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.

  

ER34 Steering Pump Failure

Last week I couldn't steer my ER34 out of my garage.  Immediately I thought the steering pump has failed.  I called my buddy, SHH Proshop and they sent a mechanic over to check the problem.  Apparently, the air-con belting has some how stuck inside the steering pump and causes the failure.  I couldn't find a used steering pump for R34 in Brunei and a R33 unit will not fit because it has different part.  Luckily SHH Proshop can shipped out my pump and had it repaired in Japan! Now I am awaiting for the return of my pump and hopefully the car can be fixed by then. More update soon!

   

Porsche Boxster GTS and Cayman GTS Are Here!!!

Just received a call from my friend from QAF to let me know the Boxster/Cayman GTS had landed in the Porsche Showroom!  I drove there immediately and took a few quick photos for both rides.  The new GTS differ from "S" in many way.  Firstly you are greeted by a different front sporty bumper.  It comes with bigger 20" wheels as standard.  There are no chrome trims as they had all been replaced by matt black trims.  Subtle "GTS" emblem are visible on the side of both doors which also stands for Grand Turismo Sport.  
 

Plenty of equipment internally as well.  The engine has higher horsepower compared to a regular "S".  Respectively 340hp for Cayman GTS and 330hp for Boxster GTS.  Its has several standard equipments that are usually an options for "S" and non "S".  Such as PASM which lowered the car by 10mm, Sport Chrono package, Sport exhaust system and  Black Chrome exhaust tips.

 

Both of these cars are equipped differently.  The Cayman GTS shown here as Alcantara Interior whereas the Boxster GTS has full leather interior.  The wheels of Cayman are painted black whereas the Boxster has silver color wheels.   

 

Another visible apperance from both cars are the tinted headlamp and tinted rear lamp.  These are unique only to the GTS!

 

And lastly, the price for these beautiful rides?  About BND$160,000++!!! Each of course!

 

Black Beast Mod - "Grand Cherokee" Scuff Plates

Another accessories added to my SRT.  These are scuff plates and the main purpose is to protect the paint and body of the door panel entrance area.  Of course it can also be comestic purposes.  I got the set from a group-buy thru fellow SRT owners.  At first glance the plate looks like aluminium plate but once you take off the protective plastic you can see that it is coded in Black Chrome.  The black chrome is almost the same as my wheels colors.  It has a little bit of chrome and a little bit of glossy  black.  The set came in a set of 4 plates, two for fronts and two for rears.  The front is pressed with "Grand Cherokee" name whereas the rear is empty without any wording. Check it out!

 

Black Beast Mod - SRT Bumper Trailer Hitch Trim Bezel

Just installed the SRT bumper trailer hitch trim bezel for my car!  If you don't know what to look at, it's the "SRT" wording on the lower bumper between the exhaust pipes.  Normally this car can be equipped with trailer hitch that hide nicely behind the SRT bezel.  Export Jeep SRT do not come with trailer hitch so the bezel do not have "SRT" wording (see last picture in this post).  Normally, the standard bezel flush nicely with the upper bumper whereas SRT bezel extend out by a few centimeter to house the trailer hitch.  I bought this online together with a fellow Jeep SRT owner to save cost on shipping.  It is a nice detail part that I think all Jeep SRT should have.

See the differences?

New MINI One Is Here!

Good news for MINI fans of Brunei, the New MINI One is here! It will cost your wallet BND$42K O.T.R.  This is the cheapest MINI (F56) range.  It also has the smallest engine of the bunch with a 1.2litre 3 cyclinder turbo-charged engine making about 102hp.  Yes you can customise your own MINI like this version in this post.  All the decals and accesorries are extra costs and can be requested through MINI wide range of accessories.  At this price, buyer obviously will not get the standard equipped goodies like the MINI Cooper and Cooper S.  A lot of features are obviously non-standard hence the price tag.  Nevertheless, there are fans out there who wouldn't mind paying this kind of money for this little beaut.

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!

BMW 220i Coupe & BMW X4 xDrive28i

I was at BMW showroom last monday with a friend trying to ask some question regarding about his MINI Cooper S.   Two beautiful BMWs got my attention.  This coupe here is the latest 2 series.  This one here is the 220i and will set you back around BND$68K on the road.  I really like the coupe profile especially the side flowing line.  The interior is identical to the normal 1-Series.  Check out the interior as you will notice something very different! Yes, a proper 6 speed manual transmission!  You don't get to see those often in Brunei, especially majority of BMW customer prefer the auto-stick.

This handsome smaller SUV is the latest X4.  As you can see it has the X6 sportscar roof profile.  The competition for this type of class is the Audi Q5 and the Porsche Macan.  This one cost BND$128K++ without OTR.  I will take the Porsche Macan anytime anyday!

I like modern BMW cars but the only thing that super turn me off is the interior design.  Every Series looks just the same and whats with the two big round analog instrumental gauges?  Hello BMW, this is 2014 is time to move on the past design and op for newer technology!