My Nissan Livina Geniss - Strut Brace and Lower Tie Bars

One of my biggest complaints about the Nissan is that in the designing of the car, Nissan seems to have concentrated on trying to bring in as many MPV features into the car that they even brought in the wallow and soft suspension from the larger form factor MPV into this small car too. As a result, bone stock, the Nissan Livina Geniss rocks like a boat being tossed about in a tidal wave as soon as you hit a bump. Even a small one. In speed bump happy China, this made for an extremely bouncy ride which I personally dislike intensely. If I wanted a bouncy ride, I might as well take public transport.

This meant I had to retune the suspension completely. The first part I did was to brace up the chassis to reduce the body roll from bumps and corners. This is done by the addition of a strut brace that holds the two front shock absorbers together under the bonnet. At the time when I made this change, the Nissan Livina Geniss was so new that no parts were available at all. Fortunately, some experimentation found that the Nissan Sylphy (Blue Bird) also had the same dimensions and the aluminium alloy strut brace made for the Slyphy fitted my Livina Geniss perfectly. Hallelujah for platform sharing. Upon fitting the strut brace, the car's handling improved dramatically. Cornering was noticeably flatter than before and the car handled the bumps better by holding firm.



However, I was not finished. I found with the help of some helpful friends, that a Hong Kong company was open to producing the lower tie bars for my Nissan Livina Geniss if there was enough pre-orders for them to kick off production. Happily, I placed my order and waited. The aluminium alloy lower tie bars came in a pair and were installed beneath the car. One slightly up front behind the front axle and the second slightly ahead of the rear axle.






Sorry about the car being a little dirty underneath. These pictures were taken after the modifications were run for more than 20,000 km. The addition of the lower tie bars added a little bit more stability to the car although the effect was less marked compared to the initial addition of the strut braces. The cornering became slightly sharper and the body roll became virtually non-existant. The Nissan's handling and precision of steering was a complete change from the original stock condition.

The lower tie bars and strut brace, paired up with a change in shock absorbers and springs, made the Nissan Livina Geniss a joy to drive in city traffic, especially if you love to weave in and out.
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Fried Spicy Crab @ Thirty Three Rooms 三十三间堂

One of the most popular Sichuan cuisine dishes around is fried spicy crab (香辣蟹). Thirty Three Rooms Restaurant (三十三间堂) is one of the more popular restaurants in Shenzhen China that specializes in fried spicy crab and the restaurant does it with their own particular style and taste.

When I settled down on the table to order your food, the first thing I ordered was the crab. There are usually two kinds of crab. First, the normal crab which is usually puny in size, about two to three inches across the shell. Then there is the Bangladesh king crab (孟加拉蟹王) which is the bigger crab, spanning four to five inches across the shell. Pictured below is the basket at the front of the restaurants containing the Bangladesh king crabs from which I selected a larger specimen weighing a kilogram.



The fried spicy crab (香辣蟹) arrived in a black iron pot that is about a foot in diameter. As part of a promotion incentive from the restaurant, an additional pound of shrimp was also added to the dish free of charge. The crab is cooked in a mix of chili, peppercorn, plenty of onions, peanuts, ginger and other Sichuan spices. The result is a potent mixture of spicy and fragrant food, along with the occasional numbness if you accidentally chewed a peppercorn by mistake. You have to be very careful in eating the food as first time attempts at chewing peppercorn usually ends up with swollen lips and tongue. If you ever try this dish, do make sure you pick out the bits of onion as the natural sweetness of the onion, fused with the spicy oil, makes an excellent topping to go with your white rice.



In addition to the spicy fried crab, we ordered the pork with taro (香芋扣肉). The pork is sinfully fat but excellent and from the picture, you cannot see the taro which is underneath the layer of pork. The combination is tasty but a bit heavy going.



The fried bamboo shoots (香箭脆笋) was pretty well done. The bamboo shoots were well selected as they were tender and crisp.



Finally, we ordered the goose gizzard fried with yellow peppers (黄椒炒鹅胗). I found this dish to be a tad bit too greasy and the gizzard was leaning towards tough. The thing with gizzard is that you need to put in the appropriate amount of cooking time into the dish or the gizzard will be tough on your jaw muscles. Chewing the goose gizzard was heavier going than a high impact aerobic exercise for the jaws. The chef clearly did not put the cooking time needed to tenderize the gizzard and this ruined an otherwise excellent dish.



In all, other than the house special fried spicy crab, the rest of the food was average or above average and I would highly recommend going there just for the crab and minimizing the rest of the food you order.

The address:
Thirty Three Rooms Crab Restaurant, Second floor, Donghai Plaza, Nongyuan Road, Futian District, Shenzhen 三十三间堂 深圳福田农园路东海购物广场二楼
Getting there using my Shenzhen Food Map



Other Sichuan restaurants reviewed:
Xianguomen Sichuan Restaurant 香锅门川菜馆
Another Village in Bashu Sichuan Restaurant 巴蜀又一村川菜馆
Baguobuyi Sichuan Restaurant 巴国布衣川菜馆
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Unification Wars articles moved

I've moved all the Unification Wars articles to a separate blog for ease of management. Please go to Tinker's Web Games for Unification Wars articles. In the process of manually moving the articles, I have also done some re-editing on the articles and update them where it seemed appropriate. Read more...

Another Stab at Photography

I tried out taking some photographs using the Panasonic DMC-TZ15 in an attempt to rid this blog of the dismal photography and here's the results.



Well... a tad bit better but still a long way off from my gold standards. I look to masak-masak, Chubby Hubby and Eating Asia as my role models.

Now to figure out how to get that effect where the background is blurred off. Read more...

I need to improve on my photography

When I started this blog, it was a casual record of the places I have gone to and the food that I have had the fortune to sample. My first "camera" was a part time one - my trusty Nokia e71 which has a 3.2 mega pixel camera. Unfortunately, as you can see from the results below, it does have several limitations.



After a few more attempts of photography ended up with blurry photos, I swapped over to the Panasonic D-Snap SV-AS10 which is an excellent compact camera which could fit on my pocket quite handily. This gave me mixed results. But I reckon its more to do with my pathetic photography skills than with the camera. Although, again, given the poor light conditions in most restaurants I patronize, the Panasonic D-Snap is being challenged a fair bit too.

So the bad carpenter goes off to find a new tool to blame. And this time, I am armed with a Panasonic DMC-TZ15. Let's see how this works out. Read more...

Hunan Food @ Penpenxiang 盆盆湘湘菜馆

I was passing by the area looking for a place to eat when I noticed a new addition to the Nanshan Road neighbourhood. Being ever curious, I decided we should pop in and try out the food. When we arrived, there was only one table having a meal and after settling down, over the course of the meal, I discovered that was actually the restaurant owners eating and posing as guests. The restaurant was that new! Excellent! I always love going to newly opened restaurants. I have a theory that a restaurant is at its best when it first opens and is anxious to please and attract a group of regular diners. Portions and taste, during this honeymoon period, is at the most generous and of the highest standard. This honeymoon period usually lasts between one to three months after which, once the restaurant has garnered a steady stream of regular diners, the quality of the food starts going downhill rapidly.

The first to arrive was the restaurant's stir-fried garlic chives and black fungus (韭菜木耳). The black fungus was sliced into strips and garlic chives appear to have been brought in daily from Hunan directly as the taste was slightly different from the garlic chives that are available from Guangdong. The freshness of the chives combined with decent quality fungus made this dish particularly good. This in my mind is a perfectly done dish where the chef merely brings out the freshness and the taste of the ingredients but does not smother the food with spices.



The next dish was fried bamboo shoots and pork slices (竹笋肉片). This too is another dish that depends heavily on the freshness of the ingredients than the actual seasonings. In this case, the chef passed with flying colours having picked the bamboo shoots that were tender, sweet and crisp. Once you have the right ingredients, it is up to the chef not to mess it up. And mess it up, he certainly did not. An excellent dish that was polished up in minutes.



The honghu lotus rhizome soup (洪湖莲藕汤) arrived later. Unlike Cantonese cuisine or Western cuisine where the soup normally has to show up early, Hunan food does not appear to have any specific order for soup. The soup was one of the best I have had in a long time. The lotus rhizome was crisp and sweet and the soup was rich to taste and one could keep drinking bowl after bowl of it and not get tired.



Finally, I ordered the classic Hunan dish, fish head with chopped chili (剁椒鱼头) which is in my mind, the acid test for a Hunan restaurant. I would love to say they hit a home run and went four for four. Unfortunately, I could not. The fish was reasonably fresh but somehow I think the chef might have gotten his timing slightly off and the fish came slightly over done. The chilis topping the fish was pretty well done but I would rate this as average. And certainly not a fitting grand finale to the meal which had up to this point been going brilliantly.



In all, it was an excellent meal. I will certainly come back to this restaurant and try more of their foods in short time and I would be happy to do repeats of all except for the fish.

The address:
Penpenxiang, Nanhai Building, Nanshan Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 盆盆湘 深圳南山南山大道南海大厦
Google Map Directions



UPDATE: More Hunan food at Penpenxiang.
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MPV Search - Kia Carnival

The Kia Carnival, manufactured at the Dongfeng Yueda Kia joint venture facility, is one of the challengers to Buick's domination of the business class MPV segment. However, I think they have to some extent lost their way. Make no mistake, the car that Kia built is brilliant and a very good MPV offering top notch features for a very competitive prize. However, it is clear that Kia has fallen by the wayside in terms of the quality of their dealerships. I went to three different dealerships and only one had the Kia Carnival on display in their showroom. And that was the dealership at Lianhe Huapeng Car Market (联合华鹏汽车广场) along Shennan Road. No wonder they could not crack the market and only posted average to below average sales for what appears to be a strong and competitive product in a market with strong sales.

A look at the car reveals a standard sized MPV for its class with pretty standard specifications.

Engine: 2.7l V6
Power: 169Kw @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 238 Nm @ 4000 rpm
Top Speed: 180 Km/h
Gas consumption: 7.69L/100km at 90km/h constant speed
Gas tank: 75l
Dimensions: 4930mm long x 1895mm wide x 1760mm high

At the showroom, the car belies its specifications on paper. Like the Buick GL8, the exterior design of the Kia is conservative and relatively characterless. But in the MPV I am looking for, that is precisely what I want. Nothing flamboyant, nothing that screams out at you, and most certainly nothing that looks anything more than anonymous. So the Kia Carnival meets this criteria.



The interior shows plenty of attention to detail as well. The two captain's chairs in the middle row are firm but comfortable. They offer waist seat belt in both middle row seats to cater to child seats, which is a big plus for me. Seat configuration is flexible as expected of an MPV of this class and both passenger rows may be pushed forwards to maximize luggage space. Unfortunately, electric controlled seats are only available for the driver and front passenger. This, to me, strikes me as a gross oversight since in a business MPV such as the Kia Carnival, the most important person on board is usually on the middle row passenger seat. The front row passenger is at most times merely the most junior member on board and the driver in this case is the least important person on board. As such, the bulk of the refinements and luxury should be aimed squarely at the middle row passengers, then the third row passengers and last and least of all, the front row passenger and the driver. A similarly glaring oversight is again present in the safety air bags. The Kia Carnival has only two airbags for the driver and the front passenger. That seems again counter-intuitive to the positioning of the car as a business MPV. Shouldn't the VIPs in the middle row and back row be more heavily protected? Finally, the final oversight and where Kia has clearly started to cut corners is at the sliding doors. Most busniess class MPVs have electronic sliding doors for the convenience and safety of the passengers. The Kia has normal mechanical doors that need to slided manually. The salesman explained that mechanical doors are better since they do not break down as easily as electronic doors and are therefore better for their customers. Yeah right.

In terms of other amenities, the Kia is well equiped. Cubby holes and storage spaces are plentiful. There are also little hooks at the back of the third row seats to hang and secure grocery bags from a supermarket run. Parking sensors and back-up camera are standard issue as is a DVD entertainment system that plays MP3 as well in the fully loaded TOP model.

All in all, the Kia Carnival looks like a great option with a well designed interior. The few shortcomings that I have pointed out are unfortunately also present in most of the Kia's competitors and unless my budget increases accordingly.

While in the showroom, I also spotted the Kia Grand Carnival VQ which is the imported bigger brother of the Kia Carnival. I made an appointment to test drive both the Kia Carnival as well as the Kia Grand Carnival VQ side by side to make a comparison.
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Japanese Ramen @ Domon Noodles 味幌拉面

Tucked in a corner in the basement of Diwang Building, there is a tiny Japanese restaurant specializing in Japanese noodles. The decor and setting is that of a small traditional diner and the staff speak fluent Japanese. Observing the other customers around me, I noted that most of the tables appear to be occupied by Japanese men coming down from the offices upstairs and judging by the way they converse casually with the staff, they appear to be regulars too. So it seems a very promising prospect that I would find good Japanese food here.

A scan through the menu revealed that their specialty is noodles and for every bowl of noodles you had the choice of regular ramen that are made in China, or for an additional 10 RMB, noodles imported from Sapporo, Japan. They also claim their miso is directly imported from Hokkaido as well. If it lives up to the claims, this could serve up an authentic flavour that is only found in the best Japanese restaurants, and cost loads more for that same bowl of noodles.

I ordered a bowl of roast pork ramen (叉烧拉面) and naturally opted for the noodles imported from Japan. That came to a total of 48 RMB. A princely sum for a bowl of noodles but the damage could be far worse in a top Japanese restaurant. It was instantly apparent that the noodles were worth the extra 10 RMB. Appearance-wise they were a deeper yellow and they taste some how richer, smoother and a lot more springy. Compared with the normal noodles served here, these were night and day if you appreciate good noodles. The soup showed off the restaurant chef's class in that it was fragrant and captured the essence of the sea without the need to sully the soup with the addition of salt or other seasonings. While the roast meat slices or chashao (叉烧) were reasonably portioned, it did feel a tad bit over-cooked, resulting in a meat that was too soft and lacking in texture. Other than that, it was the best bowl of Japanese ramen I have tried in Shenzhen thus far.



Well worth a visit if you love a good bowl of Japanese ramen and are prepared to pay a little more for the pleasure.

The address:
Domon Noodles, Shennan Road, Diwang Building Basement 1, Luohu District, Shenzhen 味幌拉面 深圳罗湖深南路地王大厦负一楼
Google Map Directions


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Roast Goose @ Fat Girl's Roast Meat Restaurant 肥妹烧腊店

Fat Girl's Roast Meat Restaurant is a local restaurant that has grown from strength to strength over the last six years since I first ate at their first restaurant. They have consistently offered great tasty roasts along with generous portions for a reasonable price with a good solid meal available for just 10 RMB. Naturally their prices have risen a little over the years but compared with the prices out there, they offer excellent value for a budget priced meal.

I ordered the roast goose drumstick with rice (烧鹅腿饭) and I was first served with a bowl of soup. Normally, soup at roast meat restaurants are pretty dismal. You expect to see a bowl of boiled water that has been flavoured with some oil and soy sauce. Not this one. The taste of the soup was fragrant and tasty. The soup appears to be made from the bone rack of the roast goose that is left over after chopping up the roast goose for customers. As such, I could taste the goose as well as some of the spices that was stuffed into the goose. An excellent start to the meal and I am ready to eat.



The roast goose drumstick came served and compared to the previous meals at Tai Hing 太兴 and MC Charcoal Goose where I ordered basically the same thing for about the same price, the portions was nearly double of what the other two restaurants served for a comparable price. In terms of taste, the goose meat was excellent. The skin was crisp and the meat underneath was tender and juicy. I thought the only blemish to an excellent dish of roast goose was that the meat was a tad bit salty and it seemed that the chef was a little too generous with the spicing the goose before it was roasted.



I highly recommend this restaurant if you happen to be in the area and fancy a quick and delicious meal that takes a very small bite of your wallet.

The address:
Fat Girl's Roast Meat Restaurant, Yitian Road (next to Shuidu Spa), Futian District, Shenzhen 肥妹烧腊店 深圳福田益田路水都水疗会隔壁
Google Map Directions



Other roast goose restaurants reviewed:
MC Charcoal Goose Restaurant 味宗烧鹅
Tai Hing Roase Goose 太兴烧鹅
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Earthern Pot Noodles @ Xinsheng Changfenwang 新盛肠粉王

Hunan earthern pot noodles (罐罐面) is a popular quick and affordable meal that offers a combination of convenience, speed and great slow cooked taste. A paradox, it seems but the noodles cooked in traditional Chinese soup that has spent hours on a slow boil and laced with a bit of meat or vegetables.

I ordered the beef earthern pot noodles (牛腩罐罐面) for princely sum of 12 RMB and it arrived after a wait of five minutes, it arrived steaming hot. The soup was fragrant and the portion of noodles was enough to fill an average adult. The beef portions was not very generous but in the context of the price of the meal, I reckon I got my money's worth and a satisfied tummy.



In addition to the noodles, the restaurant serves an assortment of set meals and their title dish changfen (肠粉) which is a broad rice noodle rolled into a tube and served with soy sauce and chili. It is sometimes also filled with meats or vegetables inside to provide variety of taste. I will find an opportunity to sample the rest of their food some other time.

The address:
Xinsheng Changfenwang, Kingkey Banner Plaza (at the back facing the village), Baishi Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 新盛肠粉王 深圳南山白石路京基百纳广场后面
Google Map Directions


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Fujian Snacks @ Shaxian Snack Shop 沙县小吃

This is a franchise chain of Fujian Shaxian (福建沙县) snack shops that can be found in virtually all residential neighbourhoods offering cheap and tasty food in a tiny space of usually three square meters or less. Despite the proliferation of shops, they have been remarkably consistent providing a good tasty meal for a low price at almost any time of the day and most of them open twenty four hours and do home delivery too. The difference between this and the more regular food franchises that one encounters is that the franchise operator has found a way to train up their franchisees to prepare their food on-site with a high level of consistency. As a result, the food served is freshly prepared daily.

One of their main specialties is their steamed dumplings or zhengjiao (蒸饺). The dumplings are served with a sauce made from peanuts and sesame seed which add a fine nutty fragrance to the food. You could also opt to add a bit of chilli to the mix to spice it up a little. The dumplings are filled with fresh pork and the portion is generous for the 4 RMB price you pay for what you see below.



The next item ordered is another of the shop's specialties - their deep fried yuntun (云吞) which is another variant of dumplings filled with minced pork. The only difference with the steamed dumplings or zhengjiao is the dumpling skin which is thinner. This is best eaten dipped in chilli oil mixed with vinegar and some soy sauce. A very reasonable serving for 4 RMB as well.



Another highlight is the double boiled soup. This too is prepared fresh daily and in limited quantities. So if you get in late, some of the more popular soup selections get sold out. However, getting in early isn't the best idea as the soup needs time to be cooked to right. I ordered the pig brain soup with the chinese herb tianma (天麻), which frankly is not for everyone, especially if you are squeamish, but is excellent for headaches and . However, the soup is well prepared, tasted great and a huge bargain at 5 RMB.



In all, an excellent meal for a very reasonable price is what you can find here.

The address:
Shaxian Snack Shop, Xihaimingzhu, Nanhai Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 沙县小吃 深圳南山南海大道西海明珠商业街
Google Map Directions


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Driving Impressions

I love to test drive cars and every car leaves its own impression on me, even if it is a brief five minute drive. So I have decided to try and put a bit of structure into my own test drives for comparing various cars and to serve as a future reference for myself and for anyone who may find this useful.

Each driving impression will be structured into several sections:

1. Driver comfort and adjustments. This is about how comfortable the driver can get in this car. How adjustable are the controls to get a good seating position for different drivers. How intuitive the placement of various commonly used controls are for a driver.
2. Visibility from the driver position. This is about how aware you can be of your surroundings and whether there are major blind spots.
   
3. Straight line acceleration. This is about basic power delivery, whether it is smooth and suited to the purpose of the vehicle.
4. Handling of irregular road surfaces and speed humps. This is about how the car handles the normal irregular road surfaces and speed humps that one encounters daily. A note to those not familiar with China: The number of speed humps here is insane and the size of the humps are crazy too. You can forget about lowering your car till it hugs the ground with humps like these around.
5. Turning. This is a guide of how well balanced the suspension is and how well the car handles cornering and quick U-turns.
6. Braking. Both in terms of brake sensitivity and braking distance.
   
7. Overall noise in the cabin. This about how well sorted out and damped the chassis is and the level of soundproofing that has already been done.
   

Driving impressions:
2009 Mini Cooper
2009 Mini Cooper Clubman
2009 Kia Carnival
2009 Kia Grand Carnival VQ
2009 Buick GL8 Read more...

Spicy Mixed Pot @ Xiangguomen 香锅门

Just when you thought you've tried about all there is to try on Sichuan food, along comes something new that tickles your taste buds. In this case, it burns your tongue and make you want to come back for more. This what I found at Chongqing (重庆) restaurant Xiangguomen (香锅门) whose signature dish is the mixed spicy pot. The menu is simple. You order a mix of ingredients, very much like you would for hot pot (火锅) and instead of having to cook it yourself in the hot pot, the chef then proceeds to mix everything you ordered and stir fries it with a generous dollop of Sichuan chillis and peppers. You may choose from a variety of meats, seafood, vegetables, bean curd and mushrooms. And the result is amazingly good! The pot I had was a combination of beef, shrimp, lotus rhizome, bean curd, mushrooms and bitter gourd. I requested for it to be low on the spiciness and numbness scale. As a result, I was able to enjoy the flavours of the various ingredients that was ordered instead of getting my taste buds over-powered by the spices. My only complaint was that if you order beef, you need to eat it really fast while it is piping hot, or else, once it cools down a little, the beef starts to get a little old and it is not as tender as it was when it was freshly served. Incidentally, this one pot was enough to feed a table of three adults to the brim.



In addition to the spicy mixed pot, the restaurant also serves a variety of more traditional fare found at Sichuan restaurants. In particular, the fish in boiling oil (招牌翠云沸腾鱼) more commonly known as shuizhuyu (水煮鱼) caught my eye. I believe I shall be paying a return visit soon.

The address:
Xiangguomen, Basement 1, Xinhechuntian Shopping Mall, Nanhai Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 香锅门 深圳南山南海大道信和春天广场负一楼
Google Map Directions


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Shenzhen Food Map

Here is a map of all the restaurants reviewed so far and this will be updated as new restaurants are review. Enjoy!

Do note that the joining of the maps between Hong Kong and Shenzhen is buggy and for some reason or other, refuses to display properly on my PC unless you zoom in sufficiently.

Last updated: 2 Mar 2009


View Larger Map
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MPV Search: Buick GL8

It has been a while since I started my search for an MPV for the family and having narrowed down my options, my first stop is at a nearby General Motors (GM) showroom in Pengchengbao Car Market (鹏程宝汽车城) is one of the newest in Shenzhen and houses most of the mainstream brands as well as several luxury brands such as Acura, Infiniti, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes Benz, as well as Shenzhen's only TechArt showroom. TechArt is an aftermarket modification company that exclusively modifying Porsche cars. The GM showroom is located in the heart of the car market and strangely does not offer parking for customers who wish to visit the showroom. Their parking lot is only open to cars that are there for servicing. Customers who wish to buy GM cars are told to park by the road outside and walk in.

The Buick GL8 MPV is made by the Shanghai-GM joint venture factory and currently has the largest business MPV market share in China. Perhaps not because it is the best in every way but more because GM was first to figure out that the Chinese companies would take to MPVs as a great way of transporting their employees from place to place. However, one should not to take any credit off GM as once they got to the top of the heap, they are determined to defend it and have taken a lot of pains to ensure that their GL8 MPV is totally tailored to the Chinese market and road conditions. Looking at the showroom car, that attention to detail is obvious. General Motors certainly did their homework well. The car is conservatively styled, as required for a car that is used to ferry business guests. The interior is beautifully detailed and comfortable and extremely spacious as well. Two captain's seats in the middle row and a bench at the back which comfortably sits three take the cabin capacity to seven including the driver. Luggage space is decent and seems able to accommodate a carry-on luggage for each passenger. The third row bench also folds flat to give a huge luggage capacity. The boot base also flips open to reveal a panel of compartments that allow you to store odds and ends out of sight. The seats are also comfortable to sit and I reckon they would be pretty decent in a long distance ride too.


Source: General Motors

Buick GL8 Specifications:
Engine: 2.5l V6
Power: 112Kw @ 5600 rpm
Torque: 209 Nm @ 4400 rpm
Top Speed: 168 Km/h
Gas consumption: 7.46L/100km at 90km/h constant speed
Gas tank: 95l
Boot capacity: 685l
Dimensions: 5200mm long x 1847mm wide x 1729mm high

On paper, this was almost too good to be true. However, trolling through the internet discussion bulletins, I noted that most of the complaints on the Buick centered around the gas consumption. The GM-provided stat sheet stated a 7.46l per 100 km consumption. The salesman at the GM dealership claimed that was too optimistic and that real world consumption in mixed highway and city driving was closer to about 10l per 100 km. Real world consumption found on the internet claimed by owners was 17-20l per 100 km! Ouch.

I made an appointment for a test drive at a later date and will report back with my driving impressions from the test drive after that.

Previous articles:
The search for an MPV begins
MPV Search: My Options

More on cars
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My Audi A6 - Brake Modification

It was time to replace the brake rotors on my Audi A6 that were wearing thin after 90,000 km. Instead of replacing with OEM rotors, I decided to replace with OEM sized two piece rotors. I also opted to continue with the EBC Red Stuff pads which had served me well when I replaced the OEM brake pads at 50,000 km.

Review of the EBC Red Stuff brake pads.
OEM brake pads lasted for 50,000 km for the first time and the EBC Red Stuff brake pads which I swapped to lasted 40,000 km before I changed it along with the rotors. At both instances, I had both the front and rear sets changed at the same time. The brake oil was replaced at the 50,000 km change but this time, they did not appear to need a change and so I did not.

I chose to swap the EBC Red Stuff pads primarily because I was mainly looking for a small increase in braking performance, and a huge reduction in brake dust. And the EBC pads did all that. Braking was sharper compared to the OEM pads which were quite inadequate for emergency braking. Braking on the OEM pads felt vague and you never got the feeling that you would stop in time when you needed to as the Audi A6 is a heavy car. As a result, I tended to brake early, just in case. The dust from the OEM pads was quick to appear as well. The swap to the EBC pads was just what I was looking for. Naturally, one cannot expect a change of brake pads to instantly produce massive stopping power. And I was not looking for that. Braking was improved slightly, and it was enough to be noticeable. And the brake dust was gone, thanks to the ceramic compound on the EBC pads. Sure, if you looked hard enough, there is still a coating of brake dust on the rims, albeit a light coloured layer.

On the surface, it would appear that the EBC pads had a shorter lifespan - 10,000 km less than the OEM pads. In fact, it is hard to make a comparison as I was driving harder on the EBC pads. In the first 50,000 km, I was mostly doing short trips within the city and at most a 150 km run to Zhuhai or a 120 km run to Guangzhou. All of which was on flat ground and decent roads. After I made the change to the EBC pads, I had made a total of 6 long trips that were between 1200 km to 1500 km each way round and along the way there were long mountainous stretches with long stretches of downhill runs where opportunities to use the brakes were plentiful. In addition, I had also started to drive the car harder.

In all, I was very satisfied with the EBC Red Stuff brake pads.

Replacement Two Piece Rotors
In a luxurious sedan like the Audi A6, you cannot and should not turn it into a sports car. What you can do is to make small improvements so that it becomes a little more fun to drive. My modifications have centred around improving the handling of the car slightly with small adjustments. Even then, I have mostly adhered to the principle of replacing OEM parts with lighter and stronger aftermarket parts as the time for replacement comes. With the brake rotors wearing thin, it also presented me with an opportunity to swap the OEM rotors with something lighter. Swapping out for lighter rotors reduces unsprung weight. A reduction in unsprung weight theoretically leads to lighter load on the suspension and this translates to better suspension response and subsquently, better ride comfort and ability to soak up the irregularities on the road surface. In addition, the loss in unsprung weight also reduces the moment of inertia which means less energy is required to get moving. And in theory, this leads to faster acceleration and throttle response. In practice, the weight reduction from taking a kilogramme off each corner could well be meaningless, or virtually impossible to detect. Experts or enthusiasts tell me that I would expect to see greater improvement if I were to swap rims and tyres for lighter versions since the weight loss at each corner would be more like 3-4 kg or more. I couldn't agree more. However, it is not the time to replace the rims or the tyres and it is the time, however, to have the rotors changed. As such, I chose to go ahead and replace the OEM rotors with lighter aftermarket ones anyway. And even if it did not produce a noticeable effect, when the time comes to change the rims and tyres, I believe the effect certainly would be very noticeable when the aftermarket rotors were paired with lighter rims and wheels.

This is the front rotor and I have also opted for a slotted rotor since it looked nice and sporty too. I do not expect to need the slots to help counter brake fade since even with the hardest driving I have done so far, I have not had any problems with brake fade. The hub is aluminium alloy and lifting it and comparing it with the OEM rotors, the weight difference was obvious. Unfortunately, I did not have a scale on hand to measure the weights but I would put it as about 1-1.5 kg weight savings.



The brakes were installed with no drama and they fitted perfectly.



The rear rotors are also slotted. The electronic parking brake proved to be a bit of a challenge as my VAG-COM kit had not arrived. After some headscratching, we figured a solution to the problem and the brakes were installed without further drama.



And then the moment of truth. Would that few kg savings make enough of a difference, if at all? I am happy to say, YES! Braking performance was improved significantly and pedal feel certainly improved. It took me a few days to get the hang of the brakes and adjust my braking to the improved brakes. I am afraid I am unable to quantify this but I would be able to hazard a guess that my braking distances could be improved by a metre or two. Ride comfort was harder to perceive. I think there is a slight improvement but it is not really as obvious. But I would not expect a huge difference considering the small weight reduction. And some improvement is better than none and they will all add up as I continue to make more replacements.

Having driven a further 6,000 km in the new brakes, I am very pleased with the results. Braking is a lot more consistent than with the OEM rotors and pads. The new rotors work perfectly well with the EBC Red Stuff brake pads. I am looking forward to light forged rims and a new set of tyres to see if an additional reduction in unsprung weight would pay off in spades then.
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Unification Wars guide - 4. Defence

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Coffee and Snacks @ Charlie Brown's Cafe 查理布朗

Shenzhen residents have taken up to drinking coffee and on any given weekend, you will find coffee places in shopping malls packed to capacity. As a result, while there used to be only Starbucks occupying this space, several new competitors have sprouted out over the past two to three years and old competitors have also expanded their outlets rapidly. The formula for success is simple - provide free wifi internet access and a place where one could stay for hours for the price of a cup of coffee and you will be packed with people meeting up, socializing or meeting new friends. Match that with a community of foreigners who cannot live without their daily cuppa, and the frequent double doses, you have a coffee place that is packed to the gills with customers. Unfortunately, all the coffee places tend to fall into two genres - the Starbucks clones and the Taiwanese style coffee places such as Mingdian Coffee (名典咖啡) which are full dining establishments.

Charlie Brown's Cafe (查理布朗) at Coastal City Shopping Mall (海岸城) is a relatively new entrant that tries to differentiate itself from the rest of the coffee places. Apart from coffee and tea based beverages, they also serve a variety of cakes and snacks. Naturally, being a Charlie Brown-themed place, they also sell various Charlie Brown and Snoopy gift items and souvenirs and a wall mounted television plays videos of Charlie Brown all day long. Free wifi internet access is also offered for patrons and there is an abundance of power sockets to ensure you can stay there all day.

I ordered the barbecued chicken wings which arrived fresh from the microwave oven. The chicken wings are deboned leaving a single bone for you to hold. They come lightly spiced and while the portions are decent at 28 RMB for four pieces if you compare it to Kentucky Fried Chicken which sells chicken wings at 28 RMB for an equivalent portion serving (4 wings comprising 8 pieces) without the additional helping of mashed potato.



Charlie Brown's Cafe is also doing a special offer for Coastal City Shopping Mall VIP card holders till the end of February 2009 where if you purchase a cup of coffee, they give a cake of your choice free. I selected the chocolate mousse cake to go with my hot latte. The chocolate mousse cake was pleasant and tasted quite nice. A lot of bakeries tend to put too much sugar and make the cake too sweet. Fortunately, Charlie Brown's did not. I would rate this as above average.



The address:
Charlie Brown's Cafe, Second Floor, Coastal City Shopping Mall, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 查理布朗 深圳南山海岸城2楼
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Where to get Free Wifi in Nanshan Shenzhen for the Price of a Coffee

Here is a list of Nanshan Shenzen cafes and restaurants offering free Wifi for the mobile set. The list will be updated regularly as I discover new establishments.

Overseas Chinese Town Area:
KingkeyBanner Plaza 京基百纳广场 - A Little Flavour 一点味, Starbucks
Yitian Holiday Plaza 益田假日广场 － Starbucks 星巴克, Illy Coffee
Crowne Plaza Hotel 威尼斯酒店 - Lobby Lounge

Coastal City Area:
Coastal City Shopping Mall 海岸城 - Starbucks 星巴克, Charlie Brown's Cafe 查理布朗, Mountain Breeze Cafe, Blue Bird Cafe 蓝鸟咖啡

Garden City Area:
Garden City Shopping Mall 花园城 - Starbucks 星巴克

Shenzhen High Technology Park 科技园:
Brown's Cafe 勃朗咖啡
UBC Cafe 上岛咖啡
Raindrop Cafe 雨花咖啡

Xihaimingzhu 西海明珠 outside Shenzhen University 深圳大学:
UBC Cafe 上岛咖啡 Read more...

Dumplings @ Dingtaifeng 鼎泰丰

In Taipei Taiwan, Dingtaifeng (鼎泰丰) is one of the highly regarded restaurants famous for their dianxin (点心), especially their dumplings (小龙包). Queues start at their Taipei restaurants early in the morning and you have to wait in line to enjoy a meal there, especially in their flagship store. I remember the dumplings fondly as one of the best I have ever taken. However, their ventures overseas have not been as successful. The main reason as I see it, is the towering reputation that puts huge expectation on the local chef to deliver the goods.

This is not the first Dingtaifeng restaurant I have visited in China and the previous branches I have visited in Shenzhen were hugely disappointing. The signature dumpling dish (小龙包) was badly made and soggy and the rest of the food after that was a downhill ride with no end. Dingtaifeng opened in a new shopping mall, the Yitian Holiday Plaza in Overseas Chinese Town late last year and I assumed it would be another in a line of mediocre jokes dragging down an illustrious name.

As I was dining alone, I ordered simply. The main event was a pleasant surprise. Instead of expecting to see soggy dumplings that were over done so that the dumpling skin was falling to pieces, the dumplings came freshly done and cooked to perfection. The way to enjoy the dumplings is to pick it up while it is piping hot with your chopsticks, then bite a small hole in the skin and suck out the soup stock from the dumpling insides. And having enjoyed the first sip of the dumpling, proceed to eat the rest of the dumpling. Unlike previous experiences with Dingtaifeng in China, the soup stock was sweet and fragrant and the pork filling was fresh and not overly done. The dumpling skin too had the signature elasticity that the Taipei flagship restaurant served. This is excellent and as close as you can get to the Taipei food experience. Bear in mind, my memory of the Dingtaifeng Taipei experience and taste might be a little cloudy as I was last in Taipei Dingtaifeng four years ago.



I also ordered their spicy dumplings in chilli oil (红油抄手). Like the xiaolongbao (小龙包) earlier, the spicy dumplings were well done. They have also added a single shelled shrimp to the fillings for each dumpling and the shrimp was fresh and sweet as well. At the same time, the spicy chilli oil sauce was more fragrant than spicy, allowing you to enjoy the taste of the dumpling and the fillings without having your tastebuds overpowered by chilli.



To top off my meal, I had the stewed pork on rice (卤肉饭). This was, in my opinion, unremarkable. But the amazing thing is that because it is unremarkable, it tasted just right to finish up the meal. The stewed pork was mixed with pickled raddish and the total taste is not overpowering but made the rice more interesting.



In all, this was a surprise. After suffering through a number of mediocre restaurants in China bearing the Dingtaifeng name, having a restaurant with the food served finally worthy of the name is a pleasant surprise. I would highly recommend trying this branch.

The address:
Dingtaifeng, Basement Two, Yitian Holiday Plaza, Shennan Road outside Overseas Chinese Town, Nanshan District, Shenzhen 鼎泰丰 深圳南山深南路华侨城益田假日广场负二楼
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Roast Goose @ MC Charcoal Goose 味宗烧鹅

MC Charcoal Goose is a Hong Kong restaurant chain that has opened a chain of franchise restaurants in China. The signs, posters and menu all over the exterior and interior of MC Charcoal Goose (味宗烧鹅) proudly proclaim: 鹅香不怕巷子深. This roughly translates to "if the goose smells fragrant, you do not fear if the restaurant is tucked in an alley." This restaurant certainly appears very proud of the quality of their roast goose. And roast goose is their title event. So I walked in with high hopes of finding great food. The place is tiny and I thought it had pretty intriguing decor with lovely faux marble tables and stools. The stools were not very comfortable though but it would suffice for a quick meal and exit.



First disappointment came when I looked at the open kitchen. There is a microwave and the food is heated in the microwave before serving. Uh-oh.



I ordered the roast goose drumstick and Macanese roast pork with rice. The portions are reasonable with a generous helping of boiled vegetables. Picking up a piece of the roast goose with my chopsticks provided a second disappointment. The goose was chopped in portions that appear to be targeted at people with mouths the size of a hippopotamus. The chef who chopped the meat is clearly an amateur. I could do better than that and I admit that I am hopeless at this. That said, the goose meat was poor for what is supposed to be a Hong Kong restaurant chain coming to China to show the locals how to do goose properly. Firstly, the skin was soggy and no longer crisp and while the skin and the meat was nicely separated, the fat was not roasted off properly and there was still way too much fat between the skin and the meat. Taking a bite of the meat, it was a bit on the tougher side. While it is by no means bad, having tasted well roasted goose, this in comparison is not an example of good roast.

Roast pork was even worse. The roast came with a thick hard skin that was neither crisp nor edible. Chewing it was a challenge. A well done roast pork should have a crispy skin that you could crunch and enjoy. On the bright side, the meat below the skin was tender and done quite nicely.

The vegetables were old and overly fibrous. So that topped off a rather poor meal with more downers than highlights. You might wonder why I am rather hard on the food. The main reason is their boast plus the price - 44 RMB for that plate, more than double the price of the same serving anywhere else in Shenzhen. In fact, this is probably even expensive by Hong Kong standards. So the disappointment is magnified.



It seems that this is a franchise store and I think the franchise owner needs to know how badly their name was being dragged in mud by not controlling the quality of the food they serve or the operators that they license their name to. Especially when they are premium priced.

The address:
MC Charcoal Goose, Coastal City East Tower Block facing Kempinski Hotel, Nanshan, Shenzhen 味宗烧鹅 深圳南山海岸城东座凯宾斯基酒店对面
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Unification Wars - Maximum Defence with Minimum Donation Points

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Roast Goose and Iced Milk Tea @ Tai Hing 太兴

Tai Hing (太兴) is a famous Hong Kong chain of tea cafes or chacanting (茶餐厅) and is well known for their roasts (烧腊) and their iced milk tea （冰镇奶茶). They are priced reasonably and are serve mainly set meals although they do a variety of Cantonese dishes as well. In Shenzhen, the restaurant is usually packed, particularly during weekends when Hongkongers come up to Shenzhen and for reasons best known to themselves, have more Hong Kong food even though they are in Shenzhen. This is something I find hard to understand. It is like going to Italy and popping into Macdonald's for burger! Why would any one want to do that? Shenzhen has plenty of food options that one can sample and you can keep going for years and not need to repeat, unless, of course, the food is so good you want to.

I popped over to the restaurant in the early afternoon to avoid the lunch time crowd. At 2pm, the restaurant was still half full. As I was in a hurry, I opted for a simple meal and ordered their two main specialties - roast goose drumstick with rice and iced milk tea.

The roast goose was of their typically high standards. The skin was roasted to a thin crisp and the meat was juicy and tender underneath. For the less familiar, the small dish beside the plate is sour plum sauce. You dip the meat into the sauce as the meat tends to be rather oily and the sour plum sauce takes away much of the greasiness. My only complaint in this was the miserly portion of sauce and it was hardly enough for the meal. The portions are reasonably sized and those with larger appetites are best advised to order another dish to complement it.



The iced milk tea is the specialty and they have made an innovation in the serving off iced tea. The tea is served with the cup half immersed in a bowl of ice. This preserves the icy cold temperature of the tea. The tea is smooth to drink and has a slight acidic taste that serves as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the condensed milk in the tea. Ordinarily, the acidic taste tends to make the tea taste worse or old, like it has been left standing in the tea leaves for too long. In this case, I think it actually enhances the taste of it. The only downside to this is the price. It costs 15 RMB for that small cup of tea. It is not overly high if one considers the price of Starbucks' coffee in comparison.



Overall, it is worth a visit but keep away during the weekends and go during off peak periods or be prepared to stand in a queue outside the restaurant for a while.

The address:
Tai Hing, Wanxiang Street (right behind MixC Shopping Mall, Luohu, Shenzhen 太兴茶餐厅 深圳罗湖万象街万象城后面
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Top Gear Live shows off Fake Ferraris doing Stunts?

Australia's Drive is claiming that Top Gear Live's performance which involves 3 Ferrari 360s are fakes and replicated using Toyota MR2s. And that the sound of the four cylinder engines pretending to be V8s was masked by loud music during that performance. With Top Gear Live coming to Hong Kong next week, this is going to be an interesting performance to watch. Now I really want to watch that performance. Read more...

Stewed Chicken Drumstick Rice @ A Little Flavour 一点味

A Little Flavour (一点味) is a locally developed fast food restaurant chain developed and owned by Taiwanese. They have managed to crack how to do traditional food in a way that makes the food consistent in portion size and taste, as well as providing a high standard of hygiene. The food arrives at each franchise outlet pre-cooked and in vacuum-sealed packs. The only items that are cooked on the premise by the local operator are the steamed rice and the vegetables. Everything else is air flown from their factory in Chengdu. The vacuum packed food is then warmed in a pot of hot water before being opened and served.

Decor-wise, each restaurant is a cafe that offers free wifi as well as a selection of books on a wide range of topics for people to pass the time. As you can see from the picture of the table top below, they also offer a number of table top games including Chinese Checkers. The enviroment is casual and friendly and they encourage diners to hang around and enjoy their assortment of Taiwanese tea house style beverages.

The meal I selected is their best seller and signature dish. The chicken drumstick was well stewed and tender so that the meat simply falls off the bone upon first bite. The vegetables which are prepared on-site are boiled and overall, the meal is healthy and balanced. For those that love chilli, you may also ask for a small dish of Sichuan chilli oil (辣椒油) seen on top left hand corner of the photograph to spice up the meal.



The address:
A Little Flavour, Baishi East Road, Kingkey Banner Plaza Basement 1 (next to Macdonald's), Nanshan District, Shenzhen 一点味 深圳南山白石路东京基百纳广场负一楼麦当劳旁边
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