testdriving the merc b170.
it costs B$53k OTR, has sport rims, autotronic 7speed CVT transmission and nothing much else i can think of. lol. it is the cheapest mercedes available at brunei showrooms. most electronic safety equipments come as standard but since its the cheapest merc it doesnt have leather seats. it has a pretty high height ride, almost mpv like floor height. and with that they managed to make the interior spacious for its short length. its called a compact sports tourer. which i have never heard of before. it look basically like a hatchback that has a high floor line. somewhat like a ford focus hatch, the renault megane hatch, the mitsubishi colt plus (and its turbo ralliart variant) and a golf. althought im not sure about the interior space of those. visited the mit colt plus turbo ralliart at a showroom and it had a short nose(shorter than the merc, which is already quite short), and had an extended backside. which is basically a hatcback with lots of luggage space at the back. maybe thats what a sports tourer is. hurm. after reading some car review magazines most of them consider it a mini mpv. ride quality was what u would expect from a merc, handling at corners very good, not alot of body roll and its stable all around. and comfortable. u can drive like a maniac if u want to. which i tend to do. and the engine is quiet, quiet to the point of running at 4.5k rpm without u noticing it running that fast. so it is quiet. and it uses an autotronic cvt transmission which works like a dream (or nightmare if u dont know how). case in point being that me and my dad took turns test driving it. he didnt know how it worked like. and maybe the driving concept of the sports tourer with cvt is rolling away the miles steadily at a cruising pace. basically the throttle works differently from most japanese and conti cars. with the 115hp 1.7liter engine in a 1300kg car, the power to weight ratio is low. and the throttle i think is an electronic type. not an old schooled cable type. it doesnt detect varying throttle pressure. so if u press the throttle a quarter or 3 quarters of the max it makes no difference. u will be cruising along. as in no acceleration. so to accelerate u have to floor it. at a traffic light, when overtaking, normal driving. if u dont floor it u wont accelerate. which was what frustrated my dad. he didnt know that concept, and neither did I until i drove it. the throttle doesnt go according to the pressure. so even at a traffic light, u will never ever get a lurching start. which is safe. like a slow, easily anticipated turtle compared to the jumpy hare that if unpredictable. and there is a technology to that. its the anti skid something. lol. prevents a lurching start or sudden acceleration. so the power comes slowly and steady. which also saves petrol i guess. and the saving grace for the weak engine is the transmission. cruising around at highway speeds is a leisure and very relaxing. and very fuel economical compared to some other cars. on highways just use manual. at 110km/h in D (auto) u would be doing 2.5k rpm. in 7th gear at the same speed u would be doing 2k rpm. and even though u cant overtake in that 7th gear, just two or three flicks of the wrist and off u go at 4-5k rpm if u wanted to. after overtaking u just flick back to 7th and continue crusing along. which saves a hell of a lot of fuel. and in city driving the transmission saves u too. u can just choose D and floor everytime ur planning on overtaking/changing lanes/accelerating. u just have to get used to it. cos the rpm rarely goes too high for long periods. which is economical. and if u were to use manual when in the city u could push and hold the gear stick to the right for 2 seconds and ur in auto. but even if u forget u can be forgiven. if ur going into a junction in 6th gear and 20km/h the transmission will automatically revert to auto mode and change gears for u. so there wont be embarrassing cases of jerky riding and stalled engines. so its not a racy fast jap racy car. its meant to be a slow deliberate safe car. something that wont break ur back after driving long distances. and it goes if u want it too. the quiet engine willingly reached 5k rpm with its transmission at auto and not producing a howl. which is a plus side for me. it is for grown ups that want to relax. not a boy racer type. and if my parents were to choose it, i would be pretty happy. it is a merc after all. and im already addicted to the autotronic transmission. lol
the jetta 1.6
ok the test drive was short, maybe the dealers were cheapskates or something. and the fuel tank was pretty low. and it had a 6speed auto tiptronic transmission. it had a digital odometer. but not the fuel consumption meter that the merc had. which isnt as cool and practical. and it had a plain steering wheel. the 1.6liter golf(which costs exactly the same) had a multi function steering. which would be safer if u were to change radio volumes while driving. the ride was ok, not as quiet and comfortable as the merc but better than most jap cars. the engine and exhaust was pretty loud. especially the exhaust. maybe they wanted it to be a boy racer type car. or they couldnt find any normal exhausts and took the one used on the golf gti. turns out the engine is loud cos its an eight valver. more on that later. with a 1400kg car and 1.6liter 102hp engine, u cant really race. if u were to drive normally or in a city ok then. but overtaking isnt as good as it could be. the 2.0 FSI (fuel stratified injection) engine jetta was sold out. which is sad. if they had it i would be very happy. and it costs around B$45k. which is worth it considering what ur getting. comfort, power and a whole lot more fun. and my parents still havent made up their mind on what to get. and the 2.0TFSI (turbo) jetta is too expensive. B$59k. more expensive than the passat. and about the same as a volvo S60. more expensive than the merc B170 (the cheapest merc). and more expensive than the golf GTI. which is one cool mofo. the rims on those babies dont exist on any other cars i know. and the DSG gearbox is the current fastest shifting automated manual u can get. faster than the ferrari enzo in fact. and at the 3rd visit to the showroom i was egging my dad to try and test drive the golf gti. he didnt want to. cos he didnt want to get addicted to the ‘pawah’ and transmission and forget that he wanted a practical sedan. hurm. after doing some extensive research, i found out that the 1.6 jetta uses an old engine. turns out volkswagen has two 1.6liter engines. one is the FSi and the other isnt. and the problem lies in the fact that the non FSi engine has less power (102 vs 115 hp), worse fuel consumption and has 8 valves. which is what people call prehistoric these days. the FSi engine has 16 valves. and this is better cos the the FSI technology has the ecu controlling the timing and duration of the injection to produce more horsepower and consume less fuel. more valves mean more variability which can produce more options and control over the fuel air mixture and pressure. and after visiting the volkswagen dealer and confirming that the jetta had only 8 valves (the sales dude thought it was 16v, but after calling the service department of the showroom the confirmed the dreadful truth), my dad didnt want it. i wouldnt want it either. cos even though everything else was good (electronics, 6speed auto with tiptronic transmission), the engine was a big letdown. u get the looks and bells and whistles. but u dont get the go. which is sad. since brunei is a small market the dealers select the models and options that they are bringing in. so they cant bring in the whole range. so to differentiate the price range and not create overlapping priced models they brought in the crappiest crap car with some extra options so that the uber crap car wont compete with the crappiest premium model. which does make sense in small markets. if u bring in 2 models, one a midsized sedan and the other a large sedan u dont want them to compete with each other. cos if the midsized sedan (jetta) has everything on the options list (or at least a better engine), it will be expensive. more expensive than the basic large sedan without everything in the options list (or very little). and since human beings care more about image and looks than whats under the bonnet, they will get the large sedan. even though it is crap. cos in this day and age (and location) its all about image. if u wanted performance u get a honda civic 2.0 and ah beng modify it. so with the jetta out of the picture, my dad is choosing the passat. a 2.0 FSI engine (no turbo, unlike the malaysian turbo-ed model but i can live with that. 50hp less but better fuel consumption and its not exactly slow either). its bigger, more luxurious (some of what was optional on the jetta is standard on the passat) and has more presence than an accord/camry/civic/any jap midsized sedan. and its about the best 2.0l engined car u can get excluding bimmers, audis and mercs. the 2.0 bimmers actually produce less power than the 2.0 passat. so think about that when u see a 318(2.0l, 136hp) or 320(2.0l, 150hp). chances are u can outrun them in ur wiralution or souped up civic. of course the bimmer goes better at higher speeds and has a higher top speed than the wiralution. u can do 180km/h and u would think ur doing 120km/h. thank god for german engineering. and i havent test droven the passat yet but im willing to assume that it is that good. there is no stock and no showroom model. but there was one the other day that belonged to the volkswagen dealer manager and he tends to park at the front door entrance of the showroom (inside the showroom) so we got to see what we would be getting. unfortunately i didnt look hard enough. wasnt able to make sure whether it had the paddle shifts on the steering. the brochure stated that it did but im not leaving that to chance. lol. cos the next stock is coming in july and there could be changes to the specifications. and i wouldnt be there to check out the car and confirm all the specs. all i actually want is the multifunction display (trip meter, current fuel consumption, average fuel consumption, outside temperature, engine oil temperature and some other stuff) and the 6 speed auto with tiptronic. which should be standard. since the quoted price was inclusive of that option. the sad thing is that in july when the car arrives i wont be able to drive it. cos i would either be in kl or penang. if i find a place to stay in kl i’ll stay there. coz its abit more convenient. close to basically anything and everything u might need. u cant say the same for penang. in penang u’ll have to drive abit to get somewhere (if from my house) and especially at late hours. the late night crowd in penang isnt like kl. except for the rempits which i heard are still rampant on penang roads. but im not much of a night person. oh wait i am since i spend most of my waking hours at night. but i blame that on my exams which screwed up my biological clock. well i dont go out at nights. that was my point. lol. except to eat. or go to the cc. but if i stay at penang and get a job i think i would be installing streamyx. i cant live alone without some kind of entertainment. even the stuff in my hard disk that i havent watched yet cant stave off my boredom for more than 2 weeks (if i didnt go out). but a problem staying in penang is loneliness. no family (none at kl either but got relatives), not many friends still in contact (the ones still in contact are already working). so yeah, boring. and lonely.
didnt test drive any other cars cos my dad wasnt interested in them or there was no stock. u dont wanna be a 60 year old lecturer and drive up to ur university in a mitsubishi colt plus that has ralliart turbo logos everywhere. and the golf gti was more catered to the young so he didnt want that either. and he didnt want a nissan. the cefiro was ok and pretty cheap (B$40k after discount, not bad for an executive sedan with a 2.3l engine and costs about the same as a 2.0 accord. and abit cheaper than the camry 2.4l. the toyota dealer wasnt bringing in the 2.0 camry.) it had leather seats and lotsa technology. just not the tiptronic transmission. lol. but better than the 2.0 accord. no leather, plain 5 speed auto, basically the basic model. but my dad didnt want the cefiro cos of 2 things. 1stly, it was pretty old. around 3 years in the brunei market although it was just introduced in malaysia (at a whopping rm230k. lol dunno what nissan and the malaysian government was thinking.). 2ndly it was a 2.3l engine. we wanted anything 2.0l and below. coz what was important was that it was going to be brought back to malaysia. so petrol prices and roadtax should be taken into consideration. since this might be the last car that my parents are going to get(my dad will be living off his pension so not too much income for them) foresight is good. u dont want an uber car and not afford to maintain and run it. the other cars that was considered was the mazda6. it is a good car. although i cant say that i’ve driven it (the 2.0 was out of stock, the only ones they had was the 2.3l version) it looked good and clean. and having a 5speed auto with tiptronic helps. but since there was no stock my dad wasnt putting it on top of his list. and it looked abit too sporty for his liking. having a tiny boot didnt help (hell i think my iswara has a larger boot than that). and yes, i am addicted to tiptronic and i want my parents to get a car that has it. maybe in my future (if and when i can afford one) i wanna get a tiptronic car. the cheapest that comes to mind is a fiat panda. or proton savvy AMT. but i would go for the fiat. and yes, i love italian cars. even a fiat panda will do. or punto if it has tiptronic. but puntos are more expensive. the panda is pretty cute and frugal too. but brunei doesnt have any fiat cars. or alfa romeos. i cant wait for the alfa 159 to come out sometime in the near future in malaysia. if anyone here actually buys it. depreciation and maintanence costs are killers. but u tend to forget that once u look at the car. the 159 has one of the sexiest headlights and grills ever. period. it shares it (and the platform) with the alfa brera coupe (they are basically the same car with the 159 having 2 more doors and a boot). about the other cars. hurm. my dad wanted a civic 2.0. it was a safe buy i guess. 2.0 155hp dohc vtec engine, leather seats, made in japan (which is why it costs the same as the thailand made 2.0 accord), 5 speed auto with paddle shifts on the steering, multifunction steering, a nice interior and dashboard. but it was out of stock and the saleperson said that it would be a hassle to test drive it since every1 else booked it without test driving it. so basically since every1 wanted the car the sales staff could act like asses. which put me and my dad off. of course its the best car u can get for its price. thats why it won over 71 awards since being introduced. but if every1 is buying it the exclusivity is zero. u wouldnt look cool having it. sophistication, any sence of being different was out the window. and imagine u driving the same car that some old datin drives. so that is why i managed to egg my dad into rethinking his budget and getting a more expensive car. a volkswagen passat. the fact that not many people have even heard of it screams out exclusivity. oh yeah. and not many are even brought in. and the next shipment (july) only brings in around 2-3 units. so there. i havent even seen any on brunei roads. the saleman said that most of the passat buyers lived in seria and kuala belait(that is where all the oil is. so lots of foreigners and people that know of volkswagen quality for money) which is pretty far off from this part of brunei. and since they are sold out means that its pretty good too. the salesperson said that volkswagen made really good cars since u dont see alot of the cars in the service and repairs dept, which cant be said about the renault (which had lotsa problems, and shared the same showroom and service centre). so they are reliable (most volkswagen cars are made in either germany or austria, so german quality FTW!). the only (current generation) passat i’ve seen was at the showroom (the showroom manager parked his/her car inside the showroom lol) but wasnt the showroom car so we couldnt take it out for a spin. and it costs B$50k after discount. cheaper than the volvo s60, cheaper than any mercs, bimmers, lexus, audi that i know of. about the same as a bimmer 1-series in malaysia but they didnt bring it into the brunei market. and my dad didnt want an audi even though they were better. and more expensive. cos audis depreciate like hell. like an italian/french car in fact. worse than the vw. his (and mine) logic was that if u wanted an audi just wait a few years and get a 2nd hand one. a 5 year old one could cost less than half or down to quarter the price of a new one. any french cars were out of the picture. renault made good f1 cars and the clio 138, 197 were really good hot hatches, and the renault megane f1 r26 is the best handling hot hatch ever (LSD, 230hp, 6speed, finely tuned suspension, faster than the golf gti, vauxhall astra vxr, ford focus ST and many more cars. in fact on a track it handle better in corners than faster cars like lambos. of course on the straight u get left behind but still ur only 2 seconds slower per lap compared to supercars 5 times ur price and 2 seconds faster per lap than any similarly priced car). but the other renault models just arent reliable enough. ditto to citroen and peugeot. the peugeot 406 (or is it 407?) costs roughly B$40k and looks really good. but reliability is a big issue with french cars. maybe thats why the french like burning cars.
