The Day I Test Drove A.....Mercedes Benz E200 (W213)

Back in June, Daniel, Marketing Manager of Jati Transport offered me to test drive the E200 (W213) when I bumped into him while picking up our children at school.  I was reluctant at first because I am not planning to purchase anycar at that time.  He told me there is no obligation and offered me to take the car home for 4 days just to test drive!  How can I say no to that!

 

I am a big fan of W210 to W212 because of the quad head lamps design.  The new generation W213 took a different approach by combining them to individual headlamp.  So to speak I am not a very big fan of this new approach.  I had seen the W213 AMG E63 in brochure and damn it is one very aggressive car!  This E200 doesn't come with AMG package.  Its the standard version coming out of the factory so no aggressive AMG bodykit or performance package.

On delivery day I was brief on how to "use" the car.  I am glad they taught me because there was a few features that require first hand information for new driver.  At the point of writing, this particular version was offer for around BND$95K~$98K . Again please check with Jati Transport for their latest update on pricing.

The first thing that caught my attention when I hopped into the driver seat was the beautiful layout of the interior design. Everything inside the cabin felt so modern and yet elegance at the same time.  You will also be greeted by the new LED interior lighting.  I am not new to this because my MINI Countryman was one of the earlier car to approach this type of interior lighting.  The only differences is Mercedes Benz took their E-Class version a step further.  You can control two different part of the interior with different LED lighting!  It can be done with single color, dual color or continuously color changing!

The First drive : Once I am done with adjusting my seating position, I pressed the START button and the half analog/digital instrument came to life(The E300 version gets the dual LCD features). I engaged the gear stalk located behind the steering wheel for Drive (I am still not used to this type of gear stalk as it is similar to my mum CLA200).

Once the car was engaged, I took the car home and during that period of time with the car I can say it is quite an impressive car.  Steering is very light and easy to maneuver for a car this big. The performance for a 2.0(184hp) is actually quite impressive!  I said this because I was so disappointed with my mum CLA200 as it was sluggish.  This E200 felt very fast, as a matter of fact it felt faster then my MINI given they both have the same hp rating only the MINI is 1.6.  I cannot imagine the power of E300 with 245hp on tap.  Handling is more or less a typical Mercedes-Benz sedan.  If you ever engage the Sports+ setting it makes the car performance even more sporty. 

The Tech : This car is loaded with lots of tech.  My favorite was the auto parking assist where the car will search a suitable parking spot and help u parked the car without your input for steer and brake.  All you need is engage the gear for the car!  Is a very simple step and I think all car in the future should have this feature.  And when you want to leave the parking space, the car will reverse out the parking spot like how it was parked in the first place!

The steering wheel has touch sensitive buttons for easy control.  All the buttons are beautifully lay out in the center console.

The LCD also display many 360 angle for your vehicle when parked. 

Here you go, my view on the new E200.  Would I buy it?  Hell yeah if I got the money but I will probably go for the E300 with AMG Line.  I give this E200 a score of  7.5/10 based on my experiences on medium size executive sedan.

The Day I Test Drove A Subaru Outback

Good evening people!  A family member just added this rugged Subaru Outback into our garage.  This car cost around BND$49K O.T.R.  She brought the car immediately to CERAMIC PRO in Kiulap to have the body paint properly sealed.  She even went for the Platinum package which cost a whooping  BND$2K++!

I took the car for a drive immediately when it was done coating after 2 days.  The car is fitted with 2.5litre boxer engine.  It came with 6 speed CVT and has 175hp on tap.  The car is extremely quiet. Being a new car everything is very very fresh especially the new car smell.  Everyone loves new car smell!

The car also comes with Subaru own 6.2" infotainment touch screen and also 570watts 13 speakers Harman/Kardon sound system!

Car is good for daily as it is easy to maintain and Subaru BOXER is truly bullet proof.

The Day I Test Drove A 2014 Porsche Macan

Continuing with my last post at QAF with my buddy, I took a stroll to the other side of QAF showroom to say hi to my salesperson.  Porsche showroom is always my favorite showroom to visit in QAF. They are big and spacious and of course all the beautiful Porsche sitting on the showroom.  While chit chatting with the salesperson, he recommended my friend  to check out the the Porsche Macan sitting outside the showroom.  I was at the driver seat and he asked why not take it out for a spin.  Without hesitation, we closed the doors and took off with him and my friend. LOL

How was it?  Well, let's me put this test drive in three parts. Performance, Handling and Gearbox.  I will not talk about the exterior and interior looks because these are subjective and the point of test driving is to feel the overall performance, am I right?

Performance - Rating 5/10.  Partly because this model is a non-S model, it has only 240hp from a 2.0 4 cyclinder engine source from Audi Q5.  The engine felt slow when push to the limit.  I have not test drove the S and Turbo yet but should be impressive given they are V6 turbo-charged!

Handling - I would rate 8.5/10.  This is by far the best handling SUV I had driven. The car felt like a sports car when cornering hard.  Body roll is minimal.  This model that we drove has a normal  set-up suspension.  Imagine if you option for the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM).  

Gearbox - Rating at 8/10 This is the second time I drove a PDK equipped Porsche.  The first being the Porsche Cayman I test drove way back in 2009.  As usual PDK gear shifting is lightning fast and super smooth.  The gear change is seamless and felt like a rocket that continuous charging forward.

Overall I am impress with this SUV, although it is a tad too small for my height.  I think it is more suitable for people who is below 6 foot.  The steering wheel as shown below is near identical to the iconic Porsche 918 Spyder hypercar.  This car only cost below BND$110K, the cheapest Porsche you can get in Brunei!

The Day I Test Drove The New MINI Cooper S (F56)

MINI Cooper S (F56)

Yesterday I was filled with free times so I took a drive to MINI Showroom to test drive the new MINI Cooper S that was launched not too long ago.  As usual my friendly salesperson, Virginia, was there to sort out the test drive for me.   I was planning to "thoroughly test" the car but was cut short due to the pouring sky after I received the key. So I just drove the car around the showroom area for no more then 10mins in a sensible manner.

MINI being MINI and having owned one, one would expect the usual from this new model.  However, I got a few key points to point out.  Firstly is how quiet the new 198hp turbo-charged 2.0 4 bangers is, not exactly MINI way. Second is how responsive the throttle is, an instant light tap on the pedal and you can feel the car ready to take you to the twilight zone. Third,  turbo lag is almost non-existent.  Fourth, even thought I didn't do much performance test, the gearbox was certainly a big step-up as it shift-up/down way way faster and smoother compare to the previous Gen!  Lastly, the exhaust note is intoxicating,  I was driving below 3000rpm and below 80km/hr and the exhaust note is pumping out loud pop which is very notable inside the car.  In previous Gen owner would have to activate sport button to hear the "pop" note around 3000rpm range. 

S model is fitted with LED DRL, Bi-Xenon, LED Fog lamps and LED Tail lamps!

S model comes standard with JCW Steering wheel, Pedal shifter, a large color LCD Central screen (upgradable to even larger 23cm LCD!"

JCW Steering Wheel, nice!

Sadly, the tacho meter is no longer located at the center console like previous two Gen's.  It is now relocated next to the speedo.  The fuel gauge is located on the right side.  The speedo also house a small color LCD for car information

S model comes standard with Full leather interior with Alcantara insert! Sadly MINI still hasn't consider putting electronic seats in their range!!!!!!

MINI Cooper (F56)

The Blue and White is the MINI Cooper.  A step down from Cooper S.  It is still fitted with turbo-charged 3 cylinders engine but only 1.5.  It is cheaper by $10k.  Being cheaper also means less equipment.  It doesn't come with LCD infortainment, no Pedal shifter, less leather and of course a less powerful engine.

A different front bumper as compared to S

Oh it also doesn't come with any LED for both front and rear lamps

See the tiny screen in the center console? Yeah, those are non-colored screen. LOL. Color screen is an option below S range.

Semi Clothed/Leathere

And lastly the best H2O I ever tasted

The bright orange S model is priced at BND64,000++ showroom, exlcusive of insurance. The standard S is actually quite equipped but of course you can personalize your own MINI by adding more accesories and equipment.  Draw back on that would be waiting period and price hike.  Nothing is free! If S is out of your budget maybe you can consider the non-S model or wait for MINI One that will be introduce to Brunei very soon.  That is another $10k cheaper then non-S model but is fitted with puny 1.3 3 cyclinders turbo-charged!

The Day I Test Drove A Toyota FT86

Yesterday I have the privelge to drive one of the most talked about JDM in recent years, the Toyota FT86.  The car belongs to a good friend of mine who recently dropped by my store for shopping.  I asked for the key and drove around Kiulap area for a quick drive. This one here is equipped with a 6speed manual transimsion and is fitted with TRD Performance AeroKit!  The car is still new so is totally bone stock.

I sat snuggly in the bucket seat and surprisingly the car sat quite low to the ground.  The only car that gave me this feeling is my Boxster S.  I know Toyota and Subaru are trying to create a very lower centre of gravity sportcar but didn't expect them to be so close to supercar level.  I engaged the gear and released the clutch.  Bam! I stalled the car. LOL!   I must admit the clutch is too "soft" or "light" depend on how you describe it.  Both my Skyline and Boxster had medium clutch set-up, so it is quite hard when depressing.

When I drove out of the street, I nailed the throttle immediately but was disappointed of the lack of power coming out from the 2.0 Boxer engine!  I can assured my MINI Countryman S is quicker then the FT86!  Seriously Toyota/Subaru need to fit a turbo-charge inside the engine.  I know the handling is on par with many high end sports car but seriously lacking engine performance really spoil the fun of driving.

The next part I want to complaint is that damn ugly CD Player original factory fitted.  Seriously who still uses this type of In-Car entertainment?  Come on Toyota, at least a Touch screen!

For a BND$50K car no wonder many people are going for for VW Golf Gti, Mercedes A-Class or a BMW MINI that are equipped with better engine performance and equally or better handling!

The Day I Test Drove A Mercedes Benz A200

Yesterday was my lucky day!  My friend just pitted in his Mercedes Benz E200 for services at Jati Transport.  They gave him a loaner car which is this cool A-Class.  Sadly it is only a A200.  Nevertheless, it is better then nothing.  I took a quick spin from Kiulap to Serusop and I have to say I am very impress with this little car!

Like I said in the previous, the handling and rides on this car is really outstanding.  I cannot praise enough about it! LOL!  This here is the lowest spec from the A-Class range but it does come with lots of cool options!  Firstly, even for a low spec model it still comes with full driver's side electric seat!  The interior seats are fully covered with soft fabrics that has white stitches all over the contour of the seat.  

For the exterior,  you will note that this particular model comes with an optional BND$1800 "Diamond Grille".  Another features worth mentioning is the utilize of full LED and HID system.  The headlights, signal lights, DRL and reverse lights are all equipped with LED systems.  You cannot find any traditional standard bulbs in this car!

Another big thumbs up for this car is the Collision Prevention Assist that comes standard in all A-Class ranges.  The system can detect the distant between the A-Class and those in front given it is stationary or moving .  If it is too close the system will give both visual and acoustic warnings.  Can you believe we actually tested this system.  Not on purpose, but due to one idiot driver who just turned into our lane thinking that the road belongs to them!   Luckily the car gave us a loud acoustic warning and my friend who was driving at that time was able to swirl the car to safety! Really big thumbs up this safety system!

In term of performance, this 1.5litre turbocharged 4 pot is actually not too bad at all.  I don't know why when we tested the A250, it didn't provide much fun compared to the A200.  I think partly also because there were 3 occupants inside the car and our fats probably killed some of the fun in that car.  LOL 

The Day I Test Drove a Porsche Boxster 987 Gen.I

Hellow! I had been posting lots of PROJECT:M lately and I think is time to give it a break before I announce my next plan.  I also have yet to review the newly completed I.C.E in Project:M.  

Today I would like to talk about Porsche, yes, Porsche Boxster 987 Gen.I to be precise.

My friend recently just borrowed this 2007 Porsche Boxster 987 Gen.I you see here.  His boss was kind enough to loan him a Porsche for a few days because his car was in the workshop(What a boss!). This is a non-S Boxster, which means it is equipped with a 2.7litre Boxer engine(241hp).  It is also equipped with Porsche 5-Speed TipTronic automatic gearbox

I took it out for a spin at around Kiulap area to check the differences between GEN.I and my GEN.II model. 

After the test droving it,  I  only got one sentence to say,  "Thank God I chose the "S" model BOXSTER! LOL"

Nothing much to complaint about except it has a slower engine compare to my S model.   With the optional TipTronic the engine struggle to rev at low RPM.  But I do like the engine noise coming into the cabin.  In fact it is louder then my 3.4l engine!  Handling wise it is basically the same as a S model.  And also I think GEN.II looks way nicer than GEN.I :P