Volvo V40, Pedestrian Airbag System



Its the latest technology in pedestrian safety. Manufacturers have been trying to improve their score in NCAP, on pedestrian safety. While most manufacturers developed softer bumpers and hoods, design that will lift the pedestrian over the hood instead of tucking it under the car, while Citroen hood raises up during pedestrian collision, Volvo introduces a pedestrian airbag, which covers the front windscreen to further reduce head trauma during a pedestrian accident

 

This is a standard feature on all of the brand new V40

How the airbag and lifted hood designed to lift, protects a pedestrian during an accident.

 

 

 

 

Whats my take on this new technology?

I don't give a fcuk. Why would I care about pedestrians living after being hit by a car. Some might scorned at my insensitivity but, I am about to be hit by a car, will I always be flung up onto the windscreen? What if the car runs me over? Is there an airbag to protect me from being rolled over by the tires? So I am thrown onto the airbag, then what? I am stuck and protected there or will I roll off and fall on my neck and break it.

 

I love airbags, I want 6 of them in my car, but pedestrian airbags? NO!

 



My Parking Lot

Parking in my house is a source of stress for me. This is due to my father's insanity that all cars should be parked inside by sunset. Regardless of what, all cars must be inside, as long as there is still a roof over the porch, the cars must still be in. The figure above is the layout of our parking configuration so that we could fit all 6 cars inside the gate. As you can see, our cars comes in variety of sizes. Mother and Father are the biggest and longest cars, followed by the Mine. The Sister and older Sister are of similar size while the Brother is the smallest of the lot.

In order to fit in all the cars the Mine  and  Brother's car can only be park at that spot only. Mother and Father can changes spots, so does the Sister and Older Sister cars.

Stress is caused when I come home late and Sister, Older Sister and Brother cars are already inside, so I have to take out 3 cars before putting Mine in and then park back the remaining 3 cars. Stress is also caused when Older Sister comes home late, since she can't park. If she does park, somehow you can open the door or walk around the car. She completely seals the car in. However, Sister and Brother are able to put their cars in and more, so that is not a problem for me. If however any car is blocking the Older Sister car, Mother, Sister, Brother or myself has to get the blocking car out so that Older Sister could get out.

Yes, parking sucks at my house and imagine trying to park while just woken up from sleep or after a rough night. Stress..

Before and After

 This was the result of anger, a powerful rear wheel drive car and a slippery road. I overtook a slow MPV that drove to close to me almost to the point that I almost hit the road barrier that only resulted me oversteered and spun the car from left to right and right to left, which only stop after I hit the road barrier. Its ironic that I avoided a road barrier which resulted me to crash into one. This was the damage which is quite surprising.

This was after repairs was done. The turn signal cost me RM50, while the body work cost me RM250, it does not look a lot in pictures, but the headlamps was pushed inside and puctured my windshield wiper tank. The bumper need to be repaired by laying fiberglass on it, while the entire front bumper needed to be painted or it won't be even which cost me RM200. So sad really.. but at least the result was good. Now the only thing that is bothering me is that now the transmission is acting up. When I drive the car will shift from 4th gear to 3rd gear out of the sudden. The only way I could make it go back to 4th gear was to shift it into neutral. I am not sure what the problem is but its gonna cost us :(. What to do, its not my car, but I do drive it so I am responsible for it.

All Blacks

Three black Proton Satria Neo's all parked side by side. So rare, the last time I saw cars of the same make and colour parked together was 4 electric blue Perodua Viva. Wicked!!

Service

Me and the workshop are inseparable. Its seems I maybe one of the responsible one in the house to service the cars. I was told by friends, if I still live in the house, they would still depend on me to service the cars. Its very tiring because of the long hours. You can try to book your next service but it does require planning. However last time I booked a service, it still took the same time as the time I walked in early in the morning. It kinda makes booking pointless to me. Perodua Service Centre in Bandar Teknologi Kajang, is nice. There is Wifi and free coffee drinks while you wait more than an hour for the car to get service. Honda, Imavest near MRR1 or is it MRR2 is nice too, with free Maggi and coffee drinks. Although the Honda service is much more quicker than Perodua. Perodua cars however only require servicing every 6 months or 10K, Honda on the other hand, needs servicing every 3 months or 5k. If you don't follow it, your service warranty maybe void. That sucks really bad since that same interval was created almost 100 years ago. They say its preventative, I say its trying to milk out the customers money. This is because other manufacturers now recommends the 6 months or 10k on their cars too. Eh what to do, I mean if that is your own personal choice to do a much shorter interval, then its your choice. If the choice was forced on you, now I got beef to chew. Anyways, my Viva has been way over abused by family members. It was scratched in multiple places, mileage is quite high. I think we did around 30k a year for this Viva. It is quite fuel efficient in the city and highway as long you don't try to push it hard (actually this advice is for every vehicle really)

Yawnnn.. I was the first customer in, but since my windows, my side mirror and my automatic transmission needed to be changed/repair. I won't be the first one to go out. ZZZzz.. more free coffee please..

Saturday Night Drift @ MAPES

There is place that is near my faculty that held a drift race on Saturday nights on its parking lot. I never there was such thing until now. It cost RM 5 per person to watch the drift race on parking lot. This was my first time watching a drift race. If you are car lover and love races, prepare to watch Nissan Silvia, 1980 Nissan Cerfiro, Nissan Skyline, Toyota AE86, Toyota KE70/E70 and other cars drift and slides their way skillfully.

Other than drifting, audiophile likes to show off their custom ICE system with the music blasted loud.

Tonight was a bit special, since there were professional drift racers involve with the amateur drifter. It was a sight to behold, if you love cars. This event is located at the "Pintu 2" (Second Gate) of MARDI. Other than drift events, there are a carboot sale in the parking lot and a go-cart track where you can race with your friends for RM 25 for 10 minutes.

Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing

I was invited to a launch of a car I will never drive. The Mercedes AMG SLS Gullwing. This is the successor to the Mercedes Benz SLR Mclaren. Its the first Mercedes that was design in house by AMG. This car has a monstrous 6.2 litre, V8 (8 cylinder) engine that produces 571 PS and 650 Nm. Best of all, it has an automatic transmission. Not those slush box that normal cars have, but its a dual clutch semi automatic transmission. Its basically a manual with the clutch engaged automatically. Right now, almost every manufacturer has their own dual clutch transmission, but I do believe AMG produced the first 7 speed, dual clutch that can handle 650 Nm of torque, other 7 speed dual clutch, such as Volkswagen dual clutch, can only handle less than 250 Nm of torque, instead rely on their 6 speed dual clutch transmission. It has a aluminium chassis to reduce weight and the transmission is located on the rear wheel axle instead of behind the engine to offer a better weight distribution. (51 front, 49 rear.. I think)See, I was there after all. Forget all that mechanical jargon's, this is a car with the doors open like a Gullwing, an engine that has a deep growl, and looks that could cut through steel. That is all that matter to any lucky royalty or businessman that can afford its RM 1,999,999 tag, but if you have to ask for the price, you probably could not afford it....

Mazda 2, finally in Malaysia

If I were force to buy a Japanese car again or I cannot afford to get my dream car, I would go for Mazda in a heartbeat. I love the Mazda design over that of Toyota, Nissan or Honda. Get me a Mazda, any Mazda, and I will be happy. Mazda Malaysia has done it self quite well, we can get practically all the Mazda that the entire world has. Mazda 3, Mazda 5, Mazda 6, Mazda Cx7, Mazda Cx9, Mazda Miata Mx5. Mazda Rx8 and Mazda BT 50. Yes apparently Mazda like numbers and letters for its car. The bigger the number, the bigger car. The number 3 and 6 is their sedan, number 5 is the MPV, Cx 7 and 9 are the SUV, MX5 is the cabriolet, Rx8 is the sports coupe, and BT-50 is the pickup truck. Now they have introduced Mazda 2 which comes in both sedan and hatchback form. Yes, its a small car directly competing with other Japanese marques. The Mazda 2 sedan will go head to head with Toyota Vios, Honda City, Suzuki Sx4 sedan. and Nissan Latio sedan. Mazda 2 in hatchback form will directly go head to head with Nissan Latio Sport, a hatchback version of the Latio, Suzuki Swift, Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris. Mazda goes a different way with its cars. They focus on the "zoom zoom" factor which is great driving experience and looking sporty at the same time.

Nice sporty interior. The gearshift is on the dashboard to make it more accessible to the driver

The cabin was said to be not as spacious as it rivals, this due to its lower roof line. Tall people riding in the back, beware...

The hatchbacks looks sexy

The sedan is functional with a 450 liter boot.

Side profile of the sedan in motion.

This is the Mazda 2 with its 16 inch rims and body kit. Nice!

Subcompact/Mini/Supermini/Small/ Micro

I drive a Viva to my lab. Its a small city runabout that is thrifty on petrol, easy to park, and surprisingly roomy for its small size. Small cars are nice, they are very nimble and easy on the wallet. A small car is actually what 80% of us need, since most of us drive alone anyways. These are my list of my favorite small cars that are safe, efficient and damn cool looking

Volkswagen Polo, its basically a shrunken Volkswagen Golf, which is a really great car to begin with. It drives well, its very fuel efficient with a variety of turbo and supercharged petrol and diesel engine.

Toyota IQ, its a car about the size of the Smart car but it can fit 3 adults and 1 children in it. It is able to achieved 5 stars in NCAP safety rating.

The BMW Mini, the small car that people actually want. Its small but automotive journalist and enthusiast all over the world craves for its go cart handling that beats car 2 times it size.

Mazda 2, a hot little car that comes both in sedan and hatchback form. It follows the footstep of Mazda Miata where they try to make everything lighter and more connected to the driver.

The Honda Jazz, yup with a Joker face. This is a kinda cool paint job. Its a clever car with clever features such cinema style fold up seats or fuel tank located under the front seats.

Ford Fiesta, a highly popular supermini in Europe known for its ride and handling. Soon to be sold in Malaysia.

Fiat 500, many people will remember the original Fiat 500 and will smile back at this car. Unlike the original car with rear engine and suicide doors, this car has a front engine, normal doors and can fit 4 adults comfortably.

An Italian job, an Alfa Romeo Mito, this sexy turbocharged car is bound to turn heads everywhere. I even saw one at UPM!!. Its crazy!!!..

A Great Monday Morning

It started with an incredibly lazy Monday morning, where I decided to wake up late. Even though I am lazy, I decided to just bring our Mercedes to the workshop since my brother complained the car over heated again and the power steering was busted. Since my brother wants to take his own sweet lazy time to do it. Lazy bastard...

I thought only the power steering was faulty, since it was not working. Trying to drive a car, a heavy car that is with a 6 cylinder engine in its front bonnet. is very VERY VERY hard. I don't have to lift weights, I can just drive this car without power steering and be fit. So I thought it was power steering, suddenly the car died. It died on the main road right in front of my house. You can see my orange house peeking in the trees. I called my mom to explain what happened, and she was at the gate looking at me and on the phone. I told her I'd called our mechanic Michael to explain the situation. So here I was, not on the side of the road but on the road itself. So I had to turn on the hazard lights and opened my rear bonnet/trunk, just to be safe. Some people don't realise the car is stationary. No one drives with the rear bonnet opened up like that, so I hope this will made people realise that the car is indeed not moving to prevent them from rear ending my car.

Michael came to rescue. We pop up the front hood and checked the damaged. I told him there were some red oil spills in our front porch, my mother told me it was splattered on the car porch when I reversed the car. Michael told me, my power steering oil spilled on the fan belt. The fan belt got degraded and it snapped. The fan belt is responsible to cool the engine, since the fan was not turning, the engine had to rely on the water cooling system only, the water cooling system was not sufficient enough to cool the engine. The water was empty as a result before I drove the car. Another function of the fan belt is to run the alternator. The alternator charges the battery when it is low on power, since the alternator was not moving, I was leaking my battery dry till there was no juice left which left me stalling by the road.

Talk about a so called lazy Monday morning....

Tips to Wash a Car

Nothing like a shiny car after a good wash done by the owner. Its one heck of an exercise to wash your car successful. It something personal to wash something you drive or take car each day. Here are tips for a successful wash

1. Wash in the shade. Its not good to wash your car under the heat of the sun. I don't have the exact scientific reason because I don't have scientific proof. The reason why you should was your car in the shade is, if the surface is too hot, by the time you finished washing a section of your car, the section you just washed has dried up and water spots form.

2. Scrub the tires and wheel to release the dirt and brake dust. You can have a shiny car but if your tires look dirty, the whole car looks dirty.

3. Spray inside the wheel well because there are many stuff you don't know are stuck in it.

4. Wash the cloth that you use to dry the car first to remove any dirt that may be on it and can smudge your car if you don't remove it first.

5. Don't forget to open the doors after a wash to dry the area between the interior and exterior.

5. Use a tire shine product to give black tires a new tire gloss all because of reason number 2.

6. Use adequate amount of soap as recommended by the label to effectively removed traffic dirt.

7. Enjoy your workout and your shiny car.

Odd One Out?

This is the make shift parking lot in my university.... Who am I kidding, its not even a parking lot, just an empty muddy grass area, at the entrance of the university. It can be also called an illegal parking lot. An illegal parking lot and its own invisible rule. You will park just like how the other park. Now what is wrong with this Lexus RX 300 / Toyota Harrier here, parking all parallel and robbing other people of the space available. The freaking Lexus has All Wheel Drive, it should have no problem parking in the muddy spots, but I guess the driver is an idiot because they probably don't know that. The smarter you are or the richer you are to afford a RM200k car, apparently still makes you stupid at parking. Go figure eh?

A Kia with Soul

Kia used to be this bargain basement cars that nobody really wanted unless they really want something cheap and different from others. In the US, Kia has the longest warranty among car manufacturers, 10 years. Most people don't even keep their car longer than 5 years. However now Kia has changed their games and starting to produce cars that people actually want to have while maintaining a price advantage over the other rivals. Kia produces cars that can be sold all over the world instead of just producing a car for certain market, so you know the quality is going to be top notch. There is one car in particular that I absolutely want and will buy in the future. Its the Kia Soul. One look at it and most of us will wind up confused. What is it? A car? SUV? wagon?. Actually its a little bit of both. Its longer than a Myvi but shorter than a Gen2 but its wider. Its a tall car so sit up higher than you would in a regular car. It can come in a modest 15 inch rims riding on 65 series tires or an aggressive 18 inch rims riding on 45 inch tires. Hot!. There are 3 engines available according to each regions, a petrol 1.6, petrol 2.0 and a 1.6 diesel. Americans would favour the 2.0, while Europeans are all about diesels, while the 1.6 would be the default choice in Malaysia, although another new Kia in Malaysia called the Forte, has a 2.0 engine, so there could be a possibility of a 2.0 Soul. Check out the pictures below.

A confused looking car, looks like SUV but is smaller than a regular sedan.

2 petrol and 1 diesel engines to choose from. The 1.6 and 2.0 would be offered here, but there wishfull thinking for the diesel.

The interior is room to the occupants sitting up right. Normal for cars these days from the humble Perodua Viva to Volkswagon Golf Plus.

The boot is adequate and well shaped, while the seats fold to carry lots of stuff.

Looks like the rear of a van right?

Proton Emas (Eco Mobile Advance Solution)

This is a Proton Concept car that was premiered at the Geneva Motor Show today. This a car developed by Italdesign Giugiaro for Proton. Italdesign Giugiaro have been responsible for designing some cars for Toyota, Alfa, Volkswagen and Hyundai. A concept car means that this car is a prototype of all the future technology or design that might be used for cars developed for the road. We won't get the exact same car, but most of the technology and some design cue will make it on the road. EMAS or Eco Mobile Advance Solution is car that will be developed for Malaysian and the world.

This is the front end of Emas, a 5 door hatchback

This the side view of the 5 door hatchback

The rear view

This is the Emas Country, a rugged SUV like 3 door hatch

This is the Emas3, at only 3 meters long, it rivals Smart Fortwo. Instead of carrying 2 passengers, Emas3 can carry 3 passengers. The perfect city car.

You can park practically anywhere with a car this size.

This is the interior of the car. Notice the slot for your Iphone or Ipod Touch. Nice!

Proton Emas is a series hybrid. Yes, it has an electric motor, batteries and engine. Unlike the world famous hybrid, Toyota Prius, which uses the electric motor, engine or both to drive the car, Proton Emas engine is only used to charged the batteries when its runing out of power. According to the engineer using battery only, the car can travel 50km before the engine cuts in a supply power.

Basically, to explain how the car works in a crude way is like this. Imagine those Pasar Malam (Night Market) electric generator, put it in the engine bay of your car. Then take a few batteries and place it in under the front seat of the car. The taken an electric motor and put it in the bonnet of your car.

The electric motor will draw power from your battery and you car will be like a golf cart, whizzing quietly on the road. Once the battery is low, the generator will kick in an recharge the battery. Like any generator, you have no control on the engine speed since it will run constantly to charge the batteries.

5okm does not sound much, but in reality its really quite enough for most people, even if you do travel 100km a day, half of your trip will run on battery power alone. You can charge the car, just like how you charge your handphone.

I can't wait for this to become a reality. I need a new car soon to pass my Viva to my brother :D

Oily

Have you serviced your car? A basic service is an oil change. The duration of the change depends on your car manual and your warranty regulation. This means its between 5000km to 20000km. Just remember don't believe the salesperson advice to add additives to the oil. The oil has its own additives. If you have money to burn, you can burn it buy buying the additives. The brand does not really matter really as long as they are recognized by API, American Petroleum Institute. Last but not least, READ the manual so that you dont get conned by the salesperson :D.

The Perfect Car?

People who knows me knows that I am totally obsessed about cars. Its something I am very much passionate about. My perfect car would either be a turbocharged diesel, or turbocharged direct injection petrol, with double clutch transmission or better known as automated manuals, load of safety kit,and LSD. A hatchback is versatile by being able to fold the rear seats down and turn it into a small minivan, while a saloon has more cargo space with all the seats up.

Turbo diesel / turbo petrol

Perhaps they only thing different between these two engines is that one uses petrol and the other uses diesels. Todays technologies blurs the line between petrol and diesel engines.

This is just the basic description of the two engines

Diesel

pros
-30% more efficient than petrol engine which means it uses less fuel
- more torque at lower RPM level, which means you dont have to rev the engine hard
-last longer than petrol engine since it was built sturdier to handle the high pressure it exerts on its cylinder
-no spark plugs, very mechanical

cons
- noisy!, the klanky klunk sound of a diesel engine is never appealing
-black smoke it is exhaust due to soot
-smell of traditional diesel is nauseating

Petrol
-traditionally burns cleaner than diesel, exhaust is clear
-the sound is smoother
-revs smoother
-cheaper to make
-

cons
-uses more fuel since its less efficient than diesels
-does not last as long as diesel
-more prone to problems


The Solution!

Diesel and Petrol repairing their short comings and sharing each others system


Diesel

Add turbo

Even though diesel are efficient and produce more torque, the engine has to be huge at least 2500cc, this makes them heavy and slow compared to lighter and peppier petrol engines. When you add turbo to the engine, it produces more horsepower and even more torque that is already is. Turbo is powered by the exhaust which means the turbo is not robbing any power from the engine.

Electronic Fuel Injection

Diesel engine injects it fuel directly into the combustion chamber where the cylinder resides. Traditional diesel does this mechanically, but modern diesel does it electronically and injects high pressure diesel into the cylinder. The amout and force can be control which means more power and cleaner exhaust

Better fuel

Diesel fuel contains a lot of sulphur which is bad for the enviroment and causes acid rain. Sulphur is important because it acts as lubricant for the fuel. By replacing sulphur with other substance to act as lubricants, will make the diesel fuel cleaner.


Better sound proofing
You can really change the sound of diesel clanky clank sound, but you can seal the engine bay so that the sound is more suppressed.


Petrol

Direct Injection

Traditionall, fuel and air is mixed before it is injected into the chamber where the cylinder recides. It is mixed mechanically using a carburator or electronically injected. Now, petrol engine is imitating diesel engine by injecting the fuel directly into the cylinder chamber. Direct injection allows the computer to fine tune how much fuel goes in and when it should be injected. This allow the petrol engine to be fuel efficient but at the same time produce a lot of power when needed

turbo
just like the diesel engine, turbo charging a petrol engine will increase the torque and horsepower of a petrol engine. However the twist with turbo chargine petrol engine, is that now a small engine is needed, which means less weight which equals less fuel will be used but the engine produces as much power as a larger car


Well that is all that I can write about this lazy article (lazy because there is no pictures accompanying each description, just like what my science teacher said when i was in form 4)

anyways, there are other cool technologies that saves fuel and provides more power which includes double clutch transmission, stop start, and hybrids, but that is another rambling..perhaps after i include such pictures in..

Sick Off

Aren't you sick of my irritating emo post? Sure it makes interesting read, but its the same dull thing really. Life does not have to suck that much really. I guess this is just an outlet to let go of some steam. Although I love to give my greatest gratitude for those who seem to able to just click on my link whether on a friends blog or the search engine. Its almost the end of the year, almost the end of my master and I feel helpless sometimes. Maybe its procrastination, maybe its just moody, maybe I just can focus well.

This so called moodiness and irritation probably originated from my dad. It could be genetics because it seems he is able to be ticked off without a moments notice, just like how I can be. Its very bad to suddenly go berserk for no apparent reason, apparently all the men in this family does it from time to time, but we do have a mother, so some of her traits must be buried deep under that male testosterone.

Maybe its because I woke up quite late today, or shall I say my normal wake up time. Or its because I almost thought, it was still the weekend. Anyways, I feel I should let this be a setback, even though I do stay at home more often that I should. Its usually filled with household errands. Another brother in the house is quite useless really, and to limit my confrontation with him, I prefer to just have very little contact with him regardless of my mood. Since most of the time I want to chew his straighten hair head off. Let's just say in the future, he WILL NEVER STAY IN TE SAME HOUSE as I do. I would rather pay him to live somewhere.

Its sucked that there is 6 cars in the house. Sure its sounds great, but in reality, 4 of them is my responsibility, and if I haven't driven it for a long time, something is bound malfunction, since 3 of the 4 cars under my care is more than 4 years old. I don't get it why would you get a 9 year hire purchase loan for a car. After the 4th year, problems will appear, and you need to pay for the repairs while still paying for your car loan. Very few would actually finish paying their cars within 5 years, and even rarer will pay them in 3 years. Although this limits then to Viva and Saga, at least they would be smiling since they are not paying that much interest rate.

My Viva is paid in 7 years, so that is not so bad at all, plus there is a 3 year factory warranty and a extended 3 year insurance warranty. The factory warranty covers everything while the insurance warranty cover around 3/4 of it, but that is okay. Anyways perhaps I should take the opportunity of waking up late to service our aging 18 year old Mercedes, its becoming a family heirloom now. At least that would make me feel much better this irritating Monday morning

Twilight Saga - New Moon (How to become one)

First of all, I have to say, the crowd at Pavillion on the Eve of Aidil Adha/Raya Haji was INSANE. There were so many people, like I have never seen this much crowd before. It helps that Friday was a public holiday and Thursday was the premier of the New Moon movie in Malaysia, although some had watched on Wednesday night. It was packed to the brim.

The twilight series had a strong following, some even called it a cult (Miley Cyrus apparently hates Twilight and calls its fans a cult, wait.. so doesn't she have die hard fans who worship her totally..hmm I sense jealousy). Girls are practically worshipping Edward and now Jacob. Most guys in Malaysia can look like Jacob. You just have to cut your hair short like Jacobs, his already black, and you just need a bit of gel to shine it up a bit. Make sure you are clean shaven, and oh yes. get a trainer, hit the gym and diet like crazy. It took Taylor Lautner less than a year, to transform himself from slim to ripped. He has the same problems most skinny guys have, which was not being able to gain enough weight. (Bastards...). However with lost of weight training and kilos worth of protein shake, now you can have that same oooh, ahhh and giggles that girls and some guys (regardless of sexual orientation, most guys are amazed with another man's incredibly buff body). You can also be like Edward, just stay out of the sun or use Loreal Mens Expert White Activ range, to be as fair as you can be, then dye your head in a bronze colour, and use pomade for the messy look. You also must have the car, you can either get the Volvo C40 like what Edward had in the first film or get the Volvo XC60.

Whiter skin with Loreal Men's Expert White Activ

Freshlook Colourblends in Honey for that I just drank a whole cow's blood look.

Volvo C30 that retails at RM 215,500.00

Volvo XC60 T6 LE that retails at RM 360,000.00

No wonder girls love him so much. He has great skin, great eyes, very protective, very loving, has a nice car, and loyal to you for the rest of eternity. Gee.. you can get all of that except for the last part..