Mitsubishi "i" - The Rear-midship K-car

I was drawn to the car a month ago before it showed up in the showroom, next to where my office was. I was with my colleague who was actively shopping for a replacement for his 5-year old Mercedes A190. In July we finally paid a visit at the showroom during a lunch break to actually kick its tires, check out the interior and touch its metal skin. We did not have a test drive but simply were curious. Finally my colleague found himself a shining black VW Golf 1.6FSi with a good price. And we thought the price of HK$128,000 was high. We liked it a lot but could not readily accept its compactness.

There was some form of attraction just by looking at the early images and reading the spec sheet. I could not clearly tell you what exactly the factors were. I did not actually like the K-car concept. And I thought the "i" or any K-car would be too small and underpowered. What really drew my attention was its design/engineering, simplicity and effectiveness as a means of daily transport. I have then read many magazines about the "i", and all seem to respond positively after the test drive. One magazine reporter was delighted by the effectiveness of its air conditioning in the hot summer of Hong Kong, and the nimbleness of the 900kg chassis.

I have always high respect for the engineering at Mitsubishi, although not always in the "design" area. "i" seems to get both right. I like the look and I don't mind being seen in owning and driving one. I like the big slanted windshield and the supersized "double-wishbone" single-armed windshield wiper. It is so Mercedes. Of course it was designed as a platform for the next generation Smart-for-four, or in a slightly shortened and modifed form - the Smart-for-two.

I have no idea how it feels to drive it. I am not a big fan of 660-cc 3-cylinder turbo engine, which should be okay in terms of power and refinement (hopefully). The 0-100kph time of 12.5 seconds does not impress, but is not too slow either. A lot of small family, mid-size 2.0L sedans and 7-seaters also fall in this performance level. No big deal if it is good to drive. Fortunately Mitsubishi or Sime Darby did not opt for the dreadful CVT gearbox, but a well-engineered 4-speed auto box. It was reported to be excellent and working very well together with the small turbo engine.

In terms of fuel consumption it should be frugal. 18.4km/L (10.15 mode) and the 35L fuel tank should give a max. range of 644km. My guess is that it will have a 450-500km range for every fuel stop, approx. HK$400 per fill-up and around HK$0.8/km (based on HK$14/L fuel price).

Having said so much about the car, I think I should ask for a test drive to find out more.

What are your perfect cars?

網誌分類：Motoring Experience in Hong Kong |

網誌日期：2006-09-02 04:32

What is a daily car?

- must be relatively easy to maintain

- must be fuel efficient

- stress free and comfortable.

- basic luxury and excellent engineering

- a positive and clear image

- nimble and relatively light weight and balanced.

- good handling, willing to corner and responsive torquey smooth power delivery.

- painless to own and use.

- not worry about where to park and can go anywhere without second thought.

How I live with it:

- after a period I will be more sensitive to the shortcomings as the advantages and positive feelings fade.

- I need to live with the image.

- I need to live with the lack of power (C200)

- how to stop the negative feeling from building up?

- sometimes the build-up is not tangible as I find reasons here and there to shift attention and/or reduce the amount. But eventually it will catch up with me and ending up with a replacement.

- Tiki suggests I should always go for the best and avoid the intermediate. Going for the best go inline with a balanced decision.

MX-5 in the Slalom

At the invitation of the Peter I attended in the Sunday afternoon the slalom activity on the island side. I did not want to mention the name of the annual event because I didn't think it was well organized. The organizers there had done their best but every year it was just the same. I went there at 4pm and did my two rounds around 5pm. As expected I was given two opportunities and in both trials I had it wrong through the course and through the cones. No one was to blame because I knew I was a slow learner.

However after seeing all the more powerful and heavier cars before me smoking their tires and understeered I was happy to report that my little MX-5 did great. All the tight corners could be tackled with quick flips of steering wheel left or right, without the use of handbrake. The MX-5 has a clean and sharp weight transfer and handling, even with a passenger on board. The Toyos are worth a big mention. I just loved it. I went to wrong route twice so my time was not recorded.

However I was asked to leave after my trial. And I did with Tiki.

And I heard Peter won the competition with his Evo in his class. Congratualation!

Pity I did not see it.

Next time I need to get a ride first through the course before my trial.

AMG C36 - A 5-Month Long-term Update

The above image was taken almost two months ago by Eddie Ling. Thanks, Eddie.

It has been a while since I wrote about the AMG C36. Apparently my feeling for the C36 had changed slightly when the MX-5 arrived. Some were good and some were nearly not as good. The AMG has been with us since late March this year and has been a reliable workhorse. However it always seemed to be a much much longer time. Over the weekend I thought to myself what would I get next, a BMW or a Toyota/Lexus. I need to remind myself that it is not the time yet, at least not until Christmas.

Our time split between C36 and MX-5 has been 50/50. On rainy days of course we take the C36 always. Ditto when we need to carry more than ourselves or move a lot of stuff from one point to another. Having said that, we are entirely happy with the carrying capacity of the MX-5.

The C36 will be due for the 5000km oil change and service in a week or so. We report no problem whatsoever. The car feels more substantial and solid than either of the C200 and C240 we once owned, despite being the oldest of the trio. I believe it was handbuilt with the best engineered parts and components available in the mid 90's. It starts instantly in the morning every time with a twist of the key. It makes a lot of noise under the bonnet during the first minute and quiet down soon enough when the engine oil fully circulates and reaches all the moving parts. A/C runs and hums for a cool and quiet interior. Its engine still pulls like a train and remains smooth and silent at idle or city driving. When asked to do its AMG duty it will scream and redline without hesitation.

What separates the driving experience (or pleasure) between MX-5 and the C36 is the steering, chassis and the weight (1,030kg vs 1,600kg). While the MX-5 and the C36 have similar level of grips and double wishbone suspension in all 4 corners, there are a lot of play and body movement in the much heavier car. C36 just feels a lot less precise and less confidence inspiring. Only looking at the C36 speedometer I can tell myself I am probably going fast enough but the cornering limit is still convservative. I think I can always go faster but don't know exactly how. There is plenty of grip (Michelin PS2 225 in the front and 245 at the back), which cannot always be felt, especially in the wet. The C36 simply understeers initially and needs a few "seconds" to settle itself after weight transfer. In fast cornering it is important to dial the steering very quickly with slight trail braking to kill the understeering and settle the car. All needs to be done in a smooth and graceful way, especially in the quick left-right-left or right-left-right twisties. Believe me, it is always a handful, with the big Mercedes steering wheel. A BMW with similar weight will just do much better in the steering and handling department.

However it has always been a relax drive in the C36. There is no need to rev the engine up above 3,000rpm in city driving with good pace unless there is a need to impress fellow drivers sharing the road with me. Fuel consumption is much better than most people think (12L per 100km or 8.33km/L on average recorded since day one). The gear ratios chosen in the 4-speed auto can only be described as perfect. It will cruise at 2'500rpm at 100kph at 4th gear and seldom requires a kickdown 90% of the time. There is not a big gap between 2nd and 3rd gear I find in most cars today. The gearbox sometimes is a bit jerky but most of the time it does its job seemlessly without being noticed. There is a big change in the gear strategy when switching from "E" to "S" mode. In "S" mode, it will always keep the engine revving above 3,000rpm, where the engine is on the "hot" cams. I uses "S" mode very occasionally, sometimes after the action was over I remembered I could have used the "S" mode to a better effect.

A wax job at North Point was given to C36 on Sept 2nd, Saturday. It looked Fantastic.