Driven: Toyota Passo Sette! (Perodua Alza EZi)

A little imagination can do wonders. You could be having a bite at McDonald's right in downtown Kuala Lumpur's Golden Triangle (corner of Bukit Bintang and Sultan Ismail) and yet think you're in Tokyo's Shinjuku district. Pardon me for the inaccuracy in the title of this blogpost but it's deliberate.

"Why?" you may ask. Well, Perodua has got it so right in their product mix that their latest Alza, so much feels like a Toyota, looks like a Toyota, drives likes Toyota; but not a Toyota. (Hmmm...sounded like one famous lawyer's testimony on court recently) And in Bolehland context - pricing it cheaper than even the base model Toyota Vios J-spec - that can be a good thing, a very good thing. Though frankly, I am of the opinion that the Passo Sette clone should not have crossed the RM60k mark, even for this Ezi spec version - to make it a truly value-for-money buy for the rakyat. But we are not here to to debate about social service, are we?




Admittedly, my initial enthusiasm was lacking upon picking up this COTY tester from Perodua. However, that soon changed as I got bitten by the travel bug soon thereafter. Loaded with 3 adults, one almost-adult teenager and three kids, we soon headed up to Cameron Highlands. On the following day, back through to Ipoh and returning to KL. The 3SZ-VE doesn't disappoint, being adequately responsive with an eloquently paired 4A/T, which resulted in decent tractability and driveability. On the downside, the naturally aspirated 4-pot 1.5L lump were often caught thrumming a little too loud - somewhat hoarse - as you venture near 6000rpm for that little extra top-end grunt. The other pleasant little surprise was that its average fuel consumption worked out to about 12km/l over some 863 km travelled. (That's roughly 15- 16 sen per km, running on RON95 @ current retail price of RM1.80/litre) Win some, lose some.





In all, there isn't much to complain about the Alza, expect for maybe absence of 2nd row a/c vents. A passenger in the 2nd row was complaining of getting hot and bothered even with the a/c blower set to fan speed #"3" during an afternoon drive. A full blast to #"4" did cure things but it was a hurricane for both occupants up front! I was getting a bit flustered and bogged down with so much of TURBULENT cold air enveloping my cheeks and temple, even with the vents angled upwards and away.

Could Perodua please add a 2nd ceiling mounted blower for the 2nd row? While at it, can the 3rd row of seat backrest be spilt into a 50:50 fold down to enable 2+3+1 seating with a little more luggage hoarding capability?

Back to the climatic indices of thermal comfort, I am sure there is enough cold air-conditioner gasses for a small 2nd auxiliary cooler coil. Seeing that, no imagination will be able to execute cooling comfort for 2nd and especially 3rd row passengers. Not even Toyota, which at this very moment happens to be a goliath of an automotive company busy with its tagline "Moving Forward...Non Stop!".

Which would you rather drive on the Federal Highway in Kuala Lumpur at 6pm on weekdays?

Hmmm...another Toyota Prius (3rd gen) versus Honda Civic Hybrid IMA shootout?

Look closer...the Civic unit above is a plain vanilla Civic 1.8 i-VTEC, a perennial top seller in its segment for these couple of years in Malaysia. The comparo is unintentional but makes for delectable food-for-thought that for RM115k versus RM175k (no prize for guessing which is which), many of us 'smart' consumers and motorists alike would be better off saving the RM60,000. More than enough for petrol costs for over say, the 5 - 7 years of motoring/hire-purchasing? I think someone has this base covered with the Civic hybrid versus Civic 1.8 sometime back and he's with a popular online news portal now. Anyway, keep your little calculator stashed away, you can never compute the RM60,000 in savings unless you drive the Prius to Mars and back over 10 years.

I would have totally agreed to the above had it not for the massively unpredictable (or is it unpredictably massive?) traffic jams on our Federal Highway during rush hours. Or after a traffic accident on either side of the highway capable of causing both sides to just choked up! Ironically, sometimes for no noticeable reason at all.

Looking at the rather feminine Prius outlook (especially in pearl white, as above), I was totally taken a back when I found it cool to be caught in traffic jams. Yes totally cool...figuratively and literally. The DC motorised airconditioner compressor totally rocks with its whisper cooling, even when the combustion engine is not running.

Furthermore, if you have tried a DC inverter airconditioner at home you'd realised that there's no off-cycle to the cooling. Say, even if you set at 26 deg Celcius, the air vents will still blow cool air on a cold morning albeit at a lower 'concentration'. No more sticky, stale (occasionally moldy/smelly) or that transient warmer air blowing when the regular crank-belt-driven A/C compressor of an automobile (or regular home alternating current A/C compressor) cuts off. Lovely.

The 3rd gen Prius is mighty impressive at start up. After the Ni-Mh battery pack has warmed up, the vehicle is totally silent as you reverse out of your car porch. Zero emissions for the part of (cold-start) driving that's most polluting. Of course, the Civic Hybrid (2nd gen) has a part-time electric A/C compressor that works in stationary condition - at traffic lights - but once you get moving again, the engine has to restart. That's what termed as soft-hybrid i.e. with a small electric motor. Not for the latest Prius when you do say 10 km/h - and most of the period in a bumper-to-bumper crawl - dependent on load and state of battery charge of course. It's a great feeling to see the onboard computer reading 0l/100km/h of fuel consumption in a traffic snarl!



For those interested (who's not these days?) in fuel efficiency facts, the Prius' on-board computer displayed an average figure of 5.6l/100km. With some hard driving, mostly calm cruising, the tripmeter was reading 514.7km + another 136km to go before empty. Isn't this so darn cool too?

Now you can't chill out so much in a regular Civic 1.8, can you? :)

Toyota faz Recall por causa do tapete que pode prender acelerador

A Toyota dos EUA anunciou Recall de 3,8 milhões de veículos devido à possibilidade do tapete prender o pedal acelerador. O maior recall da história da marca japonesa abrange sete modelos, dentre eles, o Camry vendido no Brasil.

O problema foi detectado somente após a ocorrência de um acidente no mês de agosto deste ano que causou a morte de quatro pessoas da mesma família, que estavam a bordo de um Lexus ES350 2009 na Califórnia.

O acidente poderia ter passado desapercebido, mas uma ligação para o número de emergências feita por um ocupante do veículo antes do acidente informava que o acelerador estava travado e a velocidade já passava de 190 km/h.

Modelos comercializados nos EUA envolvidos no Recall:

Toyota Camry 2007 – 2010
Toyota Avalon 2005 – 2010
Toyota Prius 2004 – 2009
Toyota Tacoma 2005 – 2010
Toyota Tundra 2007 – 2010
Lexus ES350 2007 – 2010
Lexus IS250 e IS350 2006 – 2010

Como medida preventiva, a Toyota está aconselhando aos proprietários dos carros afetados que retirem o tapete do motorista enquanto o problema não é resolvido.

A Toyota do Brasil, através de sua assessoria de imprensa, informou que ainda não tem informações sobre o recall norte-americano. A marca também informa que Camry vendido no Brasil é importado do Japão, e que por isso, tem algumas diferenças em relação ao modelo norte-americano.

Este recall também serve como alerta para os proprietários de modelos de outras marcas. Utilizar um jogo de tapetes que não são específicos (dimensões) para o seu carro e ficam soltos, podem, não necessariamente travar o acelerador, mas atrapalhar o acesso aos pedais (como o de freio, por exemplo).

Fonte

Vídeo: Toyota Prius III

Ainda não se tem muitas informações sobre o Toyota Prius III. Mas neste vídeo promocional da para se ter uma ideia de como ele será. O vídeo traz ele em movimento e na sequência uma seleção de imagens com todos os detalhes.

AC Schnitzer tuned Toyota Innova 2.0G VVTi

Spotted at a small town - down south of Kuala Lumpur - is an AC Schnitzer "tuned" Toyota Innova 2.0G. Sporting lowered coilovers, reinforced chassis, strut bars, thicker anti-roll bars, AC alloys with semi-slicks (?) and full works bodykit, this sleek and sporty Toyota people-carrier (MPV) must be sporting a remapped ECU, cold air intake et al. Possibly pushing close to 225bhp and 215Nm, in naturally aspirated form, with all its RWD glory?!?

Eat your heart out, upcoming UMWT's TRD Vios!!!

Recall da Toyota Hilux

A Toyota está convocando os proprietários dos modelos Hilux e Hilux SW4, fabricados entre janeiro de 2006 e maio de 2008 para um recall. O objetivo é a verificação do aperto de uma porca no sistema de suspensão dianteira e, caso necessário, sua eventual susbstituição.

Segundo a fabricante, houve uma desconformidade no processo de aperto da porca, que fixa o conjunto de articulação da barra estabilizadora da suspensão dianteira. Isso provoca o risco de soltura espontânea que, caso ocorra com o veículo em movimento, traz risco de acidente.

Abaixo, a relação dos números de chassi envolvidos:

Hilux 4x2
8AJCR32G060002871 até 8AJCR32GX80007966
8AJER32G064005500 até 8AJER32GX84023473
8AJEZ32G061001089 até 8AJEZ32GX81003984
8AJEZ39G062503486 até 8AJEZ39GX82515471

Hilux 4x4
8AJFZ29G066016764 até 8AJFZ29GX86060936
8AJFZ22G065001844 até 8AJFZ22GX85008660
8AJFR22G064506594 até 8AJFR22GX84529125
8AJDR22G064002313 até 8AJDR22GX84008395

Hilux SW4 4x4
8AJYZ59G063003217 até 8AJYZ59GX83027172

Para outras informações, a Toyota disponibiliza o seu telefone de atendimento ao cliente: 0800 703 02 06

Showdown: 2009 Honda City or Toyota Belta (Vios) facelift?

With the all-new Honda City coming to Malaysia before 2008 comes to a wrap, this new B-segment sedan is set to entice present City owners to 'upgrade'. Perhaps some of the previous generation Toyota Vios owners as well?

Have your pick...

Click on all images to enlarge



Dashboards and frontal interiors:




Rear three-quarter angle views:

Nova fábrica da Toyota em Sorocaba

A segunda fábrica da Toyota no Brasil, cuja operação deve começar em 2010, produzindo um modelo compacto, deve ser instalada em Sorocaba, interior do estado de São Paulo. A informação é do jornal O Estado de São Paulo, em sua edição desta quarta-feira, dia 9 de julho.

Ainda segundo a reportagem, o anúncio oficial será feito na próxima terça-feira, dia 15, após uma extensa avaliação por parte da diretoria da fabricante japonesa. Cidades em dez estados, com potencial para a instalação da planta, teriam sido avaliadas nas últimas semanas.

Estima-se que o investimento na nova unidade será de aproximadamente 1 bilhão de dólares. A unidade de Indaiatuba, também no interior de São Paulo, é responsável atualmente pela produção do sedã Corolla e da perua Fielder.

Por Marcio Ishikawa

Fonte

All-new Corolla Altis in Toyota showrooms now

By Dr Long

The 10th generation Toyota Corolla has been revealed to the media today. You will no doubt get very comprehensive press releases from other online sources - websites and blogs - later tonight. For a change, here is a pictorial summary based on a showroom 'sneak' preview of the all-new Toyota Corolla Altis 1.8E. Please click on all images for larger view.

Front end is more promising than the Japanese market Corolla Axio. Note fog lamp housing/cut-out resembling new Lexus IS250. Alloys design pinched from Lexus. 16" Michelin MXV8 standard for 1.8 and 15" for 1.6.

Dash design and two-tone theme takes the safe non-opinion splitting route. Soft touch materials on top of dash top and door trim commendable. Dual SRS Airbags standard for all models. Rack assistance is electric powered now.
Proven and economical 4-pot carried over from last Altis 1.8. Max power/torque of 132ps @ 6000rpm/170Nm @ 4200rpm.

One of the best angle of the new 10th generation Corolla, imported (CBU) form Thailand this time around. Large centric T-badge carries much weight to many die-hard fans.

Things starting to look a little jaded (deja-vu) starting from here.

Sideline is very familiar though upon closer look has convex-concave surfacing especially at shoulder line of front door. Window frames appeared to be recycled as well. Wheelbase at 2600mm (and platform) same as previous Corolla Altis.
Two tiered glovebox for more storage options.
Gated gear lever with manual shifting (+/-) options. Retains 4A/T of predecessor for both 1.6 and 1.8. Climate control A/C only for 1.8 model.

Capacious boot with moulded luggage tray as standard.

Rear headlamps also mimics the IS250 wrapround kink at lateral aspects. Overall rear profile still imparts much sense of deja-vu. New model has larger presence now and design appears more convincing in the metal.

Confirmed prices for the 10th generation Corolla Altis are (on-the-road with insurance):

1.6E: RM102,900

1.8E: RM109,900

1.8E Sporty: RM112,250

1.8G: RM117,900

1.8G Sporty: RM120,250

Note: Sporty spec denotes additional bodykit and bootlip spoiler.

*Kindly cantact Peter Ho for more information, test drive appointment and booking: 012-3909688 (Peninsular Malaysia only)

Related posts:

http://for-wheels.blogspot.com/2008/03/2008-all-new-toyota-corolla-altis.html

http://for-wheels.blogspot.com/2008/02/2008-toyota-altis-on-sale-in-thailand.html

http://for-wheels.blogspot.com/2007/06/2007-all-new-toyota-corolla-sedan.html

2008 All-New Toyota Corolla Altis: Indicative pricings ahead of launch

Admittedly in media teaser ads to be due March 14th 2008 in all of UMW Toyota (and authorised dealers') showrooms, here are the estimated prices of the new all-new Corolla Altis:

1.6E : RM102,900

1.8E : RM109,900

1.8G : RM117,900

Related posts:

http://for-wheels.blogspot.com/2008/02/2008-toyota-altis-on-sale-in-thailand.html

http://for-wheels.blogspot.com/2007/06/2007-all-new-toyota-corolla-sedan.html

2008 Toyota Crown and new Crown Hybrid in Japan

Toyota’s flagship Crown luxury sedan has undergone a makeover for 2008/09, with the large size executive saloon being offered with Toyota’s famed 'Hybrid Synergy Drive' from May 2008 onwards in Japan.

The petrol-driven Crown Royal series are available in 3.0L V6 and 2.5L V6 forms, while the ‘sportier’ Crown Athlete series are powered by a 2.5 V6 or a top-range 3.5L V6. All petrol engines are mated to an electronically-controlled (super-ECT), 6-speed automatic transmission.

Meanwhile, the new Crown Hybrid is equipped with a 3.5L V6 married to a high performance electric motor. Toyota claims that this RWD luxury limo is able to give the driving performance of a 4.5L saloon with the frugal fuel consumption of a 2.0L sedan!