Wanted.. by the Prime Minister of Thailand

Yes, yes, yes... it's been a long while since i've been writing here. Shoot me for being absolutely busy these past few days / weeks. You could probably be able to gauge how busy i am by the frequency of my entries here, i.e. the less frequent i write, the more busy i am, and the more frequent i write, the more time i have to waste and surf the net and do all sorts of other time wasting stuff. Actually today, i *should* have not been able to spend time writing, but since someone decided to FFK me for dinner (luckily she told me *before* i left and also *before* i arrived and have waited for 1/2 an hour twiddling my thumbs and all), so suddenly i have a while to gather my thoughts at the end of the day and also some time to write.

Was reading this particular review of the Fiat Panda by none other that Jeremy Clarkson the other day in the Cars Bikes and Trucks, (actually i think it was like 2 weeks ago, yeah yeah yeah... i am a little behind the times), and he kinda gave out a remark that i particularly find a tad bit annoying, to quote him..

"..Perodua Kelisa, a car built in a jungle clearing by people who go to work in shoes made from leaves.."

.. i mean, i don't mind him dissing the car since it's his views on the car and all, but dissing the people that actually make it, i mean, come on! Dear Mr Clakson, we in Malaysia do NOT go to work in shoes made from leaves or any other part of the tree, thank you very much. I guess this statement of his just shows how ignorant some people can be of all the third world nations, and it did make me lose a wee bit of my respect of him and his writings. However, as i have been reading his writings and watching his shows all along before this, i somewhat am not surprised that he actually came out with some remark like this. He probably meant it as a joke (albeit a bad one), but still, i do find it a bit insensitive.

And yes, we have been dumped out of the FA Cup by a team playing with 14 of their first team players out injured. I actually didn't watch the game as i was actually working on Sunday night (*gasp*). At first i felt a bit pissed off because of that, but after knowing the results the next morning, i thought that working that night was a blessing in disguise, since if i did work, i would have watched the match, and would have felt shitty the whole of the next day after spending 90 minutes of my time watching even more passion-less attempts at playing football.

I still fail to comprehend how on earth they let Owen take the penalty that night. I mean, Houllier was quoted as saying something in the line of "You miss one or two, that happens", or some shite like that. Yes, i agree, but that saying does NOT apply when someone's successful penalty-scoring ratio is somewhere in the range of 1 conversion out of 10. I mean, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that Micheal Owen CANNOT, i repeat CANNOT take penalties, right?! ... RIGHT? Ever since the loss, there has been a lot of talk around about the board and all sacking Houllier soon. I mean, come on. You know as well as I do that will not in a million years happen, and the board will at least wait until the end of the season to give him the CHOP.

Actually the state of the team doesn't really seem that encouraging. Houllier seems to have lost the plot (since TWO years ago, some people seem to say) and has lost control, belief, respect of his players, our main goal scoring threat looks set to leave this summer (although sometimes i feel like i might be glad he leaves) and the person who is supposedly coming in during the summer seems be hoping to unsettle the opposition defenders with laughter by dying his beard blonde, or some other dodgy color, Kewell looks like he has lost his touch and seems uninterested, leTallec and Ponggolle seems to be suffering from burn out of too heavy expectations been put on their shoulders, all the other players (with the exception of le Kapitan and Carragher) seems so goddamn de-motivated and just can't be arsed to be playing. I mean, what else can happen that can make it worse? I mean, it's not as if the Prime Minister of Thailand might be buying us over right? Right? .... RIGHT?!!

Later.

They called it WHAT?!!

First and foremost.. what on EARTH were they thinking of giving it a name like "GEN-2"?! If you don't know what I am talking about, basically our very own national motoring company has just officially launched their latest model, the one they used to called the WRM a.k.a Wira Replacement Model a.k.a Sutera. Now, if you asked me, OK, I know you wont since nobody would give a rat's arse about what i think but i'll say it anyway, I would have prefered the "Sutera" name, to go along the lines of their Wira, Waja, Iswara naming schemes. I would have thought that since it is a national car, the names should have been a bit more nationalistic (?), i guess. I mean, the very first national car was called the "Saga" and a lot of effort was made into naming it, if i remember correctly, so that it would reflect our countries' culture or what nots. But no, the company that is "Daring to change" (is that grammatically correct in the first place?!!), are now even "daring to change" the way they name their cars. Oh well, what do i know? I just think that GEN-2 is a ridiculous name, but i guess that's more of an individual's preference.

Anyway, finally, after much hoo haa, the car has arrived. I would reserve any judgement i have on it until i have had a chance to actually touch and feel it. In the meantime, here are some links to some reviews that have popped up at exactly 6:01pm today after the "embargo" was lifted on their release from AutoWorld [autotrade.com.my] and from Star-Motoring [star-motoring.com] and another one from autoworld [autotrade.com.my].

From what i have read and seen so far on the net, it looks pretty decent, the interior doesn't look as dodgy as it first looked in the spy pics before, but the colours, OUCH!! Especially that green one. OH. MY. GOD. Butt Ugly. Absoultely hideous. Horrendous. However, the grey one doesn't look too bad at all. Actually, i might just drop by my friendly neighbourhood Proton Edar tomorrow to check it out.

Later.

The Wira Replacement Model

Some spy pictures of the latest "Wira Replacement Model" can be seen here, courtesy of Autotrade.


My thoughts:

From the outside, it seems like a very very impressive job has been done by the proton designers. If you look at the front grille, it seems it is supposed ot resemble a "wau"-like figure, and yeap, i can see where people get that from. Although i can see that there are some resemblances with the Mazda 6 and the Beemer 5 series. The behind is also quite impressive. Overall the exterior gets a thumbs up from me.

The interior on the other hand sucks big time. El-cheapo plastic parts everywhere. The door handle and the circular thing on the side of the door looks very very plasticky and very very cheap. Steering wheel has been recycled from the Waja. The whole top half of the cockpit also looks mightily plasticky, like the one on the Waja, which isn't really my taste. However the pictures might be deceiving so i'll reserve my judgement til i get to see it in person.

Overall, it does look promising. Supposedly, the model will be launched sometime early next year and these pictures have made my anticipation level quite high. However, the huge question marks that still remain unanswered are:

1) Reliability of the new CAMPRO engine. It is rumoured that this model will be powered by the in house Proton developed CAMPRO engine. Judging by Proton's infamous QC history, driving around in a "Proton designed engine" doesn't really exude the same amount of confidence as say, a Toyota VVTI or a Honda VTEC / iDSL or even a good ol' reliable Mitsubishi engine. So, the jury is still out on that one, which brings us to the main issue of..

2) Quality Control. Just how many units of these will suffer from the infamous Proton "Power Window" feature. I drive a Proton, and my power windows have failed me twice already, and once was while it was friggin raining and just after i paid the toll!!! Imagine driving around in the goddamn monsoon weather with your windows fully opened! Basically, if they can assure us that there wont be any similar issues, that would be a MAJOR plus.

3) Those el-cheapo plastics!! Get rid of those el-cheapo plastics!!

4) Durability. Can they make it more durable than the Waja. I dont drive one, but a LOT of Wajas that i have been in, after a year, you hear a whole load of itsy bitsy noises that just get on your nerves while driving!

I mean, thats not such a bad list isn't it. I just want the car to be reliable, durable, not having any el-cheapo interior plastics, and for goodness sakes Proton, give your QC department a big kick up their arse! For your own sake! You guys desperately need to buck up to brace yourselves for AFTA!

Anyway, hope you enjoy these spy pics. I wonder if the fella in some of those pictures are gonna get screwed by the Proton management bvy letting people leak these pictures. But, somehow, i have a feeling that these pictures have been purposely leaked by Proton themselves to gauge the response of the public before it's release. Just a cheap way to market it pre-launch and build up the anticipation again. It definite has built up mine again!

Laters.

Hey there.. it's been a while since my last entry. Been rather busy lately. Been staffed onto a new project and all so getting bloody hectic and all. Fasting month now, and everyone's out for lunch, leaving me here alone in the project room. Sheesh.

Been surfing the net and found another interesting site for cars and all stuff related to that.

Car Spy Shots


Anyway, am thinking of where to break fast with my girlfriend tonight. Been trying to think of some place nice, but my mind can't seem to stop thinking about the new KFC wedges that come with mayonaise and cheese... my god.. am salivating now just thinking of it.

Anyway.. back to surfing the net.