BMW i8

BMW i8

I bet you have seen the movie the fast and furious and Tron, because if you`re not, you`re not a fan of cars and tech, and you shouldn`t be bothering reading this blog. if you are, then imagine swapping one vehicle in both of the movie. Light cycle in a scene where the car evades the cop? I bet the vehicle just so stand out, I bet the police let them go first and wait for a call if anyone saw a vehicle that seems like a space ship. The heavy nissan GTR in light cycle match? well, the whole track is made out of glass apparently, good luck with the launch control.  If there is a bridge that can connect the best of both world, that would be this one; BMW i8.

well most of the time, before writing about cars, I would make some research first; the previous generation,design and power-train altogether combined.for the i8, it's just way too impossible. It's like describing the first generation of iPad, where there is no ancestor of it to make a reference. this car had just created a whole new class in a whole new level, ventured deeply into uncharted territories.

is this car, by any mean, comparable to any other standard model? lets try with the exotic Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren first, as both have door that opens in a really swag-manner. the merc have V8-punching piston, while the i8 shy away with its 3 inline pistons . Even BMW mini have a punching power more than the i8, but the latter can make a 0-60 sprint in about 3 - 4 seconds, twice as much needed for the cooper. the car literally just shying away for the big old monstrous engine and adapt new technologies in its construction process.

this is what the guys in Leipzig, Germany call 'BMW Concept Vision Efficient Dynamics'. I'm not sure if they speak english. In a more simpler term, it is called Hybrid. Super advance hybrid, as there are certain things that is not available in the standard Prius. 

EXTERIOR

We'll get to that later, but first, we'll start with it's most outrageous-Wow factor, which is exterior design. try stand in front of it, I bet you wouldn't shut your eyes for more than a minute.The v shaped front hood seems to be well integrated with the whole body structure. Well they don't want people to see its pony sized electric motor anyway. lower your a sight a bit, and you'll see the recgonizable twin hexagonal grille and a whole lot of  interconnected lines and curves making up those front grille and bumper. I gotta say, in my eyes the front bumper does looks like the spartan head shield. adding the final touch is definitely the headlight, matrix led light with thick accent of eyeliner underneath. 

if there is no BMW batch on the hood nor the wheel, I bet people would think that this car is made by aliens. Some bunch of aliens that had graduated from arts and engineering school. I bet those aliens just wanna keep the car as dope as it can, if not they wouldn’t bother making this grand door structure on the A pillar that split the differences between scissor and gull-wing door. I’m interested to know how would the car perform parking in a tight space at the grocery store.

students from engineering that had studied aerodynamic engineering would quickly recognize the reason behind all of this car structure, especially the v shaped clearance structure at the back of the car. some would relate it with Ferrari F12 Berlinetta which has the hollow intake and bridge structure at the front, reducing drag co efficiency(Cd), slippery up to 0.26.and the rear structure does looks as equally awesome as the front too, as the rear light resemble much of the front accent eyeline. Above all, I’d say the i8 is built for more of a social experience rather than getting you from A to B. try getting this car into gas station without attracting much attention. Even the police would stop you by to take some photos. 

INTERIOR

in the BMW ‘i’ model line up, there’s only the i3 and this i8. the i3 looks similar with the i3, and it goes the same too with the construction process. the car structure is made out of CFRP, that stands for Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic. It’s the same material you would find in Airbus A350 XWB and lamborghini sesto element. Aluminum becomes out of date these days. its easy to recognize the material,a dark rubber like structure with thin white lines visible at the door seals. 

its basically a feel a bit of gymnastic to climb in out of the car. its partly because the i8 is so lowered to the ground, but its also because of the white tall sill at the bottom and open door at the top. you kinda have to put one leg in, sit on the sill and scooch over and pull the other leg in if you wanna drop into your fancy ride without looking like a fool. on the way out, you have to remember to reverse the process or otherwise you’ll end up with the hand on the pavements when flopping out of the car. rear passenger seat is quite small, you can fit in a child or two, and that’s it. 

entering the cockpit the thin blue colored seatbelt will catch your attention first. I mean like come on, it’s a future generation car, I’m sure they wanna change everything, till the last possible bit. the central cluster and drive selector looks very much the same with the i3. but instead of its drive selector which is located at the paddle shifter, for i8 it is properly located at the center. compared to its little brother i3, the i8’s interior looks more like a proper sports car, but with a blend of future tech. apart from this, it’s also equipped with navi screen which serves a BMW iConnectedDrive. everything from the weather,news ,making calls and car’s health right in front of the screen. plus there’s an app to monitor the car too. Now that’s something you won’t find in a typical Hybrid.

PERFORMANCE

Its quite rare to find a MR (middle-engine-rear-drive) vehicle these day. the i8 engine twin power turbo 1.5 liter 3 cylinder engine with 231 hp peak performance combined with 131 hp worth of electric motor. that should enough to propel the car in 0-60 test for about  4 seconds. its definitely not the fastest car they ever produced, but it’s pretty awesome considering how small the engine is, combined with its electric drive system. Oh, and not to forget regenerative braking system which had become pretty common in hybrid car nowadays. there are 3 available driving mode; COMFORT, ECO PRO and SPORT. the comfort mode lets you drive all electric while sport mode unleash the soaring sound of the engine. the engine sound is channeled directly to the passenger compartment for a better driving experience, more like lexus LFA which has the yamaha guys tuned the engine sound for them.

VERDICT

Yes, the i8 is the most outrageous design I’ve ever seen, and that should create a high demand for it. But no matter how good a car is, it would be useless at the end of a test drive if you have the right amount of money. And for this one, it starts at ..(drumroll)RM 470,000 and upwards. Even if you have the money, it’s definitely worth to wait a while for charging facilities to become available in your town before buying one.

Mercedes Benz CLA class

You see, people likes to relates things with something. 'Japan'? A modern and hi-tech country. That, is how I perceive the auto maker. For me, the brand BMW just screams 'youth, wild, and rich' all in one go. Buy a decent BMW 318i , tune up a bit, and it still does looks badass. You can go even backward, buy an older version of 5 series, tune it up, and believe me, it still does look badass. Wanna go more badass? You can just buy BMW S1000RR superbike, tell your friend you bought a BMW and laugh when your friend ask 'how much does the car cost' .On the other side of it is, oh well…Mercedes Benz. 'The uncle's car'. Rich, but already old. Cheaper version of Rolls Royce, where luxury appeal is the only thing that matters. Any attempt to tune up older version of Benz is like trying to force old folks to to play rugby. Even to set up a complete team is far from possible, and even if it does, the possibility of winning any match is miles distant away. Every time I see a Merc on the road I just go 'meh'.

Well.I've been enjoying myself writing about car recently, so why not give Mercedes chance? And that's how I came up with the CLA class. Be reminded that this IS the only model that appeals to me, while other models does not, AT ALL. If Merc is owning shoes brand, other line up will most probably be Armani or Prada, while for CLA class, it will be Converse.

Why? Lets start with the looks. Okay, lets say you're in the middle of a quiz. The instructor give you a bunch of cards with photo of cars, and he want you to group together photos of cars that looks 'sporty'. You've collected BMW M4 series, lexus RC350 so far, and all of a sudden you see a card of the CLA. Well, since there aren't any other photos of car that looks sporty, and although Merc brand doesn't really resonate to the sporty end, you pick the card anyway. Because that's what it is designed for, to lure young buyers to move up to their brand.

At the front, you'll see this massive bonnet hood with bulging  parallel line that looks more like the bodybuilder's muscle veins in flex. This time they just use the emblem instead of the standard hood ornament, and another big circular 3 point star at the front of the grille. And the dotted shaped grille, in my eyes, is absolutely, stunningly, gorgeous. The 3 separated wedged shaped air intake just add charm to its look. And the light is made up of matrix LED, with eyebrow that flashes into turning signal.  While the front really looks aggressive, the back end, with stylized rear light and curved hood looks more like a fashion statement. It is as if the Ford Mustang engineer had their hands designing the front, while they let Jimmy Choo handle the rear. Or maybe Jimmy designed the grille, too. Viewing the front from the side, its as if someone had cut off the remaining reclining shape. Refer to the Saber fighter jet's nose.

Getting in aboard, there are no such thing as luxury insufficient.  Your eyes will be attracted to the big Merc logo on the steering wheel, and it starts to flow to other instruments and panel. You'll get the decent speedometer and rev counter with smaller fuel and heat indicator in the respective circle. Tesla model S owner would notice something similar with this one, especially the drive selector and seat control button at the door, as it is know that Merc actually supply those to Tesla. While the air cond and button configuration does look well arranged, the Becker®LCD monitor panel just look like someone bought carozzeria navi panel and use 3M to stick it right.. there. With a size of 8.5 inch, it looks very much isolated, try see LCD panel in BMW i8 , you'll get what I mean.

 

Comfort wise, the front row does looks and feel spacious. A person of 170cm tall like wouldn't have any problem at all driving in a long distance with this. But the rear seat just feel cranked and squeezed up. It's easy to get your head rubbed by the roof sometimes. Merc guys maybe thinking people who bought their cars likes to read, so they have a separated rear reading light attached. While I thought most who sits at the back sleep most of the time.

The second major reason I choose this model is what lies in the engine room. Get this folks; an inline, 4 cylinder, inter-cooled turbo premium 2 liter 208 horsepower engine. Yup, 4 cylinders. That's something you wouldn't have in a typical Merc,

 

, but they did it anyway. Since its an I-4,  transversely mounted , saves in transmission friction when you already have the crankshaft in the same line as the drive shafts. Reminds me of the good old MINI. By default it's in FF configuration, but you can have the optional 4MATIC® all-wheel drive system for better stability.

Most recent germany car nowadays are equipped with idling stop function, and this one is also included. Transmission is more of a 7 speed dual clutch transmission, that gives ample torque configuration in any given speed. Plus a pair of paddles strategically positioned behind the upper steering-wheel spokes allows you to manually upshift and downshift the 7-speed DCT transmission with just a flick of your fingers. There you go, luxuriness overload.

Since it's a 4cyliner, I'm not sure if you're exited about how fast this CLA goes in 0-60. Ok, for about 6.7 seconds. For comparison, Tesla Model S goes in about 4.Urm.. I think its not fair to compare with the battery-powered zombie. Its quite hard to say that this sporty look sedan have the power of Ford Focus or Honda Civic. And if you want the best of both world, CLA 45 AMG version option is always on the table. But before that, bear in mind that the even the fuel consumption of the standard one is 8.4 km per liter.

Remember what I mentioned about the engine? The small size of it does partly contribute to the overall price of this model, as it is the most affordable sedan ever available. The most basic one cost around 3 million yen and upward. If you want the looks of a sporty looking merc sedan without sacrificing too much money, this is the one to go with.

Mini crossover clean diesel

Mini crossover clean diesel

 The mini! In my eyes it's the brand that best reflect youth, cute,fresh  and energetic personalities. If driving a lambo will help you attract beautiful woman, driving mini will help you attract cute young,cute  girl. Don't drive this one, old, grumpy man. Any way,the crossover clean diesel is the 6th car that I've test driven so far, and as always, the brand live up to its reputation.

I choose the crossover more because of the powertrain other than anything else. Wel'l get to that later, but first, lets talk about appearance.

The looks

 

While most other model line up looks cute, crossover have more masculinity blend in its appearance. Note the shape of the headlight, which swells out above the body line. The best way to looks the car maybe from its side, where you can see the whole car's dimension which resembles more of a SUV.

It's a no surprise to notice that the crossover's size have increases in millimeters more. It has a length of 4105mm , 400 mm longer and a width of 1790mm, 100mm longer than the standard one. Bigger mini, bigger space.

Check out the side signal light which looks like a glow stick with the stripe accent. While  other have interchangeable signal accent, which can be changed with other design, crossover have a fixed one, so be sure about choosing the color. What's interchangeable is the side mirror cover , which comes with tons of options.

The interior

 The interior haven't changed much with the standard model. Keyless slot underneath with push start button, rev counter at the counter and speedo at the dashboard. It uses more round shape as the mini visible trademark, as the hexagonal shape in Lamborghini .Monitor navi screen come as an option, but I strongly suggest you  take as it's really a necessity to use navi when you live in intergalactic, super pack crowded area like Tokyo as it is really unforgiving if you miss the turn. Oh, and did I told you the handbrake looks more like a paper cutter's lever?

You pay more for the crossover for reasons. Obviously space is one of it. This one comes with 4 doors, with the rear seat have the standard space as any other sedan, means a 6 feet adult can fit in perfectly in the seat or you can put in the baby seat.to be precise, the front and rear seat have a 40.4 in and 33.8 in leg room. The bonnet has a 44.2 cubic feet of space, so unless you're stuff in your surfboard which you need to fold the rear seat, a standard medium size luggage shouldn't be a problem. It took a while to figure out how to open the rear gate, when actually you need to push on the emblem to open. 17 or 18 inch worth of tires should fit perfectly for those crossover's shoes.

The Muscle

I don't have any experience whatsoever driving neither truck nor lorry, but I know very well the sound of that engine. That loud, violent thumping of the piston usually followed by chunks of smoke.  And the engine in this one have the same pitch too. The difference is that they've figured out how to reduce the volume, so you'll know you're not driving a lorry. But you'll have torque as the lorry, as the diesel engine squeeze 270Nm at 1500-2500rpm, and 305Nm at 1750-2700rpm for D and SD model respectively. For comparison the gasoline only produce 160Nm torque at 4250rpm, so with the diesel engine a little push on the gas would translate faster acceleration. The engine is actually a BMW N47 used in BMW 1 series, 2.0L  inline 4 cylinder engine, with average fuel consumption of 15km per liter. A full tank can get you from Tokyo to Aomori in one go. Apart from the engine there isn't much change on the transmission, so you'll get either the 6 speed auto or 6 speed manual transmission.

Audi brand experience

Audi brand experience

2014年10月30日木曜日

6:47

'Vorsprung durch technick'. I'm not sure what that means, maybe it's the English equivalent of ' I love you in ' in German. Maybe not you, but automobiles cars.

I'm lucky enough to check my mailbox when Audi make sent me an invitation for the Audi brand experience event at Audi Ikebukro. It's only a half day event, but nevertheless, the tentative was full packed with presentation about the brand itself, safety driving instruction and test drive on the new model of RS5 and A6.

Though I tend to be a BMW enthusiast, I don't limit my option there as I love cars, beautiful looking car (only). And Audi seems to fit in the Boolean diagram, so this time I'm gonna explain a bit about Audi.

It all started with a person called August Horch. In 1899, 13 years after the birth of combustion engine,he established an automobile company called Horch. In 1909, he then made another car company, specializing in luxury vehicle. He can't use the name Horch again, so he choose to use latin synonym of the word horch(which mean listen in germany), which is 'audi'. Now you know.

The 4 rings on the grille actually has its own underlying meaning. Horch began persuade other company to join and form a union. DKW, auto bike specialist, and Wanderer which happen to start its business as a bicycle repair shop join forces and formed a new company called Auto Union. Fast forward, the name audi replaces Auto union,and became the well known auto manufacturer today. Since 1966 Audi was owned by Volkswagen Group, so there are some similarities you would find with volkswagen in terms of technology.

In 1983, audi founded a whole new subsidiary, quattro GmbH. The name quattro itself actually came from the  It's the equivalent of TRD of Toyota and Nismo of Nissan, specializing in high performance luxury vehicle, with its core product include Audi RS4, RS6 and R8, and this one too is part of volkswagen group.

While other auto maker have their own complex and hard way of representing their model line-up, Audi has a way much more simpler method. Most of their models(excluding TT, and Q) came with alphabet, followed by numbers.

The pyramid represents roughly the ratio volume of the model produced. Any model that starts with A,S or RS is the core model, with the high end RS model is a relatively low production, high performance car. Anything outside the pyramid would be the limited production vehicle, with R8 as the flagship model in terms of performance, TT as its little brother, and Q as the SUV. Bear in mind that the line and area colored orange is actually made by quattro, in other words the subsidiary produce only high performance version. See? I told you its easy to understand Audi's lineup.

Though different in terms of performance, all recent Audi models share the same DNA in terms of looks and configuration.  Here I have these photo of Audi RS5 cabriolet.

Even without the 4 rings, Its easy to recognize that its made by Audi. What's really stand out in this model is the shape of the headlight. That's just looks so muscular, angry and serious at the same time, you wouldn't even dare to scratch the car even a tiny bit. And of course, the signature reverse trapezoid grille, which just add up perfectly with the chrome coated 4 circles.

Yes, I'm really attracted to how the car looks either in exterior and interior. But somehow , the looks doesn't appeal too much for me to consider buying one(if I have the right amount of cash).  The looks just seems to be too formal, for me its resemble much of the corporate looks. Try drive this one at a drive-through,  and someone will give you a glare like ' he should have enough money to go to a 5-star restaurant'. Maybe after I'll be a CEO of a company, then I'll consider buying one.

There's so much thing I wanna write about Audi's tech, especially quattro, e-tron and TFSI cylinder on demand. But lets just keep it simple here, as I'll post another more detailed article next time.