My Audi A6 Rear Anti-Sway Bar Modification

Having waited for quite a while, I finally got round to fitting on the rear H&R anti-sway bars for my Audi. Fitting on the anti-sway bar was relatively easy. Just remove the nuts on the exhaust and the stock bar comes off and the replacement is fitted on quite easily.



Placed side by side, the H&R bar (above) is obviously much thicker than the stock bar (below) and much heavier too.



True to form, the H&R bar fitted perfectly without any problems. The H&R bar came with 2 settings to attach to the struts. The outer pair of holes provided a softer setting and presumably a little more comfortable. Naturally, I picked the inner (and stiffer) setting. I wanted to see how it worked first and if it proved to be too uncomfortable, I could always move the setting to a softer one.



The finished result looks great!



Initial impressions after two days of driving were very satisfying. Even with the stiffer setting, ride comfort was not too badly affected. It was much more obvious on uneven road surfaces but take a corner fast or slow and it was easy to forget about the slight penalty in comfort. The car now corners flat with little body roll and I could take turns at much higher speeds with confidence. This was certainly a big grin inducing factor. I intend to keep the current setting for a week or two before adjusting to the softer setting to try it out for another couple of weeks. Once I have tried both settings, I intend to fit on the front anti-sway bars and see how it settles. Watch this space.
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Subaru Driving Experience: Forester

Saturday, 25 April 2009. It was a bleak and dreary morning and the skies opened up and was pouring buckets. This morning Subaru was due to have an event to let people test drive their cars at a karting track in Shajing, Shenzhen. My first thought was: Oh no, its going to be cancelled. Happily, I got a call from the salesman asking me to come on over. "Isn't it raining heavily?" I asked. "Even better! Then you can really see how good Subaru cars are. Come on over!" came the reply. Now that's the spirit. I needed no urging to drive over for a go.

Shenzhen Xtreme Speedway kart race track in Shajing is quite small but it is able to accommodate small scale tests of road cars along with the regular schedule of kart training courses and races. Thetrack is small but tight with plenty of turns as befits a kart track with a short straight in front of the viewing gallery.

On arrival, the rain had abated somewhat and had settled down to a steady drizzle. And on arrival I acquainted myself with the day's programme. They had only two cars available, the base Impreza and the base Forester, and a team of rally race drivers from Team Subaru on hand to coach. There were 4 stages to the programme. The first three segments are centered around basic driving skills - 1. quick lane change under emergency ABS braking, 2. quick direction changes making use of the Subaru's VDC, and 3. slalom. The last segment is a couple of quick laps around the circuit. All this naturally depends on the time available. Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, everyone arrived at about the same time and that left insufficient time to go through the entire programme.



We only managed to do the quicky lane change and the slalom. As I was more keen on the Forester, I opted to do both the programmes using the Forester and did not get to try the Impreza.



These are my quick impressions of the Forester base model with a 2 litre naturally aspirated engine after having had a chance to do both the programmes as well as a quick spin round the circuit.

• Getting into the Forester, it was apparent that Subaru has got it right this time. If you ignore the cheap plastics, the cabin is decently appointed and sensible and nothing gets in the way of the driving. It was easy to get a comfortable driving position within seconds and the driving controls feel very intuitive. Many people complain about the cheap finishing but I personally think that if it means cutting some corners in the engine department, I would rather get used to the budget interior.
• Ride comfort is excellent. Moving off, the base model shows off a well sorted suspension with comfort levels aimed precisely at the mass market and yet retaining a little of the sportiness (not a lot, unfortunately).
• To say that the base Forester is under-powered for the event is an understatement. The 2 litre engine barely had enough grunt to make the exercises a challenge. Then, again, if you look at day to day driving, the 2 litre engine was adequate with a just enough zest to overhaul the average Toyota Corolla.
• Handling-wise, the improved ride comfort proved the Forester's undoing when it came to quick turns, although I must admit the Forester was decent on the slalom if you did not take on the cones above 60km/h speed.
• The four-wheel drive that is Subaru's pride and joy did well in the wet and from the way the Forester handled, I could hardly tell that it was wet and soggy all round.

Overall, after attending the event, I had a few random thoughts that crossed my head:

>

• 
  
• Subaru makes good cars but they are certainly not doing themselves any justice by not showing off their best cars. Showing off their best cars seems to me to be the best way to upsell their cars to current owners as well as to potential customers. I suppose there is a logic in showing off base models since that is where the bread and butter volume is. But in doing so, they reduce their chances of recruiting more die hard fans in the hopes of going mainstream. The big question in my mind is, would Subaru be best served going mainstream or remaining niche?
• The event was not well organized and very casual. Perhaps that is what should characterize a Subaru community. But if Subaru wants to go mainstream, perhaps they should run the event with the professionalism and precision expected of a mainstream brand. That is the conundrum that Subaru faces and has faced over the past few years. Each time, it appears the answer Subaru came up with was one that was neither here nor there.
• Not enough thought was given to the actual programme either. The distance given to accelerate for the quick lane change under emergency ABS braking was clearly insufficient for the base models to gather enough speed. As such, if one applied the brakes correctly to trigger ABS, you would stop before you even hit the cones that formed the obstruction. Also, the briefing did not clearly explain the entire theory behind this and it seems like the rally drivers were not thoroughly grounded in their theory either. In contrast, in an Audi event which I attended, their professional drivers were able to clearly explain the entire process properly so that everyone was able to grasp the entire process before proceeding to try out. The coaching process in the car was also a lot more helpful and precise. While coaching was not the goal of the event, the main point Subaru needed to deliver was that Subaru cars are a lot safer and easier to control and they were going to show participants how to make the most of their cars to stay safe. This message was not delivered well.

• 
  

Overall, I thought it was reasonably enjoyable and a decent start to hopefully better run events by Subaru in the future.
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BYD S6 Hard Top Convertible Launching Soon

Seen in China Car Times, BYD has a new hard top convertible ready for launch in the next few months and it seems they are more than ready. I caught this production model testing on Shenzhen roads last month but did not have time to post the hastily taken pictures due to a busy work schedule.



The car was cruising along at about 50 kmh and I could not tell much from running along side.



I can only say is the clone wars are still on-going but surely, with 1.4 billion brains to tap on, someone could think of something a little more original...
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Nanjing Bus Driver Runs Down Cyclist And Drags Body 5 km

Nanjing local media reported an incident where an off-duty public bus driver Wang stole a bus from the bus company where he worked at and went out with the intention of killing someone. According to witnesses, Wang drove dangerously till he hit a cyclist riding on a motorized bicycle.




After hitting the cyclist, he continued driving for another five kilometres despite other drivers pulling alongside to yell for Wang to stop.



The reason for all this? When he was on duty driving the public bus, he closed the motorized door on a passenger boarding the bus and the passenger got caught between the doors. For that incident, he was scolded by his superior and he was unhappy at the ticking off and wanted to kill someone to take out his anger.

Having lived in China for several years, nothing surprises me any more. This is a sign of a society that has forgotten its Confucian roots and priciples. Fortunately, this incident provoked angry responses from the public. The question is: what will they and their government do about this after the anger has died down and the public debate has blown over.

Sources:
Original Chinese article
Partial translation of article on Shanghaiist
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Chinese Man Builds A Car Using Wood

It is amazing what a little bit of determination and inventiveness can do. Check out this home-made car made of wood planks by an ingenious Chinese man. He has basically made sure all the required items are replicated.


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Unbelievable Accident At A Toll Booth

Another hazard of driving in China. Bet no one has ever seen an accident like this. I still haven't figured out where those two huge tires came from. Knowing that this is China, my guess is that it probably fell off the wheels of a truck nearby. Chinese truck drivers are notorious for overloading their cargo way above limit, at least double to triple the maximum load limit of their vehicles. Coupled with infrequent service intervals, since they clearly subscribe to the old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", it is a proven recipe for spectacular disasters like the video below.

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Crazy Spoof Ad On The Toyota Prius

A great spoof Nissan commercial pitting the Toyota Prius against the Hyundai Elantra. The commercial is written by James Adomian two leads are played by James Adomian and Andy Richter. Both are from the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre comedy group which produces extremely creative work and it worth a gander over if you have nothing to do. This was so good I could not resist posting it up.

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Audi R8 In The Snow As Seen On Garage419

An excellent video from Garage419, a site I admire for putting fantastic video clips all brilliantly edited to film quality. One of my favourite sites.

In this episode, the Audi R8 struts its stuff in the snow, showing off the Quattro pedigree, and easily the classiest car in the entire video.

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Spyker C8 spotted in Beijing

Seen when aimlessly surfing youku.com, a video sharing site that is China's equivalent of Youtube.

The guys who took this first video spotted the car in Beijing headed towards the airport expressway and being curious as to what car it was, gave chase and tried to keep up with the Spyker. Luckily for them, the Beijing traffic was in their favour and the Spyker could not put its power to effect although there are short stretches of clear road where the power and acceleration was obvious. Cool number plate too. And the black coloured licence plate in China means the car is registered to a foreigner or a foreign owned (or part foreign owned) company.



In a separate video, this young girl (you could see the reflection off the car) chanced upon the same car parked and took a closer video of the car with her mobile phone. The quality of the video is pretty decent.



The car in question is a Spyker C8 and the car has a V8 4.2l engine sourced from Audi in normally aspirated form for the base model and a twin turbo. I tried to figure out which model it is but unfortunately the Spyker website only has the 2009 models and the trim is slightly different from the car in question. Anyone know what specific model this car is?
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Driving Impressions: Chrysler Grand Voyager

The Chrysler Grand Voyager was a well built MPV that met most of my requirements with a decent price, good user-centric design features, and an excellent reputation in the USA. the basis of competitive pricing, strong options list and excellent design. So, this MPV merits serious consideration. Now the big question is how does it drive?

Naturally, one must temper one's expectations when driving a big van such as the Chrysler Grand Voyager. Drive like a small car, it certainly will not. Stepping into the driver's cabin, the proportions of the vehicle around you is very obvious. This thing feels like a barge in dimensions. The driver's seating position and all round visibility is excellent. Being on the tall side (I am 1.84m), I am happy to say that the leg room is pretty good and I could find a comfortable position quite quickly. The driver controls are relatively intuitive and need little trouble getting used to.


Source: Chrysler China

Stepping on the accelerator, the MPV takes off at a smooth leisurely canter after hesitating for a moment. No push or sudden acceleration even when I push the pedal to persuade the MPV to move with greater urgency. A wafter would be the word to best describe the Chrysler Grand Voyager. However, this is not a negative. This is precisely what I am looking for a sedate cruiser that wafts from point to point, providing the maximum comfort for the occupants.

I picked a stretch of road that had humps and tested out the Chrysler van's handling of the speed humps. Oh dear. This van really does behave like a barge and rocks sideways like the best of them. The suspension was overly soft and I think I would be happy to sacrifice a bit of comfort for some sanity. The rocking was literally making sea-sick. On the turns, I could feel the size of the car working against me and I felt like a bus driver. The thing about this is, I have been in cars that are as big as this Chrysler and yet not feel the size as keenly as I did here. My Audi A6 is 5035mm long x 1855mm wide, compared with the Chrysler at 5096mm long and 1997mm wide. I have also driven the Audi Q7 (5086mm × 1983mm × 1737mm) a fair number of times and neither of them felt as big and cumbersome as the Chrysler. All is not lost, but I will have to do some homework on the internet to see if there are suspension kits available as well as strut braces and tie bars to correct this handling deficiency.

Attempting quick braking, I felt the brakes were soft and the response slow. However, the front and rear disc brakes were adequate for the job since I do not expect to be moving very quickly on this MPV in the first place.

Overall, the Chrysler Grand Voyager was comfortable and a pretty decent ride for passengers, as long as you live in a place where the roads are straight and smooth and you take corners very slowly. Passengers would be very comfortable as the car is well insulated and road noise is kept to a minimum at city driving speeds. I did not get an opportunity to test the MPV on an expressway to see how bad the wind noise and tire noise is going to be at speeds above 100 km/h. I would expect the noise to be much more intrusive though. But this, I believe, can be corrected with appropriate soundproofing work.


Source: Chrysler China

Finally, in the showroom, the Stow 'n Go option on the Chrysler looked and sounded brilliant. In practice, I hated it. On the road, the combination of flaps and hinges under your feet in the passenger row was not at all reassuring. The flex and the squeaks made me feel like the floor would collapse any time. I am not very heavy, a mere 80kg. But I shudder to think if some of my larger friends were to be seated in the middle row. The floorboards will not break, but the squeaking will definitely drive me and anyone else insider the car completely insane before the end of a trip to the supermarket is up.

So, would I buy this car? Or at least seriously consider buying this car? This is the first that I have driven and will serve as a benchmark. I would give it a half-hearted maybe as I would have to add the cost of the modifications to the consideration as well as to find out if the modifications I would require are at all available, since the market for MPV modifications is tiny. And no, as wonderful as the Stow 'n Go option is, I shall give that option a miss as well. So I do not have high hopes of success in this respect.
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Changan Mini Truck Drifting

This is a crazy "Fast and Furious" style drifting on a Changan mini truck. Note that the truck is old and bone stock too. Well worth the few minutes watch even if you do not understand the language.


More videos following the jump.



Amazing what you can do with loads of effort and next to no equipment. And this young man from Guizhou in China became so famous after his videos went online that the television station invited him to meet the challenge of a professional racing driver in a training track.


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MPV Search: Kia Grand Carnival VQ

When I was at the car showroom looking at the Kia Carnival, I also saw the Kia Grand Carnival VQ there. The differences between the China made Kia Carnival and the imported Kia Grand Carnival VQ are quite marked:

• The VQ is four wheel drive instead of front wheel drive.
  
• The VQ has Disc brakes all round as opposed to drums at the back of the Carnival.
• Side curtain style airbags for all three rows on the VQ. Only front row air bags for the Carnival.
• Smaller turning radius - 5.51m on the VQ which is amazing vs 6.3m on the Carnival.
• Alloy engine block on the VQ which means a lighter nose. Cast iron block on the Carnival.
• Slightly bigger fuel tank on the VQ - 80l vs 75l which I hope translates to a slightly longer touring range.
  

In all, the extras that you get appear to be more than worth the additional 70k RMB to the price.


Source: Kia Motors

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

Engine: 2.7l V6
Power: 139Kw @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 249 Nm @ 4000 rpm
Top Speed: N/A
Gas consumption: 9.6L/100km
Gas tank: 80l
Dimensions: 4810mm long x 1985mm wide x 1760mm high

When stacked against my requirements, the Kia Grand Carnival VQ passes with flying colours:

• The doors on both passenger sides and the rear hatch are electronic and may be opened using the remote key and an assortment of buttons.
• Five star crash test ratings along with air bags all round including side curtain air bags for the second and third row. More importantly, the doors are disabled when the car is in motion. This is very critical when you have young children with itchy fingers.
• The interior is very comfortable and flexible enough to be configured in a variety of ways. This would make the MPV a very versatile people carrier and yet be able to haul large items in a pinch. The DVD comes standard as well and there is enough little compartments spread out so that small items like drinks and other knick knacks may be stowed. I do like the hooks at the back of the third row seats where you could hang grocery bags to prevent them from moving around as well.
• Modifications wise, with the current spec sheet, I reckon I would only look to swap out the rims and tyres (they're Hankook) for some lighter alloys and grippier rubber for improved ride comfort and probably a switch to Evans NPG+ coolant which I had excellent experiences with on three other cars.
  

In all, this MPV popped out of nowhere and passed with flying colours on my requirements list. It was not even on my initial shortlist and on paper, I think I will put this on the top of my list already. All it needs is a test drive to cement its position and I believe I will sign on the dotted line for the Kia Grand Carnival VQ MPV.
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Audi S4 vs Skier on Downhill Slalom

Awesome Audi video of a 2009 Audi S4 going head to head with a skier on a downhill slalom course. A great testament to Quattro four wheel drive. And as always, great photography. Enjoy!



Even better than the Audi S4 commercial Read more...

MPV Search: Chrysler Grand Voyager

When I started my search for a family MPV, I had originally shortlisted the Dodge Caravan. When I dropped by the Dodge showroom, they were clearing stock as apparently due to a consolidation of dealerships, Dodge was now also represented by Chrysler dealers. As a result, the former exclusive distributor for Dodge in Shenzhen had given up their representation of the Dodge brand and was dumping their remaining inventories at cost. This was great news, but there was a snag. There was no vehicle available for test drive. Thankfully, the Dodge Caravan is also badge engineered as a Chrysler Grand Voyager and a Mercury Villager.As such, I dropped by the Chrysler showroom and checked out the Chrysler Grand Voyager.


Image taken from Chrysler China

The Chrysler clearly meets my requirements:

1. Sliding doors on both sides are electronic and maybe remotely opened using the electronic key.
2. Five star rating on NHTSA for safety, although it appears to overly protect the driver and not the passengers. I mean, here is a car that has airbags for the driver's knees! But, Chrysler neglected the passengers at the back, only offering airbags for the driver and front row passenger. So that, to me, is a big minus. However, I must add that most of the MPVs that I am looking at also do not offer the side passenger air bags.
   
3. The interior is very comfortable and roomy, especially the middle row with two captain style armchairs that offer a decent amount of support and comfort. The party piece for the Chrysler is the Stow 'n Go option which offers tons of storage options all over the passenger section that allows you to put things out of sight and arrange the seats in all sorts of configurations to suit your needs. I was particularly impressed with the ability to store the middle and back rows so that the entire floor is flat for hauling large items. A big plus. DVD with an LCD screen for the middle row is also offered as standard in the higher priced option.
4. The car is quite large and I am certain I could find some parts to modify it. However, if the ride is good enough, I may not necessarily need to modify the car. I will need to road test the car to find out.
   

Specifications:
Engine: 3.3l V6
Power: 128Kw (174hp) @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 278 Nm @ 4000 rpm
Top Speed: 179 Km/h
Gas consumption: not reported
Gas tank: 76l
Dimensions: 5096mm long x 1997mm wide x 1803mm high

And on to the test drive.
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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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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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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...

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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