The Kia Sorento

King of the Urban Jungle : Kia's largest just got more menacing. If recent reviews are anything to go by, there could be a new leader in the mid-market SUV segment.

The Kia Picanto

Kia's smallest is arguably the model that set it's counters rolling and the world noticing. Flower Power, it definitely is.

The Kia Cerato Koup

The car that feels so right : The Cerato Forte set the industry ablze with striking good looks and brilliant quality and drive and cost thousands less than the complecent competition.

Then came the Koup, and Kia is ready for world domination surely.

The Kia Magentis K7

For too long, few could look at the Kia's mid-size competitor without a scorn. It was not bad at all. But the competition was simply more illustrious. Considering this segment with its buyers mostly made of middle management-types where brand cache is everything, it was just a lacklustre choice.

With this ferocious beast on the other hand, things are gonna change soon.

Q .. not just Hyundai , but the rest of the automotive world, had better start notcing the exhaust fumes from Kia's rear exhasts. It's thundering ahead.

Am A Rock !

The 2010 Volkswagen Amarok .

A stunner in form and function.

Like all VWs, this is a precision-made machine of high quality, sophisticated techno-wizardy of an advanced gear box, powerful turbo charged engine and then some.

Traverse the rough terrain and you know you are The Rock.

Q

Fierce for Success

As the world turns its back on rough-and-tumble SUVs for their lack of refinement, environmental unconsciousness and the very common sense that most peep don't live next to a barn, and when the common car , is too anaemic for the adventurous urban jungle warrior, the cross-over 'soft-roader' has been the ideal sweet spot that car manufacturers have .

Mitsubishi , from the looks of things, their new competitor in this hotly contested segment in the market , the RVR (the new 2010 that is, not the old thing of yore-and-ions ago) .

Taking a hint from the very aggressive ( and very successful)shark-visage of the Lancer, and a rear end not too disimilar to the Audi Q3.

So , what you get is a winner .

Cannot wait til it hits the show rooms this year . And soon . Lovely.

Q

Will this new O add to the MG?

Opel Insignia


Check Spec:
-2.0L Turbo producing 220BHP
-6-speed auto with manual select.
-0-100kmh in 7 sec
-Car of The Year 2009.

Many reviewers have applauded this car as the best in class be it comfort, drive , build-qualty or design, than literally all in this junior executive be it the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford Mondeo, VW Passat or even the BMW 3-series.

Only in price , has Opel lost the plot a bit ( or a lot) . It is almost 30% too expensive to compete well with its rivals.

Only time will tell, if this car is gonna finally pull Opel out from under the other much more vaunted German brands like Mercedes , BMW , Volkswagen and Audi.

will I want one? Yes to drive . To own? Give me a Volkwagen Passat CC or Renault Laguna Coupe , both of which costs thousands cheaper ....

Q.. ...See my point?

Pretty Big Mini Rival

Aston wants a piece of Mini.

>>> First up, lemme give you a brief preview write up:
Yuu can see the traditional and familiar Aston face : The vertically-stacked lights and the wide-gaping low grille.

The rear also has familiar cues from traditional models albeit less so than the original concept of last year. Now , the production version you see here , has a VW Golf-ish rear lamp clusters.

The designers cum sculptors have done their very best with 'surface flaming' and swages to render the side profile as swoopy as a short-stubby car could possibly be.

Any car with as Aston badge needs to pop-it-like-its-hot on the inside. It has to scream sporty, exclusive and expensive. And so here , it doesn't disappoint (too much). With high-quality hide stiched over everywhere (possibly many cows died here of claustrophobia), edgy and exclusive embossed materials on the seats and door panels, and polished piano-finish for the dash. Of course, while most Aston's have more traditional interiors, this here is meant for the younger and trendier-than-thou set so you'd expect hyper modern luxuries and amenities and an overall, more modern-take on things.

Drive-wise, no one has the inside story as yet, but ,this is an Aston, so expect sharp and precise hot-hatch/roadster-like hustling around the bends. (Which no Toyota ever was; so good luck with that).

>>>Now let's get on with general snipes at this car;

When I first came across the initial pictures of the Aston Martin Cygnet still on the design facility being chamfered away by its modellers ( you could almost sense their frustration going " More off! More off! Not sleek enough.. never sleek enough!" .) .

I was thinking " WTH. "

At that time, Aston claimed it was but a design study and a potential small car and should it ever come out, will be meant nothing more than a good-will gift to existing customers who just need a smaller ride to the nearest hypermart.

Totak bubbish right?

Until when I kinda stumbled upon a picture of one on the opposite page of an auto publication featuring a Fiat 500C(which by the way has a price tag so steep it's even more a joke than the Cygnet.)

Now , we all know that the Fiat 500 range was conceived to be that retro cart-like car to compete with the very successful BMW-owned MINI.

There. Got my drift? Aston Martin wants a piece of the MINI-clientele was well.

No chicken pie here . Only Baby-swan pie.

Only time'll tell if Aston Martin can indeed bring its sporting heritage to this end of the market.

Q... what a very expensive little bird it's gonna be.

Panda to Kung fu its way

Kungfu Panda








Geely . A car brand scoffed by all. Poor quality. Poor design. Low tech. 'Imitation stuff' .

I'm guilty too . I wouldnt be caught dead stepping out of one. Or be damned, they are so 'loose' I could be dead in one .... Gosh!

But things are looking up for this very established Chinese brand (them locally at least) .

2010 sees the launch of the Panda.

Finally, a compact Chinese car with the goods: The quality, the design inside and out and the up-to-date technology.

Things are looking up (and looking very cute) indeed.

Q

Never too Much Ego

Behold , this is one of my favourite cars of all time.

The Rinspeed Mono Ego.

Quoting Serious Wheels:


World Première at the 1997 Geneva Motor Show.

Rinspeed Mono Ego – the First Single-seater Car in the World that's Licensed for the Road!

To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Rinspeed Design AG company, Frank M. Rinderknecht (41) has come up with something very special: the Swiss automobile tuner has created a vehicle that blends traditional beauty and forward-looking technology in a most impressive way – the Rinspeed Mono Ego.

The Style:
Fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, who numbers champagne producer Pommery among his clients, has transformed the Mono Ego into a mobile work of art, gleaming in the colors of the tricolore and decorated with miniature angels and other emblems created specially for the Mono Ego. The leather seat, for instance, has a transparent cover into which colored feathers have been sewn. A more exclusive sense of style would be difficult to find on the automobile scene!

To display the artistry of Jean-Charles de Castelbajac in its full splendor, Burg Design digitized all the design material by a special high-tech process. This Austrian company concentrates on decor requirements for special-series vehicles and on high-tech interior applications. Among the processes it has developed is Evotec, which gives decals a three-dimensional visual effect. It is used on the Mono Ego to render the close-fitting fenders almost invisible; a cleverly simulated tire tread effect adds to the optical illusion.


The Tires:
The Dunlop company contributed the tires: as one of the world's largest manufacturers of tires for high-volume motor vehicles and also of high-performance tires, it possesses an immense amount of experience. Frank M. Rinderknecht explains: "At the moment, no production tires of the size we needed are available, and so we had to approach a manufacturer capable of responding flexibly and rapidly to our request. Dunlop certainly lived up to its high reputation here.

The Wheels:
Antera took up the challenge of producing wheels to carry these special Dunlop tires. An Italian company, it is famous for its avant-garde wheel designs and for the unusual technical principles which it adopts. For example, the tire valve is hidden behind the hub cover so that the wheel's overall appearance is not affected by the valve protruding from the rim.

The suspension:
In the running-gear area, Rinspeed was able to call upon the services of the Eibach company, the leading international manufacturer of suspension components. Eibach Suspension Technology, which as its name implies specializes in such matters and supplies the world's top motor sport entrants including the McLaren Formula 1 team, undertook to develop the suspension struts and stabilizers for the Rinspeed Mono Ego. Eibach certainly justified its reputation: for the Mono Ego it designed competition shock absorbers with four adjustment settings – a world première.

The Exhaust system:
Austrian specialist company Remus developed a free-flow exhaust system for the Rinspeed Mono Ego.

The Sound Insulation:
The Swiss company Rieter Automotive Systems provided the floor carpeting, of truly magnificent quality, for the Rinspeed Mono Ego.

The Interior:
The German Classic Interiors company took on the task of finishing the interior to the highest possible standards.

The miscellaneous components:
The headlights, rear lights and mirrors are among the few components not crafted by hand for the Mono Ego. They are taken from the Hyundai Tiburon Coupé.

The ICE:
Thanks to a hi-fi radio and CD installation from Philips Car Systems, the open-topped Rinspeed Mono Ego none the less achieves high standards of audio reproduction. Nor does the driver have to feel that he or she is alone in the wide, wide world: Carin is a sympathetic companion on the longest journeys. This is the name given to Philips Car Systems' first class navigation system

The Builder:
TLC Carossiers Inc. Took on the task of building up the complete Rinspeed Mono Ego.

The Transporter:
The air-freight specialist Lufthansa carried out the safe, reliable and timely transport of the Mono Ego to make a flawless and on-time debut in front of the world press in Geneva.

The Techs:
Under the dramatic body, power is supplied in plenty by a 32-valve aluminum-block V8 engine; it is supercharged and develops no less than 410 bhp (maximum boost pressure 0.35 bar).

This engine whisks the single-seater Mono Ego from a standstill to 100 km/h in only 4.8 seconds, with a top speed of 258 km/h attainable when conditions permit.

The aluminum body gives the Mono Ego an exceptionally rigid structure and a gross weight of only 960 kilograms, with the result that its power-to-weight ratio would be the envy of many a driver of exclusive Italian sports cars.

The Rinspeed Mono Ego is 4623 millimeters long, almost equaling a Mercedes-Benz E, for instance, yet about 700 kg lighter.

It has a 5-speed manual-shift gearbox, and independent suspension all round with 16-inch wheels and tires of unusual sizes (245/65 at the front, 275/70 at the rear).

____________________________________________________________________________
An Amazing work of art.

And so limited , you have to be only marginally south of Mr Gates to own one.

That's a lot of Ego there.

Q

Ugly and Stupid?

Baby Martin

It might seem at first that it’s a joke—Aston Martin building a car based on the Toyota iQ city car—but it’s not April first, and with a concept car called the Cygnet, indeed they’re serious.

Aston Martin describes the Cygnet concept as a luxury commuter, “a distinctive, intelligent and exclusive solution for urban travel in style and luxury.”

Why should only the hoi polloi be fuel efficient? Or put the other way, why should the fuel efficient not be able to arrive in Aston Martin style?

Accordingly, the Aston Martin Cygnet is “a creative, environmentally conscious solution, being small, yet with presence – and highly fuel efficient, now combined with the prestige of Aston Martin’s luxury brand ownership.”

Aston Martin Chief Executive, Dr Ulrich Bez said: “Now is the right time for Aston Martin to take this first bold step to embark on this special project – made possible with the support of an organisation of Toyota’s stature and capability and the intelligent design and perfect city car package of the iQ.”

Dr. Bez conceded that much remained to be done, but by working with Toyota and utilizing the respective strengths of each organization, “this project could become reality in the not too distant future.”

Aston Martin provided no technical information, including what suspension or engine differences there might be, though we would be surprised to see a production Aston Martin Cygnet as merely a Toyota iQ with a different body and inside, luxury trim.
Even so, one shouldn’t expect a production Aston Martin Cygnet to be a luxury tourer. Bez called it “akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht.”

“The offering of a ‘Cygnet’ with a DBS, DB9 or Vantage is a unique combination of opposites,” said Bez, “and a novel transport solution allowing intelligent and sensitive mobility on an exclusive and innovative level.”

In short, the question is not whether a production version of the Cygnet will arrive, but when. And a cygnet, as you know, is a baby swan.

Then too, a baby swan was, in the children’s story. An ugly duckling.

And where's the IQ in that?

Q ... what say you? A really expensive shopping cart? A supplementary card to that exclusive Gold Card?

A Coup waiting to happen

The Kia Cerato Koup

The stylish four-door is called the Forte ( gotit? ) . And it's flying off the show room floors like hot cakes.

This coupe version , out soon, its called a Koup ( getit?) . Oh btw, its called a 'Koooooo... '. A coup; like a riot waiting to happen.

Very impressive.

For those who think the Honda Type R coupe too blatant, the Alfa Romeo Mito too raw, Volvo C30 or the VW Scirocco too expensive, this is it.

Very gorgeous, me thinks.

Taut. Angular. Aggressive. Ready to pounce.

This car will officially rise Kia to first world motoring at its best.

It has arrived .

Q .... Bring on the Koup!!!

Have a fiesty , zoom and Cruze!

The Ford Fiesta.


The Mazda 3

The Chevrolet Cruze


These are cars you wanna take home when you appreciate great style, impeccable road handling and the willingness to fork out just a couple more grand to stay ahead of the bread-and-butter crowd. (But not too much that it'll break the bank, as you would if you chose a VW Golf instead, for example.)

These cars are puuurrrrrrrrfect.

Q My pick? Go for the Oval Badge...

Big and beautiful is En Vogue.

Who ever said that SUVs are officially dead?

Ostenticity is clearly still 'in'.

Gas-guzzling and poor economic sensibilties is hardly an issue for the Wealthy

( and sinful; chicken-egg 'which ever comes first?' theory; know what I mean).

In fact, from the world's most prestigeous SUV maker , Land Rover,( okay I want , also, either a Porche Cayenne , BMW X6 or Audi Q7, as well) they came out with a Haute Couture , for its top-line Range Rover.

Tuned and souped up to befit an exclusivity beyond comprehension of mere mortals.

What's it called?

This SUV so 'in' its called VOGUE.

Q... Big and beautiful is in. Skinny is out. Nuff said.

The Last Emperor

Rolls Royce wants to Sue .

Imitation is China's best policy, it seems.

Look carefully. This is no Phantom.

Geely GE







How to one-up RR and treat the mogul/magnate at the back even more like king?

Have him his Thrown!

I'm phucking impressed and disgusted in equal measure. ^^

Q ...GIVE me one!

Finally found its Forte

Handsome. Period.

Kia , a Korean brand we associate with the budget-of-budget motoring. Four wheels and quite reliable. Quite cute. Dirt cheap.

So there was little to complain or fuss about.

So a specially decicated article like this, sure is big news.

And it certainly hints at a certain coming of age. An Arrival at the scene.

The 2009 Kia Cerato Forte, to begin with, even for a massive naysayer like me, actually finding myself falling in love with its, says hell lot.

Obviously, to begin with, the designers at Kia must have had a huge pay rise for they have come up with, in my opinion, one of the most successful shape in years for this category.

It obviously took more than a design hint of the amazing Honda Civic and essense-of -taut , from the Lexus IS 250.

Indeed, this car has lines that are taut and angular and inoffensive to anyone, making it a design loved and raved by all. A strong stance rounds it all up.

Inside, the materials used and the mechanicals are also up several notches.

More attention to a better dash design though.

Still, a long way from what Kia used to be not too long ago.

A winner. That, we can see from the sheer numbers thronging the roads already.

Thumbs Up.

Q

11 VIPS

Introducing the Hyundai Grand Starex

What do you get when you have a torquey 3.0l V6 engine, 11 full-sized individually reclining plush leather arm rest-lounge seats (yes 11, you read that right! 11 First Class seats) , fold down coffee tables, premium sound system, LCD screens to watch DVD movies and play computer games from, fully adjustable air con vents for each passenger and LED mood lamps all round?

A luxo-limo the size of a studio appartment.

The yankees love their stretched limos.

The Easten Asians (namely the Japs and the Koreans) however prefer ultra-plus sized MPVs befitting posh moving suites.

And I relate to that.

The huge sliding doors on both sides mean you can really step out in style.

Not flashing to the paparazzi your camel's toe or wedgy.

Your whole entourage can lounge in un paralled space and luxury as the driver wafts this AirBus-on-wheels to the next destination; witness the hectic world outside zoom past.

Q... perfect for ferrying the entire English soccer team who are used to the high life. Prissy folks those are. ^^