Mitsubishi Lancer GT gets 2012 treatment

Mitsubishi Motor Malaysia has given its 5 year-old Lancer GT a mild makeover to make it more 2012-like. The additional items are cosmetic, consisting of front skirting consists of LED DRL, LED position light in the main headlamp assy, newly design side skirt and rear valance. The interior still has the high quality Nappa leather, but now comes in sportier upholstery design, complete with prominent stitching, touch screen audio system plus reverse camera and a new premium carpeting.

The car is mechanically unchanged, meaning that is powered by the 2.0L MIVEC kicking out 150PS@6,000rpm and 197Nm@4,200rpm of power and torque respectively. Drive is channelled via the INVEC III CVT gearbox with 6 preset ratios. The updated Mitsubishi Lancer GT is priced at RM125,468 without insurance.

Nissan Almera previewed - from RM70k, coming in Q4

Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM) previewed the forthcoming B Segment challenger, the Almera at the Pavilion KL, the first on the road show planned for this car. The preview also has quashed the question whether the car will be called Sunny or not, as it is clearly stated to be Almera. As for the road show, Nissan Almera will be on show at Pavillion KL until today 12th August 2012. Concurrently it is on show at Dataran Pahlawan Melaka for the same duration. The final stop will be at Queensbay Mall Penang during the Eid break of 16th August until 21st August. Seems the people up north will get to see the car for a longer period.

As described in MMN previous articles, Nissan Almera is powered by HR15DE 1.5L mill producing 99PS@6,000rpm and 134Nm@4,000rpm. The fuel tank is 41L in size and according to Nissan, it is good for 6.3L/100km for the manual version. Speaking about the transmission, 5MT will go along with the 4AT, which is on par with non-National B Segment best seller, Toyota Vios "level" of technology.

Dimensionally, Nissan Almera is 4,425mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,500mm tall. The wheelbase is 2,600mm. Comparatively, Toyota Vios is 4,300mm long, 1,700mm wide and 1,460 tall while it rides on a shorter 2,550mm wheelbase. Honda stylish City meanwhile is 4,395mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,475mm tall while the wheel distance stretched 2,550mm too. In terms of chassis, Nissan Almera shares a common type of McPhersons strut and torsion beam setup like the rest of its competitor. More details of Nissan Almera and photos of Singaporean spec cars can be traced back to MMN articles back in March 2012. Braking power is provided by ventilated disc at the front while the rears are taken care by those drums type. ABS and BA will save day upon calling. The car is quite lightweight too, as the base manual variant is just 5kg above the 1 tonne. More detail after the jump.

Paris Motorshow debut for Jaguar F-Type

The F-TYPE, Jaguar’s all-new aluminium two-seater sports car, will make its global debut in production form at the Paris Motor Show on 27^th September. The F-TYPE will be launched as a convertible with a choice of three petrol engines: 340PS and 380PS versions of Jaguar’s all-new 3.0-litre supercharged V6, and a new derivative of its existing supercharged 5.0-litre V8. All will drive the rear wheels through an eight-speed transmission and will be equipped with Stop/Start technology.

Following the F-TYPE’s ‘camouflaged’ public drive at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June of this year, testing of the final verification prototypes has continued in some of the harshest environments in the world. The new F-Type will carry a strong cue previewed by the Jaguar C-X16 Concept.

As its name suggests, this test programme is designed to verify the staggering amount of design work that was carried out by Jaguar’s engineers in the ‘virtual world’, a process in which the company is an industry leader.

More than half-a-million separate F-TYPE design analyses were carried out comprising 10-million CPU hours of processing, creating more than 300TB of data. Had that same amount of initial design analysis been completed on physical cars, the number of prototype F-TYPEs built would have filled the majority of the UK’s motorway network bumper-to-bumper.

The result of all that ‘virtual’ design work is that Jaguar’s engineers are currently concentrating on honing the performance of the physical verification prototypes, to ensure the production F-TYPE delivers truly focused sports car driving reward.

Off Topic - Japan Part II - the Kani

MMN author is in Japan again, sadly not due to any new car launch invitation, but due to some hush-hush company project. Today is the last day of the business trip. It's an inevitable end to the trip as next week is Japan's summer break where most companies will be shut down. Anyway, just want to share the nice restaurant, located somewhere in Goi, some 15 minutes from Ichihara, Chiba. I don't know what it is called as I speak and read nil in Nihongo, but I think it is called Kani. Kani is crab in Japan, depicted below.

As the name implies, it is all about crab here. At the end of the meal, you'll swear you don't want to see anymore crab for the rest of the year. All cuisines are crabby, even the miso soup. Fortunately the drinks and ice cream are not. Anyway, I've seen a few Toyota 86 down the road in Ichihara, Chiba and Tokyo. But a trip to Toyota showroom yielded no encounter with the Hachiroku, the new Spade is there instead. Maybe it is the wrong showroom as Toyota sells different cars via different outlet. I've seen the new Honda CR-V too, it definitely looks better on the road than on the photo. The new Corolla Axio starts to roam the road too. Well, the Kani meals are as below..

 More photos after the jump.

2013 Honda Accord Sedan & Coupe unveiled - bigger inside,smaller outside

Honda has dropped the first photos of the new 2013 Honda Accord. Dubbed as the sculpted Accord ever, the new Accord wears a more sophisticated exterior designed to last the test of time. The interior too is expressed as more luxurious and spacious. While the official dimensions is yet to be released, Honda has clearly stated that the 2013 Accord is smaller on the outside and bigger on the inside. The current model is quite humongous with its 4,950mm length (same as Lexus LS400 from last decade, clearly an S-Class challenger) so expect the new Accord to be slightly smaller, consistent with the trend set by the new Honda Civic.

The 2013 Accord wears a more formal looking face with distinctively sharp grille outline that link with the highly-tensioned looking hood character line.The headlamp is a toned down from the flamboyant current model, housed in more executive looking housing suit with prominent LED line-up. Looking at the side profile, it is clear that the new car has lost a lot of its fat. The side panel is more lean, athletic even.

The rear end has some Mercedes E-Class overtones in its rear light outline. However, Honda has a strong interplay of surfaces here, look at the rear bumper upper surface that blend with the vertical plane, and edged by the side panel that runs a crisp line that joins the trunk lid edge with is punctuated at the side by the line that runs down to the license plate chromed garnish.

The Accord Coupe gets a slimmer front fascia, with meshed grille, slimmer headlamp and sportier front bumper design. The rear end bumper gets a similar vertical meshed (with reflector) pattern on the outer edge.

The US version of Honda Accord is tipped to be powered by the new Honda's Earth Dream engine, which comprises the like to 2.4L direct-injection gasoline (at least 181bhp) mated to CVT or 6MT and 3.5L V6 with 6AT gearbox. The Hybrid version will be powered by the electric motor hooked to the 2.0L Atkinson cycle engine.

Typically, the Asian version differs from the US model by only the minor chromed garnishing. But as the new Accord is loaded with chromed trim already, and has a full length rear light, it is highly possible that our version of Accord will look just like this. But we might need to wait until the Asian car make it debut, probably as the new "Inspire" in Japan or some other market that is quick in introducing new model such as Singapore or China. Malaysian car is typically some 12 months late due to CKD program.

There is no release of interior photo, but from the previous spyshots HERE, the layout of the dashboard is clear to be seen. What do you think about the new Accord?