The Day I Sat In A.....Nissan Cube Gen.III

Finally got a chance to sit in the current Nissan CUBE Gen.III last weekend.This is not just any Nissan Cube but the Rider Autech Ver.  Comes with a full original Autech bodykit and wheels.  If you are not familiar with Autech, they are sort of like the AMG or Brabus of Nissan.  Specialise only in customizing Nissan only with full manufacturer warranty!

I have to be honest not everyone will like the CUBE just like the JUKE.  Is either you really like the car or you really hate the car looks or shape. For me I am always a fans of Nissan CUBE Gen.II & Gen.III.

This car is spacious, as spacious as my MINI Countryman.  I didn't get the chance to drive it so I cannot comment on anything but was told by the owner it is sluggish due to the CVT gearbox.  Apart from that it's good for city driving as it is very comfortable.  As this is the first CUBE Gen.III in Brunei, you can tell a lot of people have never seen this car.  One will get a lot of stare and thumbs up as said by the owner!

The car name is CUBE and yet we have circular shape design on the roof

The Day I Sat In A.....Porsche 911 Carrera 4S

A good friend just picked up this ultra mint condition Porsche 911 Carrera 4S last week.  He called me up and I zoomed straight to his house to check out his new prize ride.  When I first laid my eyes on the car I knew this car is quite highly spec from the Porsche factory.  The most obvious from just looking at the exterior is the yellow painted caliper which means Porsche Carbon Ceramic Brake system (PCCB) which also cost a whopping BND$25K~BND$30K!!!  It also come with a subtle Porsche aerokit from the factory that included the painted front lip and painted side skirts.

The list of options on the car is pretty long so I will state some of the more obvious.  The glass roof from the option list is worth a mention as not many 911 in Brunei has this options.

How do you differentiated a Carrera 2 and a Carrera 4?  That middle LED stripe is the way to tell a Carrera 2 or Carrera 4.  By the way, the "4" means it is a AWD version.  I saw a few 911 in Brunei with fake model badges so is good to know what you looking at especially on supercar.  You don't want to get fooled by the owner who tell you his car is this model when it is not!

PCCB = BND$25,000 +/-

 Lots of goodies in the 4S interior, obvious interior option is the sport steering wheel and the unbreakable PDK transmission!  My friend bought this car cheap given that it was sold for around BND$350K when new!!!

The Day I Sat In A.....BMW X4 20i

My best friend just took ownership of this cool BMW mid size SUV called the X4.  I was one of the first  privilege friend to collect his car with his wife last week.  As you can see this is the smaller version of X6.  It has slopping rear roof profile to mimic a sports coupe. Normally slopping roof line means roof space will be limited but surprising the interior of X4 is spacious.  I am 183cm tall and the rear accommodate me just nicely.  I remember a few years ago I had a hard time sitting behind a X6 because my head was constantly touching the roof line.  

 Under the hood lies a 2.0litre 4 cyclinder engine that pump out 185hp with 270Nm.  0-100km/hr in 8.1sec which is not too shabby.  This is also one of the quietest engine I ever sat in a BMW. The body color is called Dark Graphite Metallic but sadly the pictures I had taken doesn't justify it.  The color really pop when viewed under the bright sun.

The signature BMW angel eyes and kidney grills!

 

This is one of the nicest interior color matching for a BMW that I had ever seen.  The color is called Sparkling Brown Metallic Nevada leather and it contrast very well with the black dash.  There are currently two X4 with this colors optioned.  The remaining X4 in BMW only comes with standard Black Nevada interior.

It even has a lighter tone stitching throughout the interior and a neat touch of tubbing on the seats!

My favorite of them all is the "X" embossed into the head rest.  Nice touch by BMW

The Day I Sat In A.....Citroen Picasso C4

Today I finally sat in a Citroen.  I always have a soft spot for French car.  They are unique in its own way.  Anyway, as I mentioned early a few of my friends are purchasing a new car.  One of them even brought me along for new car hunting.  We came across this new car from Citroen called PICASSO C4.  It is a MVP with chassis sharing with my previous car, Peugeot 5008.

There is only one spec which is this test car shown here.  It cost about $57000++.  This model is pretty spec-up.  Comes with leather seat, tons of safety feature and my favorite would be the automatic parallel and vertical parking.  Yes I shit you not this car can park itself better that most people because we tried it and it is impressive.

The exterior looks is all up to personal taste.  It has all round LED lightning front and back.  I quite like the exterior look, its funky and yet modern at the same time.  The interior is a whole new ball game. It has two LCD.  One of them is customiseable.  The dash has minimal buttons because they are all touch sensitive or touch screen types.  

That little knob there is for you to put perfume!  Yes I am not kidding.  You can purchase the perfume from the Citroen agent

Citroen has the coolest interior design in my opinion.  If you haven't seen the rest of the models I suggest you visit their showroom.

The Day I Sat In A.....Mercedes Benz AMG A45

It must be car season in the month of Feb.  Apparently three of my good friends just bought a new car each.  One of them just took possession of his beast, the Mercedes Benz AMG A45.  He waited 6 months for this beast to arrive in Brunei.  As you can see from the picture, this is not your average A45. The car has been loaded with options from the AMG catalog.  The standard A45 cost about $89k.  This example you looking here with options added is knocking on the $100k range.

Optional Aero Package

Optional AMG Exhaust system and Optional Night Package(Painted side skirt, exhaust tips and others)

Optional AMG Rear Wing

Optional Painted Red Caliper  (Standard color is silver)

18" AMG wheels riding on Continental Tyres

First Panoramic roof on an A45 in Brunei!

This engine is a 2.0litre 4cyclineder twinscroll turbocharged.  Makes 360hp with 450Nm of torque(hence the A45 badge)

One man, One Engine philosopy from AMG.  This engine is built by Juan Gulou.  Well done Mr.Juan!

Beautiful interior contrasting with red accents and stitching.  This car is also fitted with optional Harmon/Kardon sound system.

Optional $4K Recaro Seats

Lastly, optional unique AMG Gearknob

My friend is currently running-in his A45.  So hopefully I will get a taste from the AMG engine soon.

The Day I Sat In A.....Mercedes-Benz S-Class S400

Yesterday I was with  my buddy at Jati Transport, Brunei Sole Agent of Mercedes-Benz.  He wanted to test drive the new 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S400 and lucky enough there is one test-drive car available for him.  We jump to the front seats with the Marketing Manager tagging along.

First impression is what a luxury car it is to sit in.  Everything feel so high class inside.  The materials used is for sure high end and high quality.  This particular engine is a hybrid.  It has 306hp that goes to 100km/hr from zero in 6.8sec.  The car didn't feel as fast as I hope it can be partly also because of the sheer size of this car.  It is big, long and heavy.

Upon driving out of the car parking lot, I immediately felt the seats adjusting the bolster on my waist according to my friend cornering behavior.  It was an experience I never felt before.  Every corner he changed the seat will adjust automatically to make sure I seat perfectly.

 

This has to be the biggest LCD I ever see fitted inside a car and they have TWO inside!!!  They are 12.3" in size per screen

 

This car is fitted with BURMESTER sound system.  They are from Germany and another company that I do know has this sound system as option for most of their cars is PORSCHE.  They ain't cheap,  a Porsche Panamera Sound system is a BND$18,000 option!  Yeap, you can buy a Toyota VIOS with that money.

 

Check out the buttons lay-out and the COMAND center. Another unique feature(not shown here) is the Active Perfume system.  Basically is like a air purify system where you purchase a bottle of perfume from their wide ranges of scene which cost about $100.  The system is located in the glove box and it will individualise the smell of your S-Class!  Classy!

  

I felt like a millionaire sitting at the back.  The back seats is also fully reclinable like a First-Class airline seats.