Here is part 2 of the 320d modification guide. You can refer to part 1 here. As much as I can, I am trying to incorporate both the E90 and F30 models of the 320d into this modification guide. Well frankly, it isn't really much of a guide but more of an awareness of the kind of modifications you can attempt on your car.

Exhaust Modifications:
Changing your exhaust can also improve your car's performance. Modify at your own risk, unless you decide to use the original BMW M performance parts.

• BMW Performance exhaust - I have seen a number of the E90 320d cars sporting this exhaust. Frankly you won't get much of a difference in terms of exhaust note mainly because, its still a diesel. One of the more expensive option but it comes with warranty and a peace of mind. There was a case where someone compared dyno results between a 320d using this exhaust and one without. There were some differences in terms of power, close to about 10bhp. I haven't seen one available yet for the F30 320d. 


• Aftermarket exhaust - So far the only one I have seen available here in Malaysia is made by Jetex. This is only the catback portion with a 3" diameter. The exhaust note sounds a little lower, love the growl from this exhaust and it does sound nicer compared to the BMW performance exhaust.


• Custom exhaust - This is one of the options you can take, to fully customize your exhaust system from the downpipe all the way to the catback. For the E90 320d, most stage 2 modifications include a downpipe change to around 3" in diameter. A fully customized exhaust system sporting a 3" diameter all the way can be pretty costly and the price will depend on the material used. With a larger diameter, you should be able to achieve higher horsepower at the higher RPM range but will sacrifice a bit of torque.

Handling V2.0
Apart from the usual tower bars, ARB and suspension, to further improve on the car's handling in a more hardcore manner, there are options for the real hardcore. 

•  Urethane bushings - Powerflex makes a wide variety of bushings to fit many BMW's and they do have models for the 3 series. Using this to replace your stock bushings, it definitely makes you feel that everything is tightened but the downside to this is that you feel everything. By that I literally mean everything. Because the bushings are harder, you feel more vibration coming from the road but you can consider that a good and bad thing. 


• Foaming - Can you put in a special type of foam inside your car's chassis filling up the gaps. Once the foam dries up, you get a stiffer chassis with less flex. There are several vendors who offer this service, AutoFoam KL comes to mind. One of the key benefits of this treatment is that you also make your car feel solid and quieter as well.


• Roll cage - This is the ultimate way to stiffen up and protect your car especially during motorsports. So far the only BMW to come out straight with a roll cage from the factory would be the BMW E92 M3 GTS. I happen to know there is one available at Naza World going for around RM800,000.

Exterior Modifications
There are plenty of people who like only exterior modifications. Whether it may come in the form of body kits or rims.

•  Bodykits - For the F30, the M-Sport bodykit and trims are available and the full kit ranges from RM15,000 to RM20,000. But I heard that the M-Sport versions of the F30 320d will be coming soon to Malaysian shores. Brands such as M-Tech, Wald, ACS and Hamann have their own set of bodykits. In Malaysia, we also have the replica M3 bodykits which will fit the E90 320d because the original M3 bodykits such as the bumper will not fit the E90 cars. 


• BMW Performance Parts - BMW also makes and sell the carbon fibre bits which add on to your existing car's bodykit. Because they are made of carbon fibre (CF), they cost an arm and a leg. For the BMW 3-series E90, you have the front CF splitters which sticks to the bottom part of your front bumper, the rear CF boot lip, the rear CF diffuser and the CF wing mirror covers. They also have the matte black kidney grill available as well. Aside from getting the original BMW parts, known eBay OEM knock offs have surfaced for a tenth of the price.

I will stop here as part 2 of the modification guide. Will proceed with the next posts focusing on the interior bits. Will try to get more photos in here to allow readers to visualize the parts and modifications.

After owning a diesel car for almost a year and hanging out with a number of other diesel owners, I managed to learn a lot more about the car as well as the available mods that you can get. Note that these mods will span across both the E90 and F30 as I will generalize it but there are downsides to some of these mods which I will state in this post.

Power Mods:
These mods basically increases the power output of your car, whether it may be providing you with more horsepower or torque but most of the time it is both.

• BMW Performance Power Kit - Available for the 320d for both the E90 and F30. Currently the most expensive of the power mods available, now being sold at the BMW Authorized dealers for around RM7,000. Warranty is intact and you get more than just an ECU mod, you also get a larger intercooler as well as a radiator fan. 


• ECU Remap - A simple remap for your car's ECU. So far I haven't found any available here in Malaysia for the 320d (branded ones) but I think there are certain custom ones available. These usually do pull out the most power you can get out of the car especially the custom tuned ones done on a dyno machine. Warranty will definitely be voided.


• Piggyback - Basically a bypass between the ECU and the engine, one of the cheaper options from RM1500 to RM3000 depending on the brand. There are a few in the market currently such as DTUK, Vector, RaceChip, etc.  Gives good results and can easily be installed and removed. Falls within a grey area in terms of warranty.


• BMW Performance Power Kit + Piggyback - Seen a number of users having this combination. Provides the most amount of power output (with dyno results). Also the most expensive option of the lot.

Braking:
With great power comes greater emphasis on stopping the heavy machine.

• BMW Performance Brake Kit for E90 - A 6-pot Big Brake Kit available at BMW Authorized dealers. Warranty is intact and it is only for the front. Price can vary from RM6500+ onwards. Big brake kits are made by Brembo.


• BMW Performance Brake Kit for F30 - A 4-pot brake for the front and 2-pot brake for the rears. Warranty is intact as well.


• After-market BBK - Plenty of after-market BBK's available, brands such as Brembo, AP Racing and Stoptech are quite common.

Handling:
When managing those bends, you just want to go through them faster. And here are some of the available mods.

• Suspension - There are a few suspension set-up available, for the E90 you have your standard suspension and for the M-Sport version you have the M-Sport suspensions which are slightly lower and firmer. For the F30, currently there are only the standard suspension setup as the M-Sport variants haven't arrived yet in Malaysia. There are some talks about talking to your BMW Authorized dealer to order in the electronically adjustable suspension which BMW offers in other countries. One of the best mods to help you reduce body roll. Some brands which have been recommended include KW V2 suspensions, Bilsteins as well as local brands such as Titan (not too sure if Titan has one for E90, need to be confirmed). 


• Anti-Roll Bars - You can opt to get after-market ARB's which are thicker and firmer compared to the stock ARB. Those I have seen is the H&R ARB. This is only suited for the E90 as I haven't seen any ARB available for the F30 yet. Do leave a comment if you have seen it and I will update this post.


• Lowering springs - This lowers your ride but the downside is that you may feel a harsher ride and your suspension rebound rates may not suit the springs and cause the suspension to wear out faster.

This now concludes the list of mods that I have found, I will continue the mods (aesthetics and cosmetic) in another post and at the same time, maintain this post with more updates.

For those of you who love to keep your ride squeeky clean and in tip top condition as well as protected from our harsh weather, check out this new offer by Autodetailer. These guys really do a fantastic job cleaning and detailing your car, trust me!

I was moving back and forth between Quill BMW located at Section 14 lately as I was installing my powerkit and had to send the car in for it's 30,000km service. It was during this period where I had a courtesy car to use over the week, which was the face-lifted BMW X3. During this week of travelling between home and KL as well as occasional trips to Bangi to visit certain clients and a wedding to attend at Cheras, I had my first taste of BMW's new 2.0 litre power plant with it's twin scroll turbo technology.

As I returned the X3, I spied the recently launched BMW F30 320i. Being the curious person I was, I wanted to try it out and have a go at it. Immediately after getting into the car, the few differences between the E90 and F30 can easily be noticed.

1. Key-less stop start system - This was one of the things which irritated me whilst I was driving the X3 as the engine would stop running every time I was at the traffic lights or stuck in traffic.


2. New steering wheel design - BMW has moved the cruise control functionality to the steering wheel rather than having an additional stalk compared to the E90.


3. No paddle shifters - Like the F30 320d, the F30 320i doesn't come with paddle shifters


4. 6.5" screen with no satellite navigation and DVD playback


5. 8-speed automatic transmission

Transmission
Personally I really do like the newer 8-speed automatic transmission, it feels a lot smoother versus the older 6-speed variant. It took me a lot of adjusting when I moved from a double clutch gearbox where shifts were extremely seamless and smooth to a 6-speed automatic. All I can say that the newer 8-speed feels very closely to the double clutch gearbox.

Power Plant
The BMW TwinPower Turbo four-cylinder petrol engine which combines twin-scroll turbocharger with Valvetronic, Double VANOS and High Precision Injection really does live up to all it's marketing hype. Those familiar with BMW's engines from the MINI series will be familiar with their latest engine in the F30 320i. Power delivery was fast thanks to the turbo and 270Nm of torque. I was very impressed with it's acceleration and couple that together with quick gear shifts, the F30 320i really did impress me. Definitely we will see people getting the 320i and then having a simple remap on the ECU should unleash even more horses from the car.



The car comes with the sports mode functionality whereby your throttle response is improved, your gear shifts are aggressive and your steering, a little heavier. In technical terms it means a gentle tap to the accelerator can be easily felt, you swap gears at higher RPM's and you get less help from the power steering making the wheel (steering) heavier.

Handling
The steering is definitely lighter than my car, the feel of it is nice and smooth and once you go into sports mode the steering gets heavier which is a feature I do like. But what you do lack in terms of steering is the feedback from the front tyres. You don't get to feel the groove the of the roads. This is a preference for different people, especially people who just want a car that is nice and comfortable, the steering on the F30 320i doesn't disappoint. But for those hardcore fanatics then they will be wondering what is it that is missing. It's like when Porsche recently included in an electric steering rack to their 911 which a lot of critics said that the car has lost it's soul. In this case, it really doesn't matter because the 320i is meant to be a comfort saloon car and not one would expect to turn it into a performance monster.

The suspension was soft on the model I have driven but that's because it wasn't the M-Sport model. So far, no tentative dates yet are available on when the F30 M-Sport models would be hitting our shores.

Priced at RM238,800 (recommended OTR), I would say it's main rivals would be the Audi A4 as well as the Volkswagen CC. Both the VAG cars have a 1.8 litre power plant but the A4 and the 320i are closely matched in terms of power although the A4 has a bit more torque (320Nm vs 270Nm) compared to the 320i but loses out in horsepower (170hp vs 184).

Just the other day, on a fine early morning, me and my mates decided to have a very long overdue run up through the Ulu Yam route and man, was it completely different from my previous experiences. It has taken this long because time and time again I was pretty unlucky to have clashing schedules when my other group goes up Ulu Yam. So this time I joined some of my old VW "kakis" up the slippery slope of the mountain and drove up to Goh Tong for some curry "wan ton" noodles.

Why was it different compared to my other previous drives? First of all, its my first time driving up that route using a RWD (rear wheel drive) car. With the number of extreme bends we had to take, my first mistake was that I constantly anticipated for the car to understeer but I kept making that mistake. Another mistake I mad was that because of the new feel, I was braking like mad before every corner. Even my boss was mentioning that to me (yes my boss was following closely behind me).

Another thing I noticed was the hydraulic steering rack which BMW uses, makes it heavier compared to my previous ride which uses an electric steering rack. Good thing about it is that I get a lot more feedback from the tyres to the steering whilst the downside to it is that the steering feels a little bit heavier. That feeling seems a little bit more surreal in a sense that I was so used to the electric steering rack on a VW (ZF claims that they haven't sold a single electric steering rack because it doesn't break down).

Handling aside, the benefit of having a diesel engine whilst going uphill is that it is extremely fun! *cue to google up torque*.  The torque delivery at such low RPM is just awesome especially when you exit a corner which then leads uphill. The pure acceleration and thrill of it is something that an NA engine can't really deliver. And the best part of it is that I can average 800km on a full tank of diesel even whilst stuck in KL city traffic for about 2 hours on a daily basis.

After having a hearty breakfast, I then went up to the cable car station to have a quick photoshoot. Here are some of the photos I captured while I was up there.

It's funny that I wrote this post title since April the 8th and yet here it is still in my draft inbox of my blog. Anyhow, this is going to be a short and simple review of the E90 320d. The version I drove is the M-Sport kit with the full i-Drive system which is all in all a very good package. Especially now that the F30 has just been launched, you still might be able to get good bargains and fantastic discounts.

Coming from a guy who has driven a front wheel drive car all his life (well I had experience with a 4WD car when I was driving my Perodua Kembara previously), moving over to a rear wheel drive car was a new beginning for me. Personally, I can't really tell much of a difference, I did bring my car up Genting for a couple of runs but the main difference I can feel immediately was the steering. I tend to oversteer now a lot more compared to my Golf previously which tend to understeer at corners.

Handling wise I haven't had the chance to fully utilize BMW's so called perfect balance of a 50:50 weight distribution but being a fat 100kg guy, I think I totally screwed that up the moment I sat in the car. Right now the car is completely stock and even with the M-sport suspension, the car is comfortable indeed. That is mostly also due to the 17" rims it comes with and with rims that size, the tyres are on the tad comfortable side of things.

Now before anyone asks, for the 320d, the d stands for Diesel and yes, the diesel engine does make a bit of a noise hence I call the car a lorry or a taxi at times (well the older taxies which ran on diesel now that all the newer ones run on natural gas). But the moment you step inside the car and close the door, you can barely hear anything. Ride comfort is good and you just have to get used to the engine noise when you accelerate. Its not the usual engine sound you hear but rather, the sound of a diesel powerplant pushing you all the way

I used the term pushing is because this damn car gives you 380Nm of torque on paper. I brought it over to Sunway to have it dyno tested and the results was rather surprising! It resulted in 171whp and 370Nm of torque. All of that on the wheel! I definitely would encourage those of you who have the 320d to get the powerkit which then pushes the car to over 200hp and 420Nm of mouth watering torque. But thats just me, a performance junkie, well in some way. I just love the thrill of the acceleration but I usually chicken out at high speeds.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="616"] Source: PaulTan.org[/caption]

Interior wise everything is as standard as what BMW can give you, comfortable leather seats, electric seats, a nice M-sport steering wrapped in leather, i-Drive with Navigation and DVD playback. All in all a good package. I really did like the bluetooth integration with my phone as well as the DVD player made me go out to buy a bunch of DVD-R to burn some TV series and Top Gear on them.

In terms of running or servicing costs, because BMW's come with their BS+RI (BMW Service + Repair Inclusive)  which basically means that your service is free for the first 3 years or 100,000km, that means you don't have to pay for anything when you bring your car in for service. And I mean everything including engine oil, brake pads, etc.



Compared to the F30, it uses the same exact engine but the F30 has a new gearbox. The downside is that at this point in time the F30 320d has quite bad specs, no navigation and the screen is only 6.5". The F30 is indeed a little roomier especially for the rear passengers but for the front seats, the seats are not the sportier type and its aimed more towards comfort hence the feel of a larger cabin space.

In conclusion, the car is indeed crazy, crazy that you have so much torque and crazy that at a full tank of diesel (RM1.80 versus RM1.90 for Ron95 petrol), I can travel more than 700km. Heck, at a full 100% city driving, I manage to achieve 700km even through the notorious KLCC traffic jams on Tun Razak. So if you are keen on getting a BMW on the cheap, head over to your nearest dealer to find out some of the fantastic deals they have.

Real-time Fuel Stats

You can check out the current fuel consumption of the 320d in the link below.


 

I was so looking forward to a near season of Top Gear but alas, there will be no more episodes of Top Gear this year (except for the Christmas special). There were rumours of it flying about but Jeremy Clarkson himself has confirmed that via his Twitter account.

[caption id="attachment_3390" align="alignnone" width="534" caption="Sunday night is full of fat people singing"][/caption]

Personally over the past 3 seasons I felt as if they are repeating their same stunts over and over again that it has become cliché. Although I loved the India special which of course drew a lot of flack, I would definitely support if they did a Malaysia version since they covered Vietnam and India already. I fear if they tried riding their bikes here in Malaysia, they might get knocked down instead.

So it looks like fans will have to wait till 2013 before the next season of Top Gear is released.

Over last weekend, I managed to get an opportunity to shoot this beautiful car during an automotive workshop organized by Live Life Drive magazine. The entire workshop was held at the new Renault showroom over at Section 13. There were about 13 participants in total (I think) and most of the time, we never really had our alone time with the car.

Hence the lack of interior shots as well as the white Megane RS which was in the showroom itself. The instructor was Sherman who guided us through from shooting cars in an outdoor location, what are some of the tips that we needed to be aware of.

After that, we moved into the showroom where Sherman then explained to us about the things to watch out and what to be aware off especially when shooting cars in the showroom itself as well as in an indoor location.

In between shoots, I managed to have a chat with Sherman about shooting cars and what I thought about it. He did give me some insight about shooting cars and I learned that cars alone are as much as shooting a portrait session. Instead of looking at the couples as just another human being, we tend to learn more about them, find out their history, what their likes and dislikes are in order to capture "them". The same goes for cars, the history behind the car, what car is it, what does the car represent.

At the beginning of the workshop, the participants were also informed that there will be a winning shot competition where each participant would submit their best photo. I took this time as a challenge and made a complete fool of myself because I shot it RAW and forgot to change it to JPEG. Another surprise was that the image was going to be straight from camera so there was no Photoshop manipulation.

After shooting in the showroom, we moved on towards the back of the showroom where a Renault Koleos was waiting for us to photograph as well as the yellow Megane RS.

At the end of the day, this was the image I submitted.


Although the image I posted up here was a slightly touched up version as the original image had a bit of a yellow hose which was left on the ground where I cloned it out.


Photo credit: Live Life Drive Magazine

Here was a photo of my shot being displayed on the projector during the end of the workshop and when the judges were giving their comments.

A little bit of technical stuff here, I shot mainly with a Canon 5D Mk2 in full RAW. I used mostly the 17-40mm F4 lens throughout the shoot with the occasional change to the 50mm. I wanted to use the 70-200mm lens but couldn't get the right angle and shot that I wanted. All of the photos were shot in natural light, placement of the cars was done by the showroom guy so even if I wanted the car at a different angle, I couldn't.

At the end, I was glad as my photo was selected as one of the top 5, woohoo!

Photo credit: Live Life Drive Magazine

Thanks to that win, I received a small goody bag and of course a big boost in terms of confidence. I did recall that one of my projects last year was to start shooting more automotive themed shoots so this was one of my initiatives. Can't wait to shoot even more cars especially if the opportunity arises!

Do check out some of my shots below.
[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="rand"]

More photos and information about the workshop is available here.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.306430839427798.68914.199088550162028&type=1

The shroud has finally been unveiled. Volkswagen Group Malaysia has finally unveiled the VW Passat, VW Jetta and the VW Cross Touran.

Price structures for these cars are as shown below.

• VW Jetta - RM149,888 (160ps, 240Nm, 1.4 TSI, 7-speed DSG gearbox)


• VW Passat - RM184,888 (160ps, 250Nm, 1.8 TSI, 7-speed DSG gearbox)


• VW Cross Touran - RM166,888 (140ps, 220Nm, 1.4 TSI, 7-speed DSG gearbox)

I am surprised that the Jetta prices are a lot higher than the earlier said rumours which priced the car to be within the RM138k range to compete against the Civics and Altis. At RM150k, the price is going to be very close to that of the Golf TSI.

All of the cars are CBU units as the Pekan plant hasn't started operations yet.

As with our Malaysian mentality, the market still doesn't really care about the various car segments and they mostly compare cars based on price.

At RM150k, that touches the Toyota Camry, Accords price range and the Jetta might have a tall order to challenge them. The Jetta wouldn't be spec as much as the other Japs but in terms of drivability, the Jetta should win hands down.

The Passat priced at RM184k should be within the range of the 2.4 Camry, Mazda 6 as well as the higher specced Accord. I should say the Passat would then be a better buy purely on the fact that the car has good power and the road tax for the Passat which falls within the <2000cc range should make it more attractive. Although, the Ford Mondeo comes at very close competitor offering 200ps and 300Nm at RM180k, I am quite surprised that I don't see that many Mondeo's on the road. Probably because of its looks that most people don't fancy.

Most discussions on the social network tend to show that most people think that the cars are a little overpriced but then again in Malaysia we tend to be buying cars at an overpriced price anyway.

What we haven't seen yet is the Polo Sedan even though the brochures are now available at the Service Centers. Also everyone is still expecting the Golf R's as well. I would definitely would love to own a Golf R personally, maybe someday when there are way too many on the road and the second-hand price of it goes down.

Note: I would recommend reading my review on the Golf 1.4 TSI before reading this as most of this is based on a comparison between the Roc and the Golf

One of the benefits of joining other Volkswagen enthusiasts especially during a teh tarik session is that I get chances to test drive other member's cars. One of them, which I managed to sneakily test drive a number of times was the Scirocco 1.4. Now I have always been curious to see a car with the same engine as the Golf 1.4 TSI, but priced at RM188,888 has to offer.

The Scirocco was also featured in the recent Karate Kid movie but of course, it's an extremely old version. Also called the Roc for short, here is a quick and brief history of the Scirocco.

So let's see what are some of the differences here.

First Impressions

Right off the bat, the moment anyone looks at a Scirocco, I am sure there has to be a reaction. Whether it may be a good one or a bad one but still a reaction. Perhaps you might be like James May where he might have a fizzy little thing between his legs when he sees a car which gives him the fancy, yeah, something like that but irregardless, it definitely turns heads. The first time I actually saw a Scirocco was when Top Gear featured an episode on it where they had to come up with an advertisement for the 3-cylinder diesel version of the Roc (you can view their silly results here and here).



Interior and Boot Space

From other Roc owners, you can still set up a baby chair in the Roc and it comfortably fits 4 people in total due to its 50/50 split folding rear seat design (you can squeeze in 5 for short trips but it wouldn't be legal as there are only two rear seat belts available). One thing that stands out between the Roc 1.4 and the Golf is that the Roc comes with a flattened steering wheel, the same one which is given for GTI and R owners. The Golf 1.4 comes with the standard round steering wheel which also is available with the Passat CC sold here.

Shown above is the flat bottom steering wheel designed for the R-line cars. The GTI ones look exactly the same except that it has red stitching on it. Another thing to note that Scirocco's that were manufactured in 2009 have a completely different interior than the current ones mainly because it takes the same styling from the older Golf MkV. The ones sold here by Volkswagen Group Malaysia are based off the newer interior but I have seen 2009 Rocs for sale on Mudah brought in by the local dealers.

The rest of the interior is standard and there isn't much differences between this and the Golf. In my opinion, the steering wheel itself provides a nice sporty look and feel and to optionally get this steering wheel itself can cost around USD$500 (searching through eBay).

The boot however, is surprisingly deep and you definitely can store a lot of stuff in there. I haven't had the chance to test it out with my full-sized golf bag but it definitely does look like it has a lot of space.

Another benefit you get with the Roc 1.4 is that it comes with 17" rims as it's standard compared to the Golf's 16" rims.

So far there hasn't been any complaints as well for the Roc owners especially when it comes to the "rattling" noise experienced by Golf owners especially when taking the corner. This issue actually comes from the fact that the rubber lining along the doors tend to dry up in our weather, hence the noise. Because the Roc has only two doors, I guess you can hardly hear the sound.

The Drive

After taking off in the standard fashion and the moment I enter the first corner, or basically, leaving the mamak stall and turning the first corner; the Roc shines here. Due to it's lower profile, this car handles way better than the Golf 1.4 which I think is a little soft around the suspension areas. You get the planted feel when tackling corners and I could hardly feel the side G's pushing me. Of course it does help that it's only a 2-door car hence you get less body roll due to a more rigid and firmer chassis.

Differences

Other differences between the Roc and the Golf are rather miniature in nature. For example, the Roc doesn't have sensors at the front but only sensors at the back as compared to the Golf which has sensors all around. The Roc however has two reverse lights versus the rest of the other VW cars mainly because I think the rear window is so small and the C pillars are so fat, that it is extremely difficult to reverse out.

Interesting Mods

Of course with every VW car, comes plenty of modifications. Here are some of the mods you can do for the Scirocco to stand out from the rest of the other Rocs.

• Bodykit (Rieger, Caractere, etc, etc) - This of course changes the look of your car!


• Scirocco R rear lights - This isn't as fancy as the Golf R rear LED lights. It's just a darkened rear Roc lights


• Aluminium pedals for the Roc 1.4 as well as the OSIR footrest or you can opt for the full R-line pedal sets.


• Unibrace for the Roc to improve its handling further. I am not too sure if they have the Crossbrace for the Roc as well.


• Head unit upgrade to either the RCD510 (the Roc 2.0 comes with this) or the RNS510 which offers satellite navigation and DVD playback.


• Custom downpipe for the Roc


• Engine remap


• Cold air intake


• Quad exhausts


• H&R or Eibach lowering springs

So far there hasn't been any announcement by VW to provide daytime running lights for the Scirocco.

Conclusion

To conclude up this review, would I say that the Scirocco is worth the extra RM30,000? Well it all depends on your taste. If you like a 2-door car, then yes, I would say it would be worth the RM30,000 extra. But if you are considering the 2.0litre version, I still have some doubts mainly because a 2-door Renault Megane RS is priced currently at RM236k which is RM15k cheaper than the 2.0 Roc and it has a lot more features to the car. Overall, the Scirocco fits into a different segment compared to the Golf hence I guess it's a nice compliment in their line up.

The Roc which I tested was a very unique Roc, because the owner, decided to bring it in for a dyno run and the results were astonishing. The Scirocco 1.4 TSI is stated to provide an output of 160ps running on Ron98 but his Roc managed to generate 170horses at the wheel, yes, 170whp! That is insane!

By the way, there is currently a Scirocco R in Malaysia already. Apparently someone managed to bring it in via a local AP and it made an appearance at the Volkswagen Club Malaysia's TT session two weeks ago. So far no concrete rumours about Volkswagen Malaysia launching the Scirocco R but there has been changes in terms of the prices for the Golf R. What I have heard is that the prices have been raised from the rumoured RM270k+ to RM300k+.

Okay, I have been procrastinating this for quite a bit but when the opportunity arose for a quick shoot at night, I thought let's go for it! Completely unprepared, I prepped my gears and head off, into the night, where I had totally NO idea on how to shoot cars at night.



First of all, I had to thank Kar Heng for organizing the quick shoot and for Jack Tan who has tonnes of experience shooting cars. Kar Heng as well for lending us his car, even though he was half drunk (*wink*).

So shooting at night, first thing I had in mind was cool lighting. Then when I arrived at the first location, totally lacking of ambient lighting as well as I don't have any sort of external lighting. I didn't have a tripod and a shutter release cable. Man, there is so much I got to learn when it comes to shooting cars at night. My bag ended up as my "tripod" and I had to use the timer function to ensure that there isn't any camera shake.



Funny thing was that I needed to get a lower angle in order to capture the reflection but any lower and I would have grass blocking the frame. Definitely was a hard thing to navigate in the complete darkness. Even the curious fisherman onlooker was wondering what the heck we were doing. Note to self, get a tripod, a good one which can go to an extreme low angle. Note to self, bring a torch light especially for night shoots to navigate around dark areas.



After realizing that it might be a lost cause, I quickly took a last shot of the twin cars before heading off to another location, where we wouldn't be disturbed as well as have more ambient lighting. Too many cars were coming about and we had to move our cars a couple of times to allow them through.



At first I started out using the natural light from the street lights but it seemed to not illuminate the car enough. So after that, Jack recommended that we tried mixing both natural light and torch lights and flashes. Didn't seemed to have enough kick though. After that we then decided to try out putting the car in complete darkness and then tried a little bit of light painting. That resulted in the images below.







At the end of the night, I learned lots of valuable lessons. Definitely would want to try shooting more as well as put more effort into planning. I think I will aim for an early morning shoot as well as shoot during sunset. Once I managed to get those done, I should also consider trying out automotive photography in the studio as well and finally to tackle the night shoot once more!

Verdict: Not entirely too satisfied but definitely room for lots of improvement!

As it is now the 3rd day of the new year, I can't help but really look forward to whats to come this year. It may seem to be a busy year for me, but then again when I look at what is to come, I definitely need to take the time to start planning out what needs to be done and what I do hope to achieve.

Right now, these are some of the things that I plan to achieve and have already made plans for it.

• Submit photos for international competitions (been putting this off for way too long already). I missed out a couple of competitions already but if I want to submit them in, I want to do it properly and not submit it in for the sake of submitting them


• Travel to the US with Munz and check out Disneyland, Las Vegas and San Francisco


• Apply and get Unifi installed for the apartment!


• Get new lights for the apartment, some ceiling hanging down lights and floor lights as well.


• Print out my own wedding photos and buy frames from Ikea to hang them around the apartment


• Move my stuff (files and documents) including my computer from my parent's place to my new apartment


• Update my blog more often and complete the new design and layout for this blog (yes it is still in it's experimental design stage)


• Post up all the posts that have been in draft state since May last year! Yes, that is how much of a procastinator I have been :(


• Post more photos on my blog!


• Learn how to shoot cars! Starting with my car then hopefully start experimenting with other cars.


• Reach the Diamond league in Starcraft 2 for 1v1. Managed to reach the Diamond League for 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 already so I have one more final hurdle to overcome.


• Save more money and invest it!


• Consider upgrading the BBK kit, perhaps the Golf R kit


• Consider getting the Golf R LED rear lamps


• Consider getting the APR Stage 1 Remap


• Drive through Sepang Circuit with my Golf TSI (of course with an instructor :P)


• Sell more iPad cases


• Sell off my original Atlanta 16" Rims


• Lose some weight, I have been setting ridiculour targets for me previously so this year around, I shall be taking it easy and steadily as well.

I will be heading off to Bangladesh this coming Thursday for a week long wedding shoot there together with the Stories team. Can't wait for that as this will be my 3rd overseas shoot.

And last but not least, Happy 2011 everyone! May this year be a very fulfilling year for you all.

Well this post is completely unrelated to photography but recently I managed to get a good look at various car mods around and found this particularly interesting for those of you who drive a Volkswagen car (namely the Polo, Golf, Scirocco, Jetta and Passat). Of course, this mod falls under the category of "In Car Entertainment" or ICE for short.

Just to give a little background and put this into context, the RCD series is basically the head unit for Volkswagen cars.



The image above basically sums what I am about to speak about or review. Now in Malaysia, the Golf GTI, Golf TSI, Polo and Scirocco 1.4 TSI comes with this head unit as standard. Its a great unit, it reads CD, for some models, it shows the parking sensors and provide you with information especially if you are going to reverse into something or someone.

Now, here comes the poison. Introducing the RCD 510.



This head unit is vastly different especially in terms of looks which relies on touch screen technology. Other added extras would be the SD card slot and there is an optional bluetooth connectivity kit which allows you to pair your handphone with it and make calls using the Multi Function Display (MFD) or via the controls on your steering wheel.

Here are some of the key changes you would see in terms of graphics that is shown when using the RCD 510 in place of the RCD 310.



Image above shows the welcome screen when you turn on the head unit.



This is when you use either a USB  thumbdrive to plug in to the system. The RCD 510 will display the song title, artist and the album name. Volume and song selection controls from the steering wheel is also available.



This shows the air conditioner controls. As dual controls have been selected, so there are two images depicting the air flow as well as the temperature of the respective areas. Of course this does not replace the control buttons which are still located below the head unit.



This is how the parking sensor will look like. There are two zones, front and rear. When you are rather close to an object it will flash out in orange as shown above. When you are VERY CLOSE, then a bright red will appear. The RCD 510 is also smart enough to identify if your car is a Golf or if it is a Scirocco. The display shown for the Scirocco is different than the one above because the current Golf TSI's sold here in Malaysia at this time, includes the "Light & Sound" package which also features a front sensor.

Note that the following images were not taken by me. I swiped this off my friend's page. If you are interested in getting the RCD 510, do check out his page here and here or just Google "Ryou's Modshop" and you will find it :)



This is how the Bluetooth integration kit would look like once it has been set up.



This is how it will look like from the Multi Function Display (MFD).

The RCD 510 comes standard in the Passat CC and Scirocco 2.0 here in Malaysia so if you go to any of the VW showrooms, you will see this head unit on those models.

Last updated: 21st September 2011 - New map update from APR, results are looking good!


(Image source: Motortrader.com.my)

After all the hype about me posting up on the Golf on both my blog as well as on Facebook, Wearnes VW saw my post on their fan page and informed me on Friday (September 2010) that the car was available for a test drive. This is definitely thanks to the power of social media. Immediately I called Wearnes VW and made an appointment with them for a test drive on Saturday the moment the opened. Not that I was super kiasu or anything, it's just that I had a number of wedding meetings and errands I had to run hence I decided for an early test drive.

Both CW and BK as well as Ash followed me to the dealership for the test drive. Ash had already placed a booking for the Golf earlier but I just wanted to test drive the car first hand to see it. Of course there are plenty of pros and cons when I sat in the car and looked at it. Initially I did say I wanted the car to be red but after seeing the red colour in person, I felt as if it didn't have the same effect as the Golf MkV had with their tornado red paint jobs.



First Impressions

The unit that was available in the showroom was in Amaryllis Red and I didn't like it that much. Stepping into the car, the first thing I noticed was the lack of leather seats as well as manually adjustable seats (versus the electric seats you get with the GTI). Of course these luxuries have been taken away in order to bring the price of the car down. The dashboard looks decent as well as the number of knobs and gadgets are a plenty. Build quality was good as BK was trying to figure out how in the world did they make such a good solid feel for the compartments in the car especially on the side hand rest.

Although there were some comments on my Facebook which I totally agree with, was that the 16" rims and the fabric seats does give it a budget look and feel.

Visual differences compared to the Golf GTI

 

From the outside, there are quite a number of visual differences between the Golf TSI and the Golf GTI. First and foremost would be the front bumper where the GTI's front bumper is different and it also includes in a front lip as well. The GTI sits lower compared to the Golf TSI. The number of fingers I can fit between the gap of the tyres and the car is around 4 fingers on the TSI versus 3 on the GTI. The GTI has a simple side skirt (although I don't really think its a full skirt). The rear bumper as well is different as the GTI cater's for twin exhaust versus the double exhaust ports on the TSI. Another small but important difference is the rear spoiler, the TSI's one is a little short which seems a little short. Also the GTI's brake calipers are red in colour.

On the inside, the GTI car is wrapped in leather and the driver's seat has electronic seat functions. The steering wheel is wrapped in leather and red stitching and it's a flat bottom steering wheel which gives a better and sportier feel to it. The TSI uses the same one in the Passat CC. Also the GTI does have aluminium sports pedal versus the standard rubber ones on the TSI.

Cabin Space and Boot Space

Let's face it, the car is small and it has less boot space then what I am used to. Well as a comparison, what I am used to is ferrying 3 friends to the golf course with 4 golf bags in the boot of my Honda Civic. I am definitely not going to be able to fit in 2 let a lone 3 golf bags unless I bring down the rear seats which in turn means I can't ferry the other people as well. Seating wise, it's still comfy but the fabric seats that come with the car are a little more on the hard side of things.

I am having slight difficulty fitting in a large-sized golf bag into the boot. In order for it to go in, I had to angle it in such a way that the bag is laid down diagonally. But other than my golf bag,  there hasn't been much of an issue getting other luggage in. It is rather ironic that the Golf has difficulty fitting a golf bag in its boot.

The Drive

The most important thing to me was the drive, I drive a lot. As in, I travel over 100km a day to and from work alone and this does not count in lunch runs and dinner runs or the occasional trip to the city center for meetings. But most of the driving time is limited to the highways where I feel fuel consumption comes into a very big effect here. The engine was beautiful, pickup was good, way better than what my 1.8 Civic can handle but there have been comments about it being a little bit of lag before the turbo kicks in. I guess I probably would need to have driving experience with a GTI first to have a good comparison.

Power (updated Sep 2011)

Now I have to be very frank, the power output between both the 1.4 TSi and the 2.0 TSi engines are really day and night. I have driven the GTI as well as the Roc 2.0 and the power difference can be easily felt. The amount of torque generated and the pull factor will leave you pressed back against the seat. So this is the true difference between the 1.4 TSi and the 2.0 TSi versions. To some, 160ps is enough for their usual day-to-day drive but I guess the power junkie in me seems to want to have more power!

I recently brought the Golf to GT Auto in Sunway (Sep 2011) again using the same dyno machine as the previous run below. The difference this time is that APR has released a version 2 of their 1.4 twincharger map and I wanted to see what is the difference on a proper dyno machine instead of relying mainly on my butt dyno. So using the same machine and also seeing the previous results (170whp and 267Nm torque), this time I came out with a smile! Latest figures is that I am running on 194whp (wheel horse power) with 307Nm of torque! That's more torque than a stock Golf GTI and the horse power is quite close to that of a Golf Mk6 GTI. Definitely a happier guy right now! Note that hardware wise, everything remained the same with the exception that I changed my drop-in filter to a K&N drop in filter.

I brought the TSI to GT Auto in Sunway and put it through a couple of runs on their dynometer. On paper the spec rated it at 160ps and that is achieved using Ron98 fuel. So with Ron95, based on other 1.4 TSI cars including the Roc as well, power on wheel was around 150-155whp when running on Ron95 fuel. After remapping the engine to a Stage 1 APR v1 map, I only managed to pull around 170whp on Ron95. I still think that is a little low and even the guys at APR has informed me that the reading was on the lower side. I definitely have to bring the car out for a datalog session to check out the readings and the boost levels.

The infamous DSG Gearbox

Gear change was quite smooth and the paddle shifter were fun to play with but as the shifter are in a fixed position, the weird part comes when you are turning on a winding road and you wanted to change hence you might have some difficulty changing gears quickly using the shifter. You have 3 different gear modes, the standard "D" mode for your every day-to-day driving, the manual mode where you have to change gears manually without the need of a clutch and the "S" mode where you usually red line your rev meter a lot more before it changes gear.

Braking powa!

The brakes were very sensitive as a little tap would send the car to a screeching halt almost immediately. That is quite good considering for a car that has 160hp.

Handling and suspension

Handling on the car wasn't too bad, although the salesperson didn't let try to slalom the car along Jalan Maarof so I can't give a good perspective on that. In my defence, there were plenty of potholes on the road which allowed me to snake my way in between them but I also wanted to try out the suspension comfort whilst going over the potholes. Compared to the Golf GTI and even the Sciroccos, the Golf TSI is a little wobbly especially after taking a high-speed corner. You definitely feel a lot more planted in the GTI and the Roc due to their stiffer setup.

Features

The car comes with plenty of features which include optical parking system(OPS) in front and at the back of your car. Whenever you park your car, you get a display on your head unit, which in my case is the RCD 510. Note that the original head unit you would receive with your cars would be the RCD 310.



Definitely comes in handy especially when you try to reverse into a tight parallel parking space.

Other features also include the ability to plug-in your USB thumb drive into the player as well as your iPhone/iPod via the MDI (media device in) connectors. Note that upon delivery of the car, only the MDI-to-USB cable was provided. I managed to source through eBay to get the MDI-to-iPod cable hence I am now able to plug my iPhone into the system and control it via my steering wheel (control meaning controlling the volume and switching of songs). All of this whilst the car also charges my iPhone at the same time.

Some interesting features which may seem standard for those of you who are used to drive a continental car but seem to be exciting for me because this is my first European car would be the auto rain sensor, auto lights, paddle shifters on the steering wheel, radio and MFD (multi function display) on the steering wheels and much more!

Fuel Consumption

Technical specs states that the car can travel up to 100km on 6 litres but I would be happy if it could go for 700km on a full tank of 55 litres.

At the end of the test drive, we were brought downstairs to the basement to have a look at the various other colour models available, reflex silver, a deep blue colour and another red was available. The test drive car was in white (candy white). Personally I would have chosen the blue but once you have driven on the highway everyday for the past 4 years, you would know that our highways are filled with stone and small pebbles which would eventually chip away at our front bonnet and bumpers. Hence going for a light colour is always preferable.

By the way, I also saw the Polo 1.2 in the basement. It's not the final one which will be launched as it is a manual version brought in here to pass the Puspakom test. From the outside, it looks exactly like a Golf, only smaller. Not mini-me small but just a little smaller.

Overall I would say it is a fantastic car, European built quality and the power is there. Two thumbs up from me :P

Some updates on the fuel consumption. I have also included in the Ron of the petrol I used to fill it up with. Personally I swapped over from Ron 97 to Ron 95 mainly because of the fuel hike but I can definitely notice the difference in terms of pickup and power. Overall power is slightly less but with Ron 95, the pickup feels as if it is a little more sluggish.

• 1st run - 520km (Ron 97)


• 2nd run - 520km (Ron 97)


• 3rd run - 500km (Ron 95 mixed with Ron 97)


• 4th run - 500km (Ron 95)


• 5th run - 520km (Ron 95)

As of right now, I am sticking to only using Ron 95 petrol as the prices of Ron 97 has increased.

4th Jan 2011 - I have driven almost 4,000km and my average fuel consumption is around 9.7km/L

11th March 2011 - I have driven almost 7,300km and my average fuel consumption is around 10.7km/L. I get about 550km average for a full tank of Ron95 petrol.

21st April 2011 - Trying out the new Petronas Ron95 Extra petrol, still see no difference in terms of mileage. I get the average 550km for a full tank of petrol

4th May 2011 - I just downloaded an app from the iTunes store for my phone. I need to fuel up my car for another 3-4 more times before getting a good set of data. Will post those up pretty soon.

Fuel preferences:

1. Caltex Ron95


2. Petronas Ron95 Extra


3. Esso Ron95


4. Shell Ron95


5. BHP Ron 95 - I get the worst fuel economy out of BHP

Car Maintenance:

This is my first hatchback car ever and I have never had a chance of maintaining one. Since the car is still relatively new, the service period hasn't popped up yet hence there aren't much information about it here. One of the things that I am rather anal about is how clean the car is and the colour I chose for my car was white. Personally I would have loved it in Tornado Red. Anyhow, no matter what the colour is, the car gets very dirty very easily especially the back. In rainy weather, mud, grime and dirt gets trapped at the lid of the 5th door so you will see that the back portion of the car is always dirty.

I have sent the car in recently to apply Sierra Glow on the body to maintain and sustain its white shine. You can read more about Sierra Glow in my review post here.

Car Services:

As I have recently passed my 7,500km mark, I have decided to send my car in for a simple service. Note that I did not send it in to the official VW service center as all I needed was a simple engine oil change and replace my fuel filter. I sent the car to Exquisite Marques over at Sunway Damansara and the 1st cost was RM380 in total of labour charges.

7,500 km - RM380 @ Exquisite Marques
15,000 km - RM525 @ Wearnes Service Center at Sg. Besi (total service time was about 6 hours)

Car Modifications:

When I first wrote this article, I would probably think that keeping this car stock would be very good already but once the modding bug hits you, it hits your hard, as well as your wallet. Here are some of the modifications you can do which may or may not void your warranty.

• Change your existing head unit (RCD 310). Alternatives around would be the RCD 510 as well as the RNS 510. Both the RCD and RNS 510 sport a touch screen LCD whilst the latter provides 20Gb of hard disk space and a built-in GPS navigation system.


• iPod MDI cable so you can control your song list using the steering wheel controls


• Change your rear lights to the Golf R LED lights. Shops which sell these babies include Ryou's Modshop (found on Facebook), Exotic Mods in Sunway Damansara, Exquisite Marques in Sunway Damansara and many more.

• Change your rims, let's face it. The stock 16" Atlanta rims just doesn't quite suite it especially since the advertisement features the Golf with 18" Atlanta rims. I fell in love with these Caractere rims!


• Upgrade your ECU with APR's tuning. Bring your car from 160bhp to 205bhp! Other tuning brands include MTM, ABT, DKTuning, Custom ones available at Exotic Mods as well.


• Change your pedals to aluminium racing pedals! Love these from OSIR.

• Add a bodykit, ABT has a showroom in Glenmarie. Get a copy of Hypertune and you can find loads of them available for the Golk Mk6.

• If you are thinking of increasing the power for your Golf TSI, I would also recommend that you change your brakes! Get the Golf R BBK (big brake kit) or 3rd party market brakes such as Brembo discs and brakes.

• Door sills scuff plates to protect your sides from scratches especially if you track on a lot of sand and dirt.

• For those of you who bought the 2010 Golf TSI, the latest mod you can do is get the front DRL Bi-Xenon lights. The 2011 Golf TSI and Golf GTI's will come with these lights as standards (damn Volkswagen! If only I had known!)

Places where I wash the car

• Waxsons in Aman Suria - Best place and very good cleaning job. A RM28 nano-wash and interior cleaning job really is worth it here! What I can notice is that even the dust on the air con vents have been cleaned up!


• Cars International - Expensive and don't really get many benefits by joining their membership.


• Susheteki in Tropicana City Mall - Don't like the staff's attitude, didn't really do a good job and must be a member to wash your car during the weekends

Conclusion

It would sound extremely biased especially if I said that this car is a very good car but with so many other choices within the price range, I can safely say that the ride and power on this little white rabbit is really amazing! Of course the next closest thing would be the Peugeot 308 Turbo which also offers similar power ratings (on paper) with the Golf but because it is a CKD model, the interior and ride quality doesn't come close to the Golf. But then again, you are paying a lot less for the Peugeot 308 Turbo. Overall I am very pleased with the Golf and even though I pump it with Ron 95, there is always power available especially when I want to overtake cars. The feel of the supercharger and the turbo kicking in is awesome. Only problem I have is that thanks to our wonderful Malaysian weather where it rains almost every other day, a Candy White car gets dirty very easily!

Discussion Groups and Forums

Do check out these forums where I participate together with other VW Golf TSI owners. Good source of information and a great place to hang out and learn from one another. A warning, you will get severely poisoned by some of the members there :)

• Lowyat.net VW Discussion Thread


• Autoworld VW Group Discussion Thread


• Volkswagen Golf Club Malaysia Forums

Do look out for me there in those threads. I am known as either "Mavik", "mavicarus" or "rendezvous".

Other Test Drive Reviews

• Check out Motortrader's more comprehensive test drive here.


• Check out ZerotoHundred's test drive review here.