Vauxhall Vectra Beats Proton Overseas

1. I remembered when I first come to the United Kingdom, which was like few months ago, I saw some kind of unfamiliar car brand on the road (only valid to me coz I'm a outsider). I came to the UK for crash investigation training at Birmingham UK and as the training went, I had opportunity to look/inspect onto this unfamiliar car in details.

2. The car I'm talking about is Vauxhall Vectra. Hehe At first I thought it was a Proton car because the emblem looks like the same. But it is not! After second glance, there is a quite significant difference where the Vauxhall used a dragon head, Proton used Tiger head.

3. In terms of safety design and looks, I could say even any used Vauxhall Vectra car can beat any international version of new Proton car. Well, you know, the one that Proton produce overseas was 10 times better than produced locally, so meaning it is like 100 times better than our car here. What? You dont know this? Too bad, but you know it now.

4. However, to be honest, for some reason, I'm feel kinda weird because the price of Vauxhall was really expensive compared to another car brand in UK such as Honda, Hyundai, Nissan and so on. The price supposed to be low right since Vauxhall is UK based company. Maybe the goverment didnt give enough subsidies to the company but thing to be proud of is even the price is expensive, I saw lots of the Vauxvall cars on the UK road, which implies that it is indeed a great car. If not, why many people buy Vauxhall Vectra eh?

A Little Fact on Car Torsion Beam Suspension

1. Recently I have posted a crash that involves Toyota Vios and the palma tree where the car become bananized after hitting the tree. You can find the post from HERE.

2. I would like to thank Aminashaari for providing feedback and info as follows:

Actually it's the not the break system that's the issue. The problem lies in the inherent characteristics of torsion beam suspension system that loads up the front end of the car during hard braking. Torsion beam suspension (featured in most entry level cars to save cost and space - including the Toyota Vios) provides a simple, laterally strong solution to rear suspension systems of budget and compact cars.

The downside is that this simple suspension configuration tends to exaggerate load transfer to the front end during hard braking making the rear end very light and prone to loosing traction. In the hands of a novice driver, this can be dangerous. Though I haven't seen the CCTV footage, from your description (pivoting under braking), sounds like a textbook case of brake induced oversteer.

Short wheelbase hatchbacks are more prone to this than booted sedans with similar setup. It is safe to conclude that the car entered the corner at high speed and understeered due to the wet conditions. Typical to normal drivers, he would lift off from the throttle, jammed on the brakes and at the same time over corrected the steering to compensate for the understeer.

Current models with similar suspension setup (that I know of):

Proton Savvy
Perodua MyVi
Honda Jazz
Honda City
Toyota Yaris
Nissan Latio

3. In short, whatever car you have, please be more careful, especially during wet and raining time. But to think that in this case only car to be blamed is unfair coz the road design and road furniture also have big weight on this problem too. Lots to be done, and lots to be addressed on the road safety issues. Slowly but surely. Lets hope for a better future.

Top Hybrid Cars 2008 with Estimated Mileage

1. Hybrid rankings have often been simplistic: Most are little more than lists of the highest-mileage models on the market. Here, we ranked hybrids based on how much fuel savings they get when compared to their non-hybrid version, as well as how much all that saved gas is going to cost you.

2. Examinations that compare hybrids to "comparably equipped" versions miss an important point. Hybrids are almost always among the most expensive trim levels, if not the most costly, but our premise is that you're looking for efficiency first, followed closely by price.

3. This isn't about acceleration, so the hybrids are compared to the lowest-priced, most-efficient gas-only trim level in their model line. Our rankings take into account the hybrid's mileage and price premium, in percent, as well as its suggested retail price. This gives less-expensive models a boost while penalizing more-expensive ones.

4. Now lets have a look on the top 5 champion of hybrid cars internationlly during 2008 year.

No. 1: Toyota Prius
MSRP: $21,100

EPA-estimated mileage (city/highway, mpg): 48/45

After seven years on the market, the Prius is still the best hybrid for people who just plain want to burn less gas. It's arguably also the best for people who hope to save money in the long run. Built from scratch as a hybrid, it maximizes interior space and offers a roomy cargo hatch, whereas hybrid sedans tend to diminish trunk space and/or eliminate folding backseats. There is no gas-only version, but there doesn't have to be. It's both the most efficient and most affordable hybrid out there.

No. 2: Saturn Vue Green Line
MSRP: $24,170

EPA-estimated mileage: 25/32

Dramatic mileage boosts get all the attention, but Saturn is onto something with this mild hybrid approach. The current Vue Green Line's premium over the lowest-priced gas-only version is modest — only 14 percent. All the same, its city and highway mileage increases are 32 and 23 percent, respectively. What's more, it's priced below the V-6 version, whose mileage it roughly doubles. The only drawback: The Vue is the only hybrid SUV not to offer all-wheel drive. (Note: A second Green Line with 2 Mode technology is coming late in 2008 as a 2009 model.)

No. 3: Honda Civic Hybrid
MSRP: $22,600

EPA-estimated mileage: 40/45

Even though its cost premium over the base Civic is 51 percent, its city and highway mileage are 54 percent and 32 percent higher, respectively, than that already-efficient model, making the payoff quite high. It happens to be an excellent car, too.

No. 4: Toyota Camry Hybrid
MSRP $25,200

EPA-estimated mileage: 33/34

Not everyone wants a small, less-refined car like the Prius, which makes the Camry Hybrid the one for the masses. Priced 36 percent higher than the base four-cylinder model, it gets 57 and 10 percent better gas mileage (city and highway), and even more dramatic improvements over the V-6 versions whose prices it rivals.

No. 5: Lexus RX 400h
MSRP: $41,280

EPA-estimated mileage: 27/24

Though it's a luxury model, the RX 400h's price premium is a mere 10 percent over the gas-only RX 350. Combined with a 50 percent city mileage improvement and 4 percent highway bump, it's a compelling package overall. The RX is similar to the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, which has a lower overall price and 1 mpg higher highway mileage, but that model's higher price premium gives it a lower rank. With optional AWD, the RX 400h (26/24 mpg) is an even better deal, with mileage improvements of 53 percent and 9 percent compared to the all-wheel-drive RX 350.

Cheap Honda Car Parts Sell USA

1. Are you looking for cheap Honda Car Parts sell? I have no choice but to disappoint you because I think you got a wrong place for that. But I can ensure that you have come to the more interesting area and will benefits your life greatly. That’s a road safety education campaign lesson. Yeah there is a Honda crash you need to see. So be careful when you drive your lovely Honda eh.

2. From the picture, we can see that all the front of Honda Parts was broken off on the post-crash condition. What do you think it collided with? Come on, please guess. Huh you guys are really shy and static. Well, the Honda car was crashing head on with another tough car, Toyota Altis. But too bad, I don’t have the picture of the remaining crashed Toyota Altis.

3. But as far as I remembered, the Toyota Auto Parts condition was about the same with the red Honda. For me, their crash was compatible each other but unluckily for some reason, the crash took 3 deaths, might be due to high velocity impact. The accident was happening when Toyota Altis tried to overtake another car at the sharp corner with double line and ending up having frontal collision with Honda.

4. So lesson of the day, don’t ever try to overtake at double line ok, it is dangerous, not solely to you but also to other road users. Remember your loved ones!

Proton Satria NEO CPS 2009 Road Tested!

1. The best Proton model in the world has been spotted spotted on the highway by Paul Tan reader the_king near the Prai Industrial Estate area. I say it the best because this is the only Proton model that has been recognized as NCAP 4 stars internationally. But dont be too proud yet coz thats only for overseas releases, not local. So dont dream okay hehe.

2. If we look at this lightly covered up test car, we can immediately notice a large spoiler at the top of the hatch, something missing on the standard Satria Neo. Is it pretty? Looks messy to me.

3. You can also see that the rear bumper is new. Those little side strips on the side of the car have always been on the Neo but on this car they continue after the rear wheel arches onto the bumper. The area at the bottom of the bumper near the exhaust pipe also seems to be taped up, indicating it could be hiding a diffuser-like design of some kind. Well, that's good enough since this is just a tested prototype, no need to go extravaganza.


4. The photographer did not manage to snap a front shot of the vehicle, just these rear and rear three quarter views as he was driving alone and turning back to snap a photo is just not possible, or too dangerous. But this is definitely enough as we now get to discuss a future Proton product.

5. The Satria Neo was launched in mid-2006 and facelifts commonly come every 2.5 to 3 years. This could be a facelift for the Proton Satria Neo that could make a debut sometime next year. Now the question is what’s under the hood. Will the Proton Satria Neo finally come with 125 hp Campro CPS power? Sounds relevant to me. Lets go all out CPS power!

Accident Crash Involving DUI Case

1. This is not my story. This crash story is taken from another country's crash that don't involve fatalities but have a good issue relating to Driving Under Influence (DUI). Please take a lesson from the story.

2. On Saturday the 14 July, 2007 we Potchefstroom Fire and Rescue received a call for a MVA with a patient trapped at about 11:30pm. On arrival I found two of my friends to be involved in the head on collision with another car the person in the other car was trapped from the knees down by the dashboard. I don’t know the speeds involved but I do know that my friend was driving in the wrong lane at the time of the accident.

3. Needles to say the speeds was above legal limit as well as the alcohol volume of my friend. Needles to say he was locked up for DUI and he got absolutely zero sympathy from me.

4. The other patient that was trapped was a old man that suffered 4 fractures to the left leg and some chest injuries luckily he will survive but it will be a long road to recovery for him. My friends court case is still pending.

Play Bowling with My ex-Big Boss Prof Dato' Radin Umar

1. Yesterday was a great day. I got an opportunity to meet my MIROS ex-big boss after so long not meeting him (about 5 months). He looks very busy, and more fatigue than before, well thats what he said anyway. Thanks and great job to MIROS bowling club for organizing this frequent bowling match among MIROS staffs.

2. Prof Dato' Radin before went to be Director General (DG) of Kementerian Pelajaran Tinggi (KPT) was a DG of MIROS. I can say he's the best road safety expert in Malaysia and one of my great mentors. Learning from him made my daily work at MIROS is really fun and I'm feel excited even there are tons of works to do and to learn. But too bad, he went to KPT and my excitement deterioting with time.

3. If not because of Prof Wong (also one of his protegees), who is my department boss currently, I dunno where am I at this moment. Maybe I would be at one of the oil n gas companies, or any other companies that offered greater salary. But thats not happening because I feel now alive again, I found back my spirit of road safety and directional of my works. Something needed to be done for better road safety, regardless what's happening internally in the organization.

4. Huh suddenly I'm wondering of what purpose of this post anyway? I think I want to say that even very short period of time meeting with Prof Dato' Radin, my work spirit is already soaring high. IMO, another reason is I want to share his brilliant thought on our Malaysia universities and college perfomances internationally. But I guess, I just lazy to write about it coz feel so sleepy. Maybe later.