro.

KIA Cadenza 

Saw this new KIA on display which caught my eye, Cadenza. Cadenza actually derived from an Italian word if I am not mistaken. Not sure if the car will be made available here soon or not. But it's been displayed last year over at Riyadh Motor Show at Saudi.

 Rear View of KIA Cadenza

 KIA Optima 

The all new KIA Optima 2011. This is going to get Hyundai's Sonata a run for their money. Customers can choose either 2.0 or 2.4 liter standard or hybrid engine. Runs on direct injection and variable valve timing for the non hybrid. Not bad for a mid size sedan car. Forgot what's the price tag on the baby but we did ask the sales person. I think it's around 150-160K. Around the same with Hyundai's Sonata 2010.

 KIA Optioma Side View

 KIA Optima Rear View 

 Maserati Grandcabrio

I think I get the name right. Who doesn't recognize that logo in front of the car right. The name speaks it all. 

 Maserati Grandcabrio Rear View

 Maserati Quattroporte

Damn the name is winding. But they make good cars. 

Austin Martin DBS

I can't really differentiate the DB9 and DBS model. I am still determining between this two model. I finally decided it's a DBS based on the front grill and also the head lamp. Maybe you can let me know if I am right or wrong. Definitely a cool sweet ride since it's Britain's secret agent official car. 

 Lamborghini

Not a big fan of Lamborghini so I am not too sure what model is this. Anyone, please fill in the blank. Thanks. I am thinking a Gallardo maybe. But that's just me.

Ferrari 458 Italia

Everybody know the front horse logo signify horse power and that is what this baby is all about. Raw horse power and 560 h.p powered by 4,499 c.c V8 engine. 

 Ferrari California

The much hyped car from last year. Not bad for a hard-top convertible. Powered by front-mid mounted gasoline direct injection 4.3 L (260 cu in) V8. I think you can drive real slow in this ride right in front Pavilion.

Saw this in Auto Gear once. Not sure what it's called but it's really fast. Worried of getting wet riding on a motorcycle, then you can opt for this baby. But I am not sure how much you need to fork out for this baby. 

 Hyundai Avante 2011

This is Hyundai newly launched Avante (Elantra formerly). It's latest 1.6L Gamma Gasoline Direct Injection engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission really do speak for itself. This is the first GDI with 6-speed automatic compact sedan featured in Korea. HID headlight with LED. Did I mentioned that it also come option with an open panoramic sun roof.

 Hyundai Avante 2011 Side View

There are plenty of cars like their new Sonata 2010 and also Sante Fe and also Tucson but I guess we all saw it all this year. 

 Toyota FT-HS Hybrid

 OK, frankly, at a glance it's like Waja to me. Don't ask me why. Is the car smiling at me? At least this is the most futuristic hybrid car around.

Why does all Toyota's hybrid cars looks like spaceships? And NO, I am not taking picture of that model. I am actually asking her to move away from the car. 

 Toyota FT-HS Rear View 

 Honda Insight Hybrid

The much talked about hybrid car of the show, Honda's Insight. Why? Cause it's only RM98K. That is almost 30K lesser than Totoya's Prius Hybrid. Saw any resemblance?

Powered by 1,339 c.c with in-line 4 cylinder engine. Has a 123 lb-ft torque @ 1000-1700rpm. It's a 8-valve SOHC i-VTEC system. Running on DC brushless motor with 13hp @ 1500rpm. Able to output 100.8volts of power from the Nickel Metal Hydride battery with a rated capacity of 5.75 Ah. Design using Continuously Variable Transmission or CVT. The specs seemed decent enough for a hybrid but most importantly how much does petrol cost? They claimed it's as low as 10cent/km. So you be the judge of it.

 Honda Insight Rear View

We were always wondering why all hybrid's car rear are always that weird. Weird as in it's form or design. But we found out why when we saw the cut out of the whole car later on.

 We open up the rear bumper and it's really spacious surprisingly. So where does all the space comes from? Well they have to compensate that with the passengers seat at the back. The seats are really cramp at the back if you compared it with Prius. We push the front seat all the way to the back and the rear passenger seats are really uncomfortable. Trust me, if you are traveling for more than half an hour, you don't wanna sit at the back. But for the price you're paying, why not?

 Honda Insight Front Cut Out

This is why the rear bumper are lifted so high. It's because the battery are stored at underneath the spare tyre compartment. And they can't place the battery underneath the passenger seats at the back for safety purposes I guess hence the cramp design consequently.

Honda CR-Z Sport Hybrid

Honda featured another new hybrid which is their new CR-Z 2011. It's a in-line 4-cylinder engine type running on 1,497 c.c. A combined horse power of 122 @ 6000rpm from the engine and electrical motor. It's a 16-valve SOHC iVTEC.3 types of driving mode to choose from (Sport/Normal/ECON). But they are not promoting much of this model during the show.

 Honda CR-Z Hybrid

Not sure what is the price tag for this baby but it's sure is nicer compared to Insight.

Honda Civic Type R Euro 2011

Now this is what I call a street ride. Honda is famous for their signature Type R logo with the red color on the letters. I noticed the leather seats and fine thread work on the seats and straight away shouted TYPE R. Yes, it's their famous Civiv Type R Euro model. This is a special edition with 3-door which only market in Japan.

The car's 2.0litre VTEC engine does not meet the Euro V emissions regulations hence it's not coming to Europe anytime soon. So it's only gonna be seen in Japan for now. Technically the specs are unchanged from the 2009 Type R with it's inline 4-cylinder 2.0 litre engine that produces 201hp at 7800rpm and 142.3lb-ft of torque available from 5600rpm. Acceleration to 62mph can be done in 6.6sec and top speed is 235kmh.

This car is so meant to be made in red. 

 Lexus IS 250 Hybrid

Even Lexus joined in the fun with the hybrid bandwagon with their two luxury sedan cars.

Overall, the whole motor show seemed a bit small to me compared to my previous visit. I'm not sure why. I expected more maybe. I didn't really went into Proton's hall and look at the 5 concept models namely Jebat, Tuah, Lekiu, Kasturi and Lekir. Kasturi is actually a dressed up model of Saga BLM with a facelift, Tuah from a next generation Persona, Lekiu a front-wheel drive SUV similar to Exora MPV, Lekir is Lotus Europa and finally Jebat from the newly launced Inspira. A was hoping to see more Europeans cars like Audi or BMW or even Mercedes. Peugeot did showcased their newly launched 3008 and also 5008 MPV though. For RM15, I think it's still worth the time and make sure you have plenty of memory for all the pictures you're gonna take.

One of thos days

Sorry for the lack of updates lately as I time is really catching up on me nowadays. No I am not dying. Duh~! I mean I don't have enough time to work, rest and blog that's all. Anyway, my last post tells of my trip to Taiwan with my babe. After the trip we are back to our normal routine of work and family. As for me, I am rushing for my house renovation as the contractor is delaying the work while I am away on holiday. Had to go over almost everyday for the whole week to check on the progress and kept calling him up. All the traveling, driving, work and gym might had exhausted myself without me realizing it. Hence, I am sick like a dead rat this week. It started off with a mild fever with me shivering cold at the middle of the night and some minor sore throat. Well this is all a sign of major sickness coming my way from my pass experience. Drank lots of water and sore throat is gone. Decided to visit the doc and she told me that I should experience diarrhea in these few days time. Damn, she's good. I went right to the loo once I reached home that day. And I had been having no appetite these few days due to the antibiotics which she gave me. Now I am hungry, weak, tasteless, lost of appetite, exhausted and still have to get my arse up from the bed to work every morning and still make time to go monitor my house progress everyday. I hope that my life would return to normal soon or I am going to die of exhaustion.

Welcome To Taiwan

 Arriving at Taoyuan International Airport on Sunday morning (14 Nov) with a bit of cloud in the sky. Weather forecast for the week is cloudy with a bit of rain. I can accept that.

 First stop, Wufenpu as babe and me wanted to get some clothes for the trip. Cheap? Not really. But there's a lot of choices here for the ladies.

National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. Windy and a bit of rain but that doesn't stop us from taking a picture or two. The Prime Minister is coming on that day so we can't enter the memorial hall. Sigh~! 

Yehliu's eco-park famous stone formation the Queen's Head. You need to queue up to take picture of the head though. As you can see the neck portion of the stone is getting smaller and according to them will be broken anytime. So better snap a picture of it soon peeps. 

The famous Chiufen mountain view from the top. Totally breathtaking and one of the most windy and coldest place we been in Taiwan. 

Trip over Chiufen old street isn't complete without taking a picture of the 'old stairs' down memory lane. Simply nostalgic. 

 Fisherman's Wharf a.k.a The Lover's Bridge. Another windy place as it's next to the sea. We hold hand in hand all along the bridge. Memorable.

Tamsui Old Street which is famous for their Tia Tan (steel eggs). The best place to buy them as they have a lot of flavors to choose from. Other than that, you can also have a taste of their local delicacies such as stinky tofu and ice cream to name a few.

Martyr's Shrine. You can see the famous guards on duty here by the main entrance. Yes, they won't move an inch but don't try to be silly here as there are other uniform guard at the side to watch over them. Wait for the time when they change shift and you can see some really nifty marching.

The famous Ximenting center. It's busy as hell during night time with movie-goers queuing up to the numerous cinemas over there. The place is also known as cinema city by local. Plenty of clothes and food to choose from. Even had the famous Ah Chung Flour Rice noodle over at this area. Nothing special though. Totally over-rated.

 We were lucky as it they were holding this International Flora Exposition while we were there. Plenty of flowers and others futuristic stuff to see at this place. Entrance fees is TW300 for the whole day. But you need at least 3 days to finish the whole place.

 A must visit place at one of the section in the flower expo, the Future expo. But there's a long queue, so just be patients. It's worth the wait.

The busy busy Ximenting center in the afternoon. Totally love this shot. Gonna rain really soon. Felt like Times Square over at NY or Tokyo~! :P 

You trip isn't complete without visiting the busy street of Shilin night market. Plenty of food and clothes for the ladies. Had my homestay over at this place for the last 3 days. Simply marvelous. Eat and shop all day long. 

The Rainbow Bridge where all lovers fall in love. Great view and memorable scenery with my beloved. 

 Another shot of the busy street of Shilin night market around 11pm on a Friday night. Crazy~! The road and street are pack. Havoc but you got to love this, it's totally Taiwan. 

 We have the twin tower, they have this 101 Tower. Blardy tourist spot. haha~! 

Now you know why there are so many tourist taking pictures outside KLCC right? 

FF Empire's New Spinner Bike

 

 Finally the old bikes are replaced by the new ...

This is something new for us RPM members as I need to do trial and error on the height and distance of the saddle from the handle bar and all. This bike is similar to the one which TF is using right now. It's not our old 'resistance bike' but rather a 'spinner bike'. After a class with the bike I notice that the resistance level do not some time to get use to. Since it's a new bike, the resistance is always there which is good. One bad thing I found out bout the knob is that it's too small and too near to the handle bar. So imagine when you're doing standing climb and quickly come down to speed work, you will need to quickly reset the resistance, but in this case, you will need time to do that. Secondly, you will need to turn a lot to achieve the standing resistance from seated which is not the case with the old bike. Did I mentioned that the handle bar seemed a bit too thick/large? But you do have the slot in front to place your towel and bottle which is really convenient. The bar although is thick but to me it's a bit short cause I can't really place all my palm into it during ride easy position. Sigh~! 

There are some good side about the new bike of course. Looking at the enclose structure of the frontal part of the bike, it's impossible for our sweats to sip in. This prevent phantom bike phenomenon from happening and at the end less maintenance too. Better adjustable seat's lever. This will surely cut down on those broken knobs or over turned screws you saw on the old bikes.  But the rear part of the seat  do seemed a bit too long to me as I my leg got hit by it for several time when I am coming onto the bike last night. Clumsy me. Well these are just some of my findings anyway. Nevertheless, I am still very happy with the new bike. Just need time to get use of it.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I saw the preview of the movie few months back in the cinema and I had to say it's really interesting. I had to watch this movie. Finally I managed to watch the movie today and I totally love it. It might not be the best action movie I watched late like RED or A-Team but heck it brings a new meaning to teenager's love movies. The story tells of Scott Pilgrim who dates a high schooler, Knives Chau. He is playing in a band with his friends whom one of them is his ex. The story gets interesting when he meet up with his latest ex-gf, who is the lead singer of another famous band meet. But he found his true love when he meet a new girl in town, Ramona Flowers.

He managed to break off with Knives and be together with Ramona. But the thing is that, he need to get pass Ramona's 7 exes. Well, you thought how hard can that be? Trust me, they are all some crazy guys and even one chick. You know that this movie is gonna make you laugh really hard since the director, Edgar Wright brought us Shaun of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. Yes, I watched both that movie and I guess not everyone seen or heard of it before. But trust me, it's damn hilarious. It's another boy meets girl and breaks up with her and meet another girl who had 7 exes trying to kill you. Add that to some really cool special effects and for those who really like PC games, this is your cup of tea. (Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0)

Renewing My Passport

Not being any different from my fellow Malaysians, I had decided to renew my passport almost at the last second before my trip. Since I know that they can renew my passport within a day, I had decided to take my own sweet time. But I need to confirm my itinerary beforehand, hence I need to renew it earlier than I expected. Anyway, I just found out that we have this Kiosk machine available at selected branches of the immigration department for renewing your passport. So I went over to Pusat Bandar Damansara and give it a try. Arrived around 9.15am and went straight to Block I. You can see Giant hypermarket on your left the Kiosk a.k.a KIPPAS (Kiosk Pembaharuan Passport) is opposite it. Don't bother looking for parking anywhere above, just go straight to basement 4 and below. Since all the above are reserved parking anyway.

Make sure you got all the documents:-

1. Old Passport (make sure you are having the chip build in at the last page cover)
2. MyKad (the one with the smart chip in build) 
3. Photocopy of your MyKad front & back (on the same page)
4. 1 x Passport Photograph of yourself 
5. Bring Cash (RM300 for 5 years & RM100 for 1 year) 
6. Pen, as there are no pen for you to fill in the envelope on your details later. 

Word of advice, make sure that the photocopy of your MyKad is visible and clear. Make sure the passport picture of yourself is valid and check with the  photo shop. Bring extra cash as some of the cash might not be accepted by the machine (similar to our cash deposit machines). 

Once arrive, make sure you get an envelope from the side table to write your full name, I.C number and contact number on it. Then walk over to the Kiosk machine (4 machines and pray that most of them are working) and touch the screen to choose the language. 

1. Insert your old passport into the slot and it will be read. Most of the time, you won't encounter any problem at this early stage unless your passport isn't the new one with the build in chip. 
2. Insert your MyKad into the slot with the chip in first with your picture facing up. Most of the time, problem will start here. I tried mine twice and only got it on the third. Try cleaning the chip surface with an eraser or just your finger. And pray hard that it is readable or you're gonna do it manually. 
3. Place your right hand thumb on the scanner to verify. Ladies, make sure you hands are dry and don't applied moisturizer or stuff on it beforehand. I heard it will make the scanning process difficult. 
4. You can retrieve both your passport and MyKad at this point and take out your cash (either RM10 or RM50 notes only). Choose either 1 year renewal or 5 years and slot in the cash. And please, not all at the same time or you're gonna jam the machine and everyone behind you are gonna kill you for that. 
5. Place your old passport, photocopy of MyKad, passport picture into the envelope and slot it into the place instructed. You will be given a piece of resit and notify of the time to collect it. It's written there, one hour after the deposit, but I think better make it 2 hours to be safe unless you are waiting over at that place.

I am now waiting in my office and it's almost time to collect my new passport. I hope that all the documents and papers are in order or I am going to be very mad later. This KIPPAS really beat the hassle of waking up early and having to queue up with the rest of the people to get a number (which normally only serve 150 people a day). One good thing about doing it the old fashion way is that, they will check all your documentations and make sure everything is in order before you leave. Anyway, it's a new thing for me and hope that this post gives some ideas to those whose gonna renew their passport soon an option. Cheers~!

Updates:-

So I came back around lunch hour although the resit asked me to come back after an hour after the deposit of the envelope. You will need to go to 2nd floor to collect your new passport. You will need to go to Counter 17 and pass them your resit (from the Kiosk machine) and they will give you a running number. Now pray that their system is not down or you're gonna spend a long time over here. Don't worry if your number is far from the current one as they don't follow the running numbers. The guy from Counter 16 will call you over and now will need to present your MyKad and verify again with your right hand thumb on the scanner. Walla~ you're done. He will give you your new passport and you are off to go home. It took me around 25 minutes to complete the whole process. Long? Well, it's alright for me. Beats doing it the manual way in fact.