Monday, June 16, 2008

2nd Service at Kah Bintang 223 Branch

Time for my 2nd service. This time, I brought my own Fully Synth Eneos oil. Wifey sent the car to the workshop early this morning while I was still snoozing due to some early work that came around.

Had mentioned about 3 things:
- Use the Eneos oil
- Check the petrol smell
- The steering wheel is pulling to the left

Well, the steering wheel is still pulling to the left. I don't know if the petrol smell will still be there (another 250km to go b4 my next refuel). But I'm sure they used the Eneos oil. Total bill came up to RM 13.00 for the oil filter and a (free) car wash. However, today's service took longer than usual, and my car was parked idle for the longest time. I also had to wait till after lunch where the service guy at the counter could print out my receipt.

The boss from Boon Siew came over to visit the 223 branch around 1.30pm. All the sales guys were in their smartest outfits. A korean big shot was supposed to appear, but no show. Sam brought the visitors for a tour around the branch.



How's the car after the service? I was hoping for a better fuel consumption and a smoother ride, but seems the same only. Looks like I'll need to reset the ECU! YEAH!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Avantes and X20s get aquainted @ Nilai

THM met up with the Advante Club from Club Hyundai yesterday afternoon at Nilai for a TT.

I thought I couldn't make the TT and was quite miserable, coz I had to stay at home for a few reasons. Anyway, the avante guys were running late and my wife graciously agreed to go together.

We drove down to Nilai after lunch and met up with mtuc + kids, dr.is, zeke + wife, mohd. eric. Avante guys came over late, but they came with their numbers. 16 cars, compared to our M'sian 4 cars... *sigh*

Not going post all the pics here, but you can visit these sites for the photos:
- Team Hyundai Malaysia
- Avante Forum @ Club Hyundai








I bought a 2nd hand Hurricane filter from avantERIC, who himself changed to open pod. Using "Japan's highest grade stainless steel" as its filter element, this Singaporean product positions itself next to K&N, hitting down on Oil Based air filters. Visit their website and you'll know what I mean.









Tried it out in my car and did a zero-to-hundred and clocked 11.25 seconds. Not much of a performance improvement, but two things:
- The air cond was on
- The car wasn't warmed up. The last time the car wasn't warmed up, I clocked 12.25s.

Anyway, my goal is not to improve BHP, but for better fuel economy and cheap maintenance. Wash and blow dry.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Incus X20 in Malaysia (ii)









A few notes:

- Price:
(a) For (current) X20 owner, the bodykit including front grill, painting and installation = RM3,980

(b) For future new owner, an addition of RM3,980 will give you the bodykit including front grill, black leather seats, leather steering, leather gear knob.




- The hubcaps on the rims not nice. "EASTMAX" is engraved on the rims. Wonder what that is...






- Some of the interior maintains the beige color tone, but the seats, steering wheel, gear knob and handbrake gets black trimmings with red double-threaded lines.






- Incus is an organization staffed by Hyundai Motor COmpany's R&D members - well done, Hyundai.

- The spoiler is made by Hyundai MOBIS. MOBIS is short for Mobile and System. They are an auto parts company based in Seoul, South Korea. Visit their website here.Lotsa flashy stuff. Btw, I couldn't load their site using firefox. Used IE instead.

- The real car (silver) will be at Kah Bintang 223 branch on Thursday, 16 June 2008. Must visit!


* Pricing info and pics courtesy of both mtuc (THM) and Sam Chong (KB 223 branch).


EDIT: As commented by Kaven Tan... Kah Bintang website now features images for the Incus X20 models and has the pages - url as follows: http://www.kahbintang.com/2008Elantra/index.html

Incus X20 in Malaysia

It has arrived, with pricing information. Presenting the Hyundai Elantra Incus Sport Edition X20.






I love the side, rear bumper skirts and spoiler. The front grill and skirt just doesn't bite me. From the side profile, I wish the front skirt curves in to maintain the rounded body lines of the X20, like so:




The rims are so-so, compared to O.Z. (ahem), but it suits the car nicely. The forum guys have been asking for a simpler looking rim design on the X20, and Hyundai has provided just that. A good looking 5-spoke with sporty touches.

More pics to come.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Kluang Station

I thought I would dedicate one whole post on Kluang Station.

Now the real name of Kluang Station is "Kluang Rail Coffee". It was started by Mr. Lim many generations ago at the Kluang Train Station. It was just recently (a year or so?), another shop opened in Kluang town.

Mr. Lim's grandson is still making coffee in Kluang Rail Coffee where he wipes the tables and greets the customers himself. I have some pics, but not with me now... will post them up later.

Anyway, this is the real (rail) link on Jeff Ooi:
http://www.jeffooi.com/2006/08/coffee_bin.php

The last picture is Mr. Lim making coffee. The best in town!

And this is the fake link, trying to ride on someone else's legacy:
http://www.kluangstation.com/

Eneos Engine Oil

Bought Eneos Pro-Racing Fully Synth Motor oil @ RM 165 from Eneos ofcoz. SL/CF SAE 5W-50. Eco-friendly and innovative oil for your car!



"Its a high performance motor oil with a fully-synthetic base oil and race-proven additives. Blended with Nippon Oil Corp's outstanding lubricant technologies to provide excellent protection and performance for today's engines that run at hight RPM." (no, thats not my typo, its on the bottle)

Its supposedly a promotion, where from 1st July, the motor oil prices will be raised by 15%. Be warned.

Next oil change will be trying either Bardahl (economical) or Mobil 1 (performance).

100+km till next service!

EDIT: this is off topic, but while at 1 Utama, I had lunch at Kluang Station (which is NOT stemmed out of the original "station" from Kluang), and I tasted cockroach smell in the bread and tea. After which, I had a long toilet session to purge the cockroach eggs from my stomach. Yucks!

Please visit the original Kluang Station in Kluang, Johor. There are only 2 original Kluang Stations, and both of them are in Kluang. One at the train station, and one more in Kluang town. Go Kluang!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

More X20's on the road

Sunday afternoon near Sea View restaurant in Sea Park. Spotted this Saphire Silver X20 looking for parking as well. Looks like this car is populating our Klang Valley streets!

Too bad the petrol price is a major discouragement for our 2.0 liter car. Someone on the forum is looking to cancel/transfer his X20 booking. *sigh*

More reason to support Pakatan Rakyat. I hope whoever leads this country is God fearing. That's all the politics I'm gonna talk about.

Btw, talking about petrol prices and critising our leaders for stupid remarks is not being 'political'... in case you're wondering.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Rebates will cover costs? Hell no...

Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop (NMY from now on) told The Edge Financial Daily in an exclusive interview:

“If we assume a person travels 50km a day, his cost will go up by RM60 a month. This RM625 is for 10 months that will work out to RM62 a month. It covers the higher cost."

First of all, the idiot should divide by 12 months, which makes the ammount RM 52.08 rounded up to RM 52.10.

Secondly, I wanted to see if his figures tallied, so I did a simple calculation.

Kancil 880 (Manual) Consumption = 17 km/liter

- According to NMY's 50km per day, I will be using: 50km = 2.94 Liters per day

- Therefore the EXTRA that I would be paying is: 2.94 x RM 0.78 = RM 2.29 a day

- In a month, this works out to be: RM 2.29 x 30 = RM 68.70


Monthly Subsidy @ RM 52.10 -vs- Monthly Expenditure @ RM 68.70 EQUALS to an idiot plucking figures from the sky.


When I did the same calculations for my X20 (50km = 5.47 liters/day), the expenditure comes up to RM 128.00 per month.


Monthly Subsidy @ RM 52.10 -vs- Monthly Expenditure @ RM 128.00 EQUALS to an idiot plucking figures from the sky.


“The impact for a person who travels 50km a day would be neutral as far as the increase is concerned. If he travels less, he is better off, if he travels more, he will be slightly worse off. Basically, we thought we want to cover the extra cost,” he explained."

- Boooh - sheet! Lets see the subsidies cover your 50 km in your stinking 2.0 V6 Perdana.
Any good news on reduced road taxes?

Yes, please.

Oic... all this is about Petronas...

Petronas could go bust by 2018.

Petronas President and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican:

“Since the formation of Petronas in 1974 to last year, the company gave the Government RM335.7bil out of a total profit of RM570bil”

- Therefore the people should all contribute to Petronas, since they gave given so much to the people already.

"Commenting on the fuel price increase, the Petronas boss said the corporation did not make a sen from the increase."

- Then who made the money? Surely someone must benefit...

"Asked about criticisms that Petronas' accounts and profits were not transparent, Hassan said the corporation published a very detailed annual report which was deposited in the Parliament library."

- Obviously our parlimentarians don't have the time to visit the library and read this annual report. They've got much better things to do. Coffee break anyone?

Petrol OMG WTF...




"Your balls are mine..."
______________________________


Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said that

- "The decision to expedite the announcement of the increase in petrol and diesel prices was not an 'afterthought', but rather a need".

Please explain the meaning of "a need". What need? Whose need? Why is there a need? Surely not the people's need.

- Talking about the increase... "It was either 50 sen, 78 sen or RM1. Initially it was RM1, but then we decided that rather than placing it at 50 sen and then increasing it later, we would just stick to a one-off increase."

- “Why do something twice when it can be implemented once?”

Why not just raise the prices to market level and let it float on a daily basis? Isn't that the direction of the Government? To remove subsidies for petrol altogether? Why do something twice when it can be implemented once? Remove the 30 cents subsidy now, I challenge you. That would satisfy your needs, won't it?

I'm so pissed.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Petrol Prices (info)

Most of you know about the petrol prices increase. But do you know the following: (from Paul Tan)

- The actual price at the pump for RON97 petrol is RM2.704

- Diesel price is also not RM2.58 per liter, but RM2.581 per liter.

- The new price of RM2.70 includes a 30 sen government subsidy, so it is reduced from what the Prime Minister says is a market price of RM3.00 per liter. The 30 sen subsidy will be a fixed amount of subsidy that will subsidise the market rate.

- The market rate will be reviewed every month. This means (if) the market rate is RM4.50 per liter next month, we will be paying RM4.20 per liter for fuel, and if it is RM7.00 per liter, we will be paying RM6.70 per liter.


Shit. We die. Petronas laugh at their earnings.

- Basically for the first 800 liters of fuel used per year, you’ll still be paying the old price of RM1.92 per liter. 66 liters per month is the equivalent of nearly 2 full tanks for a small compact car, or just over 1 full tank for a typical sedan.

I've calculated, I'll be paying an extra RM 837.56 per month, after the rebate. The calculations is as follows:

Avg 1 month usage (old price) - RM 300.00 / 130 Liters
Avg 1 month usage (new price) - RM 421.88

1 month Avg difference - RM 121.88
1 month rebate RM 625 - RM 52.08
1 month I spend extra - RM 69.80

1 year I spend extra - RM 837.56

- The government will be moving towards abolishment of the fuel subsidy in the future, so we’d better just get used to these new prices. There is already a hint in the Prime Minister Office’s announcement which states that the cash subsidy will be for vehicles with road tax expiring between the 1st of April 2008 until the 31st of March 2009. What happens after that?

After that no subsidy lor... then Petronas make more money lor...

"Petronas reports to just one man, the Prime Minister of Malaysia." from Raja Petra.

From Mahatir's blog:

"Roughly Malaysia produces 650,000 barrels of crude per day. We consume 400,000 barrels leaving 250,000 barrels to be exported."

Three years ago the selling price of crude was about USD30 per barrel. Today it is USD130 – an increase of USD100. There is hardly any increase in the production cost so that the extra USD100 can be considered as pure profit.

Our 250,000 barrels of export should earn us 250,000 x 100 x 365 x 3 = RM27,375,000,000 (twenty seven billion Ringgit).

But Petronas made a profit of well over RM70 billion, all of which belong to the Government.

By all accounts the Government is flushed with money.


Where is the money going to? Since "Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices."

Malaysia Today reports that:

"Dalam wawancara Buletin TV3 (8.00 malam 4/6/2008) Dato’ Shahrir Samad memberitahu tujuan sebenar mengurangkan subsidi minyak ini adalah untuk menampung kos pembangunan Negara"

This is quoted by the same guy who said this:

MELAKA, May 24 (Bernama) -- The government has no plans to increase fuel price despite the price hike of petrol by 30 per cent in Indonesia beginning Saturday, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said.

There could be 2 possible scenarios:

1. The government plans on a weekly basis. They came together for their weekly meeting, and after countless coffee breaks, they came up with the weekly plan; to increase petrol prices.

2. Badawi did not consult the government. That's why Shahrir didn't know about it. After all, Petronas reports only to the PM what!

Either way, we're screwed.

78 cents (40%) increase only maa...

From NOW onwards, petrol prices will go up to RM 2.70 per liter.

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=337301

Cycle to work!

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Rally Elantra!

Want to buy a rally elantra?





Go here for more pics and details.

Car Size Classification


The X20 is in the C-segment (Europe) category, which is also called:

- Compact car (American)

- Small family car (British)

For me, there is nothing compact or small about the X20. Well, I guess compact and small are relative terms...

Anyway, read wikipedia and for more classification info.