Hot Pussies!

Sorry for the hot title, but aren’t the Pussycat Dolls simply hot? Their latest single ‘Buttons’ just oozes sex! Catch the video below!

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Satria Neo – Desire Has A New Name!

Desire Has A New Name

We’ve been teased enough. Desire, indeed, has a new name. At least Proton wants you to believe that. ‘Creating desire’ through clever marketing and convincing consumers to spend money on a car that they don’t need is a challenge indeed.

The much-flawed Gen.2, despite its distinctive style and fresh design, failed to represent the ‘new’ Proton when it was released. Proton’s quality assurance to the public ultimately failed with flaws and defects numbering more than the horsepower of its maiden engine – the CamPro.

Proton, however, redeemed its tarnished image (if only slightly) with the considerably better built Tiara Replacement Model – the Savvy. A quirky, great-handling mini car, powered by a 1.2-litre Renault-sourced engine. Some say the best built Proton car to date. The stringent German TUV quality control throughout its development and emminent release off production lines proved fruitful for the Savvy, although its many virtues overshadowed by archrival Perodua’s MyVI.

The much-awaited, if not long delayed Satria Replacement Model or SRM for short, was launched yesterday with much fanfare at the newly-opened Proton Centre of Excellence, Subang Jaya. Amidst the gloom over Proton’s plunging sales and precarious future, the SRM ushers Proton’s renewed vigour and commitment to building better cars in the future.

Welcome the Satria NEO.

Proton quotes – “The Satria Neo is a beautiful crafted evolution of the famous icon, the Proton Satria GTi”. As mentioned by the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Abdullah Badawi, in his opening speech, the ‘Satria’ moniker is retained as it is a good name that represents Proton’s fighting spirit – ‘Satria’ in Malay meaning knight. From a marketing point of view, retaining the Satria name ensures continuity of the Satria brand and platform, and a recognisable icon to consumers. Many thought Proton would emulate the Gen.2 and Savvy by dropping the Malaysian identity in the product name, but have been proven wrong.

The Satria Neo, up-close

Loosely based on the Gen.2 chassis, the Satria Neo has a similar corporate front with the Gen.2. Its handsome frontage and clean, curvaceous lines exudes style and outright sportiness. The projector-style front headlamps add masculinity to the overall package. The rear lamp cluster, is very BMW 1-series-like, which adds much desirability to the rear, which on my opinion, is the best view of the car.

The car seems strangely smaller in the flesh, as compared the pictures scattered all over the internet. But if you thought it looked good in pictures, it’s a huge two-fold better up close and personal. Proton should be commended on the styling, which on my opinion, the best-looking Proton car to date. ‘A’ for effort Proton and an ‘A’ for execution as well!

The interior

The Satria Neo’s interior is a vast improvement over that of the Savvy and Gen.2. Where we saw the Savvy offering better build quality over its bigger cousin, the Gen.2, the Satria Neo seems, on first impression, even better. Proton continues its Lotus-DNA, minimalist, contemporary route with the interior. I personally like it a great deal, from the colours and materials used and the overall solid feel of the cockpit. Aesthetics aside, seating position is spot-on. Where I can hardly fit in the driver’s seat of a Gen.2 with my 6ft 1in frame, the Satria Neo offered adjustability and space. The seats felt solid and offered much support. I did not attempt to try the back seats, as I felt it would be a pointless exercise. There’s only that much space you can offer in a 2-door hatch, the old Satria included.

Driving position, like the Savvy, is good. The Perdana-like steering looks and feels good in the flesh.

Satria Neo Concepts

The centre of attraction were the two Satria Neo concept cars, styled by Proton Design. The aggressive competition white ‘Desire’ being my favourite. The MOMO centre rear muffler looked stunning and the Ford Focus WRC-inspired rear spoiler looked fabulous. The interior looked somewhat like a modder’s dream car, something out of Import Tuners. Over-the-top may be an understatement, although I fancied the leather-clad full bucket Recaros. With enough MOMO luxury items thrown in for good measure, the ‘Desire’ concept, however extravagant it seemed, gave visitors a good impression of what the Satria Neo could look like if you had deep pockets (or deeper than average, at least!). The bright orange ‘Symphony’ concept was no less enticing, and I relished the black leather interior, including the delicious Recaro semi-buckets.

Satria Neo R3

Strangely enough, for most of the Satria R3 owners who attended the launch, had assumed that R3 had styled the concept cars. How wrong we were! We were on our way to the exit of the spanking new COE, when we were informed that the Satria Neo R3 Concept was somewhere upstairs, with the various Lotus makes.

We were greeted by Head of R3 Tengku Djan Ley, R3 Head of Special Projects Adian Khalid Yein, R3 Media Manager Amin Ashaari and R3 Technical Aizuddin. We were completely blown away when we caught a glimpse of the Satria Neo R3 Concept. The familiar Incognito Black paintjob, R3 red-white stripes, the 18-inch Advantis wrapped with Yokohama Advan Neova AD07 rubber, the Recaro SR4s, MOMO Tuner and R3 steering spacer. They were all there. The front valance looked absolutely menacing! If the white ‘Desire’ screamed ‘take me, you fool!’, the R3 Concept commanded ‘what’s my name, bitch!’. It simply exuded sexiness and desirability at levels beyond that of even the Satria R3, or Gen.2 R3. It’s ALL THAT!

Will they release a Satria Neo R3 Limited Edition Vehicle?

That was the question I posed to R3 Head of Special Projects, Adian who explained that it is possible, but only with mother company Proton’s support, as R3 does not have the capability to mass-produce vehicles on its own, despite the fact their maiden project, the Satria R3 made it to production.

In order for LEVs to be commercially viable, a limited run of at least 2,500 units is required. There may yet be another LEV from R3, but officially, R3 will only produce R3 performance parts and accessories for Proton cars, much like what is being done with the Savvy (Zerokit) and Gen.2. The Satria Neo R3 kits, including the styling bits on the concept car will be commercially available next year. Stay tuned, and wipe that saliva off your keyboard!

End note

First impression, the Satria Neo, is a well put-together effort by Proton. Proton seemingly has dug deep to develop a quality car. Spending RM500 million in R&D and production, Proton took 24 months before rolling the Satria Neo off its production lines in Tanjung Malim. From the looks of it, the Satria Neo should rank amongst the best car Proton has ever made thus far. In a competitive automotive market that calls for SUVs, MPVs and sedans, one questions Proton’s move to release a two-door hatch. Having said that, Proton’s aging product line is in dire need of a fresh revamp, and the Satria Neo is a fresh start, even if it fills a niche market. Proton self-admits that the Satria Neo is not a mass-market car.

For Proton’s sake, with style (and substance) and a good price tag, let’s hope the Satria Neo fulfills Proton’s ambitions to be a better car maker, and realigns itself for the future.

On a personal note, I’d like a 1.6 Satria Neo in white, please!

For full specs, visit the official Satria Neo page. Or book one now at Proton Edar!

Originally posted on The R3gister

Thanks, Nitrus!

I thank you Nitrus, for bringing us “Rasa”. Thank you for instilling back some faith in Malaysian Malay music. I had initially thought that the catching “Rasa”, which gets lots of airplay on Fly.fm (It’s all about the music, dammit!) was sung by an Indonesian band. What a nice surprise!

Anyone’s got the lyrics, btw?

Pseudo-Touge to Genting

Touge? What’s that? The question non-motorheads would be asking would be – “Is it a vegetable? Is it edible?” Hah. Made popular by the Japanese comic series ‘Initial D’ with the iconic AE86, EVO3 and Skyline GT-R, ‘Touge’ is a form of illegal street racing on twisty mountain roads. Touge can be traced as far back as the 60s, on various hill climbs in Nagano, Japan. The adoption of rallying techniques to shave off time in cornering gave birth to what you know today as ‘drifting’ or ‘dorifto’ in Japanese. The Father of modern day Drifting – Keiichi Tsuchiya, was himself a great ‘touge’ driver, who gained notoriety and popularity through his exploits on the mountains.

Why am I telling you all this? We organised our own quasi-pseudo Touge outing to Genting.

A bunch of us gathered and convoyed up Genting Highlands via Karak. Consisting of 3 Satria R3s, an AE86, Merc SLK convertible, 2 Putras, MX-5, we took off after catching England’s ho-hum win over Paraguay in the 2006 World Cup. We needed a Saturday night adrenalin rush which the England game couldn’t provide. Shame, but a great opener by Germany yesterday. Perhaps ‘convoy’ isn’t the best word as the experienced drivers powered up to the peak with haste. It was my first time driving my SR3 up, and in a manner which would scare some shitless (definitely not for the faint-hearted), although I don’t think I drove that fast. The Ulu Yam-Genting Sempah route was deemed to dangerous so we all took Karak, fast.

Up, up and away!

Tailing Andrew, who drives a Stage 1 Satria R3, we both lost the convoy before the turn-off to Genting. While Andrew filled up his thirsty, trusty black stallion (my god, that sounds gay!) at base, the rest of the boys had already reached the first roundabout at Gotong Jaya. I tailed Andrew as we climbed the twisty bits. The development brake pads I am currently testing held itself well, and plenty of grip (still) from the worn AD07 rubber. The rubber never complained even once, no screeching, no understeer. Nothing. The Satria R3, being such a neutral handler, was confident and composed at all times. Did notice a slight out-of-breath feeling as we climbed higher, most likely due to the oxygen starved air. The tail did step out once or twice but easily corrected.

We congregated and chilled (literally, although Genting was uncommonly warm by her standards) at Starbucks for a little over an hour. Coming down, the 3 SR3s broke convoy and joined a team of self-proclaimed hillclimbers consisting of about 4 cars, taking the narrow, dark, twisty Genting Sempah route. Now that, was fun! Heaps more fun than the drive up. At this point, I was slightly concerned for the brakes, as they were not the confident-inspiring Mintex M1144 endurance performance pads that comes in every stock Satria R3. Stanley, on the other hand, was concerned about his tires. His recently purchased 8,000kms mileage Satria R3 sported expensive Pirelli Dragon tires, which isn’t as great a performance tires as the sticky Yokohamas. He in fact, had one particularly hairy oversteering moment on the way up. Stanley led, appropriately so, since he just had spanking new HID lights fitted.

I followed closely behind, braking when he braked. Andrew stayed close, very close, in fact. His headlights appearing on my right side mirrors, then left, then on my rearview.

Like a virgin

Being a Genting Sempah virgin, I was cautious initially but became less tentative as confidence grew and adrenalin built up. The car had phenomenal grip. Very confidence inspiring indeed. Had just one or two oversteer situations under late braking on corners, but otherwise the car pointed where I wanted it to go. I was basically throwing the car into the corners, tapping the brakes as and when needed. The sharp blind corners were nice and the quick succession of 2nd gear esses were thrilling. Driving this twisty bits really made me appreciate the Satria R3 even more. It was made for this. Point and steer. And the tail will follow. Oversteer? Point, lift off slightly, power on, and the tail will neatly tuck back in. Occasionally, just tap the brakes to guide the rear in. Brilliant!

I had bunches of fun there. Definitely a place I’d visit again if I’d ever need a midnight adrenalin rush. Andrew told me it was peanuts for him though, the Teluk Bahang trained driver. Show-off! Our drive back through Batu Caves, then Sri Damansara was a full throttle affair, speeds at some points breached 200km/h. Nice. The adrenalin buzzed still once I got home.

But the sleep was good, I tell ya!

BTW, catch some good Touge action from the pros here. This is one of my favs – Touge Showdown 2