Over the last weekend (8-9 Nov), I participated in the inaugural Top Gear Malaysia treasure hunt that took us from KL all the way up to Penang. Along the way, my mate Justin Ong snapped a series of pictures that might interest a few people in this blog:

Up close with the Proton MPV

Going past…

Leaving it behind… Note overtaking Waja for size comparison.

We spotted the car a good 30-40km after getting back to the highway at Tg Malim. The driver, and his passenger was doing a leisurely 100-110kph, and did not seem too bothered about our attention. I had purposely slowed down and stayed in front of it as long as I could before I had to pick up the pace and continue with the hunt.

Things got even more interesting on the way back to KL the following day:

A classic car rally…

… and there was a whole convoy of them!!

It was the Penang Classic Car Rally (more like leisure drive), featuring a whole convoy of old Beetles, Minis, the red Datsun you see above and the Morris Minor, also pictured above. We could even see the old leaf springs of the Morris work as we drive along. This next car, we saw during our petrol stop, I am not sure if it was part of the ‘rally’…

A Chevrolet Corvette C1

Wonder what’s wrong…

Making one last pass before moving on…

Not being an expert of American ‘muscle’ cars, I can only tell you that this car belongs to the first generation of Chevrolet Corvettes. Known as the C1 generation, this series of ‘vettes were manufactured between 1953 and 1962. Believe it or not, the outer bodies of these cars are made of fiber-glass. Early models ran on 150hp 235 cu in (that’s 3,851cc) straight-six engines with (I kid you not) two-speed automatic transmissions.

In 1955, the Corvette began using V8 power, starting with a 195hp 265 cu in (4,343cc) and ultimately culminating in a 327 cu in (5,359cc) version producing 360hp in 1962. Later versions also began to incorporate manual transmissions with three or four speeds.

In 1963, the C1 Corvette was finally replaced with the C2 that lasted in service for only four years. The generation succeeding the C2, the C3, went on to serve for fourteen years. The current generation Corvette, the C6 was launched in 2005, and will be eventually replaced by the C7 in 2012.

But what does it have to do with an Automotive blog at Autoworld? Well, its a Hello Kitty Decorated Car! Whatever you want to call it, its all about Hello Kitty - the friendly white kitty with the head larger than her body.

 According to a Wiki entry:-

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ, Harō Kiti?), full name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト, Kiti Howaito?),[1] is the best-known of many simply drawn fictional characters produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty is a friendly white kitty with the head larger than her body, small button eyes and nose, but no mouth.[2]

See here some pictures taken.

I apologize for the poor image quality, it was taken with a handphone camera when it was spotted in a parking lot in Klang. Click on the image to see a larger picture.

Owner of this car, if you happen to see this blog entry, please do contact us…. or perhaps offer us a test drive! We are just featuring it for our members to see as we find the car very cute, attractive, superbly clean and well maintained.

Those of you who participated in the Peugeot 407 ‘Test Drive Me’ campaign a couple of weeks back might have received a letter from Nasim which reached my mailbox today. The letter, with a printed signature of the General Manager thanked (of course) my participation of the event and hoped that the 407 met my expectations on what a ‘Prestigious and Luxurious automobile constitutes with its complement of luxurious fittings.’

The rest of the letter is pretty much standard sales and marketing talk as well. Also included in the packaged mailed to me was a little booklet pitting the 407 against a couple of ‘anonymous’ competitors from the D-segment code-named TC and HA. The little booklet, titled Let’s talk cars - The real facts…, contains a list of features that comes with the 407 and compares it against the TC (in its 2.0E and 2.0G guise) and the HA 2.0VTi. Any idea who these competitors are?

Most of the comparisons were valid, though some were irrelevant as well. Of course, it goes without saying chinks of the 407’s armour against these ‘mysterious’ competitors were not mentioned in great detail. I was impressed that the 407 had 2 side airbags, 2 curtain airbags & 1 knee bag in addition to the usual twin airbags, while its competitors only make do with the twins. The 407 is also certified with a 5-star rating by EuroNCAP while the new TC and HA have both yet to be tested by EuroNCAP - so, if TC and HA also scores 5-stars, then what?

Another trump of the 407 over the TC and HA is the impressive 7″ LCD with touch screen. While the 407’s screen includes control of the GPS, trip computer, ICE system and air-con, the TC’s display only shows the trip computer and exterior temperature. The HA does not even have one. The 407 also has rear seats with ISOFIX child seat mounts and 60:40 split folding seat backs, features that both competitors also do without.

The 407 also has the following features which the 2 competitors don’t: headlamp washers, cruise control, leather seats, and the list goes on, and at a glance, it looks like a comprehensive victory for the 407, but is it? I mean, are 17″ rims really that much of an advantage over the competitor’s 16 inchers? The booklet even goes on to compare the windshield wiping patterns, shape of the wiper blades, the ICE and a few other stuff that seems rather irrelevant.

It highlights the fact that the 407 has more torque than the competition (200Nm vs 190Nm (TC) and 179Nm(HA)) but only makes a small note that the TC & HA has 7 and 9 hp more than the 407 respectively. It highlights how the 407’s auto gearbox was software engineered by Porsche and features manual control. Let me tell you something, I used to go all giddy with these semi-auto boxes, but after a while, the novelty runs out. Except for a brief mention at the specs-sheet behind, there was no indication that the 407’s auto also happened to be a 4-speeder rather than the current industry standard of 5.

The little booklet was an entertaining read, and a cheeky dig at the aforementioned competitors. However, if those two cars are what I think they are (I can only guess, they’re being so ‘mysterious’ about it), I think they don’t belong in the same league as the 407. An interesting match-up would see the 407 pitted against the new Mazda6 2.0. Now, that’s a comparison I’d like to see.

407 goes against a couple of ‘mysterious’ competitors