The Orphaned Blog

Snippets:

- I started another blog about a month ago regarding some work related stuff. Initially, I was quite excited to get it going coz I envisioned that the blog would help educate Malaysians on my line of work. But some where along the lines, I just lost steam. Its true that you should blog about something you're passionate about. Am I still passionate about X20?

- There are no announced job cuts where I work. I don't think bonus or increment will be anything to look forward to. Although our industry should be relatively safe from the global economic slowdown, no one, especially the management are taking any chances. Cost saving and operational cuts are the buzz words now. I bet training funds will be slashed.

- I must admit, I've thought about selling the car if push comes to shove during the economic downturn. Especially if I have to stop working (resign, or get fired). However, that would be a move out of desperation, and a terribly sad decision.

- Petrol prices have been hovering below USD $40 per barrel. However, there are some 'reasons' why the pump prices will not be lowered. Paul Tan has a good write up on the Automatic Pricing Mechanism (APM), and this is the summary:



Some simple calculations for petrol prices in Peninsula M'sia:


Therefore, assuming crude oil price is USD$40, and the Mean Of Platts Singapore is at RM 1.00 (10% higher than crude oil), with the current pump pricing, our government is getting a sales tax of RM 0.48 per liter. So, should petrol price come down? Maybe...

- Potential Poisons:

(a) Airmaster bodykit (Website) - Below RM 2k?!


(b) Stromberg - Quadcore™ 10mm High Performance Plug Cable (Website)


(c) Denso Iridium Spark Plugs (another 8k mileage to go)


mmmm.... =D

Long Overdue SNIPPETS

1. My last post was October 16th. Thats more than 2 weeks ago. I feel sorry for those who have been coming back here regularly and finding no updates. Thank you for your visits.

2. I haven't seen any X20s on the road, however, in Kluang, an SG Avante is spotted!


3. Oil prices are in the RM 60+ region. I dunno to be happy or sad. 40% of M'sia's funding comes from Petronas. I wonder how the lower crude oil prices are affecting our budget, since Budget 2009 was tabled when the oil price was RM 125 per barrel.

4. No updates to my car. However, upcoming events are THM TT at Kajang (with alot of poison) and TT at Fara's. Details to come.

5. Two brothers from my church are car enthusiates. Both of them drive the Toyota Trueno, or its more famous name, 86 ('part loke' in canto). All of them with stock engines, but kitted bodies and modified interiors. The white one, driven by the younger brother, won a time challenge race recently

Enjoy some pics:














This is the interior of the Red 86. Nice gauges and bride seats!


Same Red 86, black bonnet - a "cool" oil cooler with the engine code on it (not intercooler)






Check out the depth of those rims.

Weekend Snippets

1. I found 2 little dents on the rear left passenger door, near the fuel cover. Actually my wife found it. There are 2 light scratches too. *sigh* Now I really wanna respray the car (white!).

2. I washed my car 3 times in this week. Its been attracting alot of bird shit, tree sap, water stains, grass(?) and other unidentified dirt (yellow stains, white spots, other marks, etc.) Its becoming quite frustrating... but the end result of a shiny and clean car, is very satisfying.

3. Fuel consumption is quite poor. About 30 cents/km (mostly city driving). Going to change to lower viscosity oil and increase tyre pressure soon.

4. The X20 won some Asian Auto & VCA award, "Best Family Sedan” Award for local assembly cars (9th July 2008). Read HERE. What I found interesting is that:
- Only Fleet Asia and Kah Bintang's website reported on the X20's award.
- Bernama and NST reported on the the Nissan bagging some other awards, which just goes to show, awards like these are reported/reviewed by the agencies (Bernama/NST) that are PAID to do so (by Tan Chong).
- Honda bagged 3 awards (that are not reported ANY where else on the web)
- No other information on the web on this award, not even on the Asian Auto website (after 11 days), maybe I'll need to buy the magazine. Smart fellas.

5. The petrol smell after refuel is less now. This time, I drove without aircon for 2 minutes. Minimal petrol smell.

6. At a friends party, my wife's friends, who are car enthusiates, asked her why did I get the X20. According to them, Proton engine is better than Hyundai engine. I beg to differ, and I didn't bother to engage in the conversation.