Archive for 1 year ago

I’m sure many of you have been inconvenienced at least once with a car that’s unable to start due to battery problems. And these things seem to have a knack of happening just when you have somewhere important to go to. Here’s a list of common reasons for a battery to flat dead on you:

1. Age

Batteries tend to have an average lifespan of 2-3 years. It is advisable to change your battery at 2.5 years but you should perform battery checks from about 1.5 years onwards. Aged batteries lose their abilities to hold its charge and therefore jump starting is just a temporary solution for you to get to the mechanics to have a new one replace the old guard.

2. Human Negligence

This is by far the most common reason. Left your lights on overnight? Wake up in the morning all dressed up for work and your car just won’t start? Some cars have built in light indicators to signal to the driver that the lights are switched on even after the keys are taken out from the ignition. Whilst this is helpful technology, there are those who leave their interior lights on by accident and that sucks the battery’s charge too

3. Faulty Battery

This happened to me once with a Proton and to my frustration I was blamed by the mechanic there for not admitting to having turned on the lights. Instead of giving me a direct replacement which I requested for, he told me he’d charge the battery and I had to wait a full 2 hrs. When the two hours were up, he came and said ‘Look, I replaced the battery already’ and walked away curtly. When I asked him why he had done that, he merely muttered under his breath ‘battery faulty lah’

4 years ago, a guy from the USA drove a modified lawnmower at 80.792mph (129kmh) on the Bonneville Flats. It blasted him into the Guiness Books for the fastest speed record on a lawnmower. Now, while some may be wondering the reason behind such an attempt, there is now another attempt to clinch that record by a margin of more than 25%. Read more ›

Celebriting its 80th anniversary, Pininfarina unveied this new all-electric mini-car, Nido EV. This is an evolution from the first Nido revealed in 2004. Nido is a 2-seater prototype measuring 2,905mm in length that uses tubular steel frame, but the final version will have a lighter aluminium space frame. The option for 2+2, pickup and van models will be available together with hybrid technology.
This model has a 30kW electric motor which is mounted at the rear that can run 140 kilometers with a full charge. Energy is stored in a Zebra Z5 Ni-NaCl battery pack and a full charge would take about eight hours. This car goes from 0-60km/h in 6.7 seconds and the electronically limited top speed is at 120km/h. Not sure why they are doing that, but it does sound pretty good for an EV.

Reminds me of the Proton Emas competitor, but both are not plan for production in the near future.

Via

Have you heard of this riddle “Dalam banyak – banyak bunga, bunga apa yang tidak boleh di makan?” The answer would be “Bunga Tayar”. In English “Bunga Tayar” is also known as tyre tread. Many people do not know the effect of tyre tread wear towards car as well as driver’s performance. Tyres have to be change. The lifespan of a tyre can be up to 4 years from its manufacturing date. But it may be affected due to different road conditions of driving pattern such as abruptly breaking or excessive use of break. A thorough check should be done, and if the tyre tread is worn to TWI level, the tyre need to be change immediately.

Read more ›

Last Friday was the closing date for members of the public to voice their side of the story on the much-debated 3rd-party motor insurance. For the past few years, insurance companies’ claimed to rake in losses amounting about a billion ringgit annually. With that, most have ceased offering it while a handful required policyholders to buy an additional Personal Accident policy for each passenger of the vehicle. Read more ›

I’m going to touch briefly about car insurance in this article because I often get asked lots of questions about it. I’ll try my best to cover the questions I’ve been fronted with to memory.

Most vehicle owners in Malaysia opt for what is called comprehensive cover which includes third party cover and theft cover as well as physical damaged to the vehicle following an accidental collision. Third party cover basically indemnifies the insured against legal liability arising from bodily injury and/or property damage to the third party. Theft cover is pretty much a no-brainer – coverage in the event of the vehicle being stolen.

Read more ›

Short commercial featuring Mercedes Benz E-Class. Title of this commercial is ‘Sorry’. Pretty straight to the point, great commercial.

Via

Thinking of getting a car but can’t weigh out if it’s better to get a new car or a used one? The key consideration here is chiefly what you’re willing or able to pay for it and which option will give you peace of mind. Carmakers are constantly adding new models to the market whilst there are plenty of used cars for sale out there as the owners upgrade to these new models by trading in their used ones. If you’re on a shoestring budget, then you’ll probably get more bang for your buck with a used car.

However, I’ve noticed a trend here in the Asian culture where family plays a big role in decision making and parents often encourage their children to purchase new cars instead of used ones for fear of a breakdown or reliability issues. Back where I’m from, it’s the complete opposite because when I was just starting out and can just about afford buying a car, I’d go buy a used car from a used car dealer because I’d be able to get a much better car – albeit used – for the same price that I’d have to pay for a lesser new car.

Read more ›