Sunday, November 15, 2009

New Picanto - Car for the Girly Girl

Most women are not as aggressive as men when it comes to driving. So, they don't need high-powered cars that can scorch the roads with smoky wheel-spins or burn-outs. Instead, what they need are cars that look stylish.

Enter the new Picanto. This girly girl car is surprisingly good looking for something so simple.
It isn't the flashiest of cars, but it's endearing. It has just the right bling-blings that tell you this is a modern car.

Check out the stylish headlights. Unlike the old Picanto, the new Picanto's roundish headlights really bring out the cuteness in the car - the sort that tells you this is a girl's car.

At the same time, the headlights look contemporary and that's important.

The same goes for the rear lights - nothing aggressive but contemporary looking nonetheless.

The side view mirrors are equipped with indicator lights.

The front grill and the bumper grimace make the car look sporty.

But most important in the style department, the new Picanto comes with 15-inch rims option. Yes, this is important because a car can have the best looks, but mate it with the wrong size rims and it'll look damn fugly.

Similarly, the interior looks contemporary, especially the ember-lit metre cluster, centre console and auto gear shift area. This too is important because you spend most of your time in your car, and if its interior doesn't exude 'coolness', then you're not going to be enjoying yourself very much.

However, there is something rather important missing - anti-brake lock system (ABS). In the practicality department, ABS ranks very high, if not the highest, because it helps you stay in control of your car in emergency braking situations.

But then, girly girls don’t drive very fast anyway. So, they’d rarely encounter situations that require aggressive braking.

Having said that, the new Picanto can reach up to 144 km/h. Put an angry or tearful girly girl behind the wheel and… well, pray that nothing bad happens to her.

For more information, especially technical specs, visit http://www.nazakia.com.my/












Monday, November 9, 2009

How Sad - No PCD 108 for My Focus and No Lowering Coils

After work today, I thought I could indulge in some retail therapy as a way to blow off steam and focus my attention and energy on something other than work and on something I like doing - making my car better. Unfortunately, the 18-inch rims that I selected wouldn't fit my car and the lowering coils I wanted weren't available. Sigh!
The Eneos Bukit Tinggi mechanics had already taken off the old 17-inch rims to fit the new 18-inch ones. But since the 18-inch rims were not PCD108, they just wouldn't come on.
Dang! I forgot all about the stupid PCD108 requirement (which is the length between each wheel nut). While finding PCD108 rims would not have been a problem in Europe, here in Malaysia where Jap cars rule supreme, PCD108 is like something from another world.
Yeah, I can get Volvo rims if I look hard enough in Sunway, but I'd have to go to Sunway and deal with people whom I've never dealt with, and I'd probably get cheated as a result. Of course, I haven't tried it and, so, I can't say for sure.
Still, the prospect of going to over-crowded Sunway to look for sport rims at tyre shops I'm unfamiliar with isn't enticing.
As for the lowering coils, Eneos didn't carry anything compatible with my Focus.
Next time I buy a car, I'm going to make damn sure that its upgrade path is not as difficult as the Ford's.
Meanwhile, I'll just have to wallow in my sadness...
:(