Two weeks ago, I had the privileged to test drive one of the latest car from 'Lotus'... The 'Evora IPS'... 'Lotus' is a company that specializes in light weight sports and GT car which emphasize more in handling and balance rather than outright performance... If you are power hungry, you can basically forget about 'Lotus' because most of their car is not really that powerful...

So what does 'IPS' stands for??? 'IPS' stands for 'Intelligent Precision Shift' which in layman terms, automatic gearbox!!! This is the only 'Evora' that comes with an automatic gearbox... All the other variants comes with a manual gearbox including the more powerful 'S' model that comes with a supercharger to boost up the horsepower and torque... Essentially the 'IPS' model is the same as the lower model that comes equip with manual gearbox... 

If looks is what you are after, I'm very sure that the 'Evora' will stir things up a bit... Not the prettiest but definitely able to turn a few heads... For me, 'Exige' looks much better!!! The 'Evora' looks more grown up and more suitable for mature people... 

Only 'Evora' lettering... 'IPS' no where to be seen...

L     O     T     U     S

Centrally mounted twin exhaust that looks menacing but fails to deliver!!! The engine sound is muted to a sense that it sounds just like any sedan you found on our roads... Really disappointed with these pipes!!! If I own this 'Evora', the first thing that I'm going to change is definitely the exhaust...

Currently, 'Lotus' uses 'Toyota' engine in all their cars so obviously the same goes for the 'Evora'... The 'Evora IPS' uses a 3.5 liter naturally aspirated engine from the 'Toyota Camry'... Power is rated at 276bhp and torque at 350Nm... Coincidentally, the rated power is the same as my 'FrankenBenz' equip 'Toyota 1JZ-GTE' engine!!! 276bhp with a slightly higher torque at 363Nm...  

Unfortunately, the 'Evora' is much faster in terms of acceleration because of the weight difference between my 'FrankenBenz' and the 'Evora'... The weight of the 'Evora' is around 1382kg whereas my 'FrankenBenz' weights in at around 1890kg!!! That's more than 500kg difference!!! So my 'FrankenBenz' will definitely won't be able to outrun an 'Evora' in a sprint competition!!!   

The 'Evora' uses a four pot caliper setup on the front and rear which is more than capable of stopping the car thanks to the light weight design of the car... So now you know why racing cars strip out all the unnecessary things that will add in more weight to the car... The lighter the car, the better it will perform!!! This theory doesn't applies to acceleration and stopping of the car... It affects the handling as well... A lighter car will definitely out handle a much heavier car!!! 

 Forged alloy!!! Stronger yet lighter!!!

Very nice interior but fit and finish can be improve... At this price range, the fit and finish is not up to par in my opinion... The 'Evora' is basically a 2 seater although it is actually a 2 + 2 seater... The reason for this is because the rear seat is a joke!!! Normally I like to call these seat as 'DOG seat' but the rear seat of the 'Evora' is not even eligible for the title!!! Even children won't be able to get comfortable in... Credits to my darling as she manage to squeeze herself in!!! 

 How I wish this key belongs to me!!!

So how does this thing goes??? Here's some of my thoughts after driving it... The acceleration is definitely much better compare to my 'FrankenBenz'... You can really feels the G force when you are accelerating!!! But I believe the 'Evora' won't be able to outrun an 'E36 BMW' with '1JZ-GTE' up front because the weight difference is not significant... 

For me, a 'Lotus' car is not about outright speed or how many seconds it will take to hit 100km/h (if you need to know, around 5.2 seconds to 100km/h)... It is the handling that is important... People buy 'Lotus' because of its ability to out handle almost every car on the road... I'm really impress with the handling of the 'Evora IPS'... Although this is a sports GT, the ride is almost limousine like!!! The suspension is taut but definitely not hard and the ride is magic carpet smooth!!! Virtually no roll at all when you attack the corner... I really can't explain how they manage to do this... Normally if you want to eliminate roll, you need to compromise on ride comfort... The car will be hard and bouncing everywhere... If you want comfort, the car will roll when you attack a corner and the ride will definitely be boat like!!! How on earth they manage to do this is beyond me!!! Besides that, the car feels really direct and the steering is really slack free... Turn the steering 1mm and the wheels will follow exactly!!! Car is very neutral without the feeling of understeer or oversteer... Or maybe I didn't push the car hard enough??? So now you know why 'Proton' cars handle so well!!!

Surprisingly, the automatic gearbox does not hamper the performance... The shift is not the fastest but it is definitely fuss free and the +/- paddle is a joy to use... In full auto mode, the car drives just like any other auto car... What I really like about the 'Evora IPS' is when you are using the paddle for gear changing, it will not change gear for you even when you hit the rev limiter... This is what I like on an auto car with manual override... 

Once you are gunning for it, the engine note turns up a notch and this is a much welcome thing if you ask me... Too quiet during idling!!! The power delivery is typical naturally aspirated with the powerband at a much higher RPM... But with 350Nm, the 'Evora IPS' is rather happy to cruise along even at 2,000 RPM... You don't have to change down a gear if you don't wish to as the amount of torque is able to propel the car forward... For me, change down is a must when you are in the mood as the engine note intensified and the car lunges forward with much more enthusiasm... 

Overall I'm really happy to be able to test drive the car... But I really wish to take it up 'Genting' in order to fully appreciate the handling of the car... Thanks to my uncle for making my dream comes true!!!

Walao EH!!! Sibeh song arh!!! Walao EH!!! That's what actually happened after watching this movie... If you are a Malaysian, chances of knowing who 'Namewee' is are actually pretty high... I know there are a lot of Malaysian who hated him but you can consider me as one of his fans... Frankly speaking, I find him really talented... Just listen to his songs and you know what I mean... Besides that, he got a really nice vocal as well... I know he's talented in music but I didn't expect him to be talented in directing movie as well so I set my expectation really low as I didn't expect much from this movie... Is a low budget movie, first time movie director and also actor... What do you expect from this??? So setting my expectation real low is the key in order not to leave disappointed...

But boy I was blown away by 'Nasi Lemak 2.0'... This is by far the BEST local made film if you ask me... This is not a simple movie (there are a lot of hidden messages waiting to be discover)... Some of you might think that this is a normal comedy but you are wrong... You are right about the comedy part but this is NOT any normal comedy... You need to understand what 'Namewee' is trying to portray in this movie and quite frankly it is not really hard to decipher (unlike those found in 'Dan Brown's books)... This movie is about Malaysia and the people that live in this very country... Very patriotic if you ask me and definitely something our 'Prime Minister' will be very proud of because this movie brings out the whole meaning of '1 Malaysia'!!! 

So this proves that you don't need a lot of $$$ or fancy equipment (they are using Canon 5D Mark II DSLR to film this movie!!!) to make a movie enjoyable... Just the right script and a meaningful storyline are more than enough to make this movie a FIRST CLASS movie!!! Two thumbs up for 'Nasi Lemak 2.0!!! 

p.s. Still scratching my head on why our government didn't provide any support on this movie??? Arhhhh I think I knows the answer... You know I know la!!! Malaysia Boleh mah... Apa-apa pun BOLEH!!!

Yesterday was my darling's birthday... As usual nothing special (I know I'm bored)... We went out for movie and 'makan-makan'... But for me, nothing beats home cook meal especially for someone special!!! So I decided to cook her dinner on her BIG day...

Nothing fancy here... Grilled chicken breast with Black Forest Bratwurst... Marinated the chicken breast with some salt, pepper and rosemary... In my opinion, rosemary goes really well with grilled chicken...

Ta-dah!!! Signature grilled chicken breast with black forest bratwurst + garden salad with Romano sauce!!! No gravy needed for the chicken breast as the meat itself is super tender and not forgetting juicy!!! Cooked to perfection if you ask me... :)  Okay enough self praise!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING!!!
Hope you like the dinner!!!

If you still remember, a while ago I've posted a blog post called 'Stranded' and this blog post is something like a follow up... Although this happened a few months ago, only until recently my car is back to normal without any hiccup... Touch wood!!! 

Let me refresh your mind if you can't remember or don't know what really happened that unfortunate day... I was left stranded on the 'North-South Highway' somewhere near 'Seremban'... My engine fan actually hit the radiator and causes a massive hole and the best part is I don't know when it actually happen... I didn't hear any sound (maybe because of me blasting my sound system???) nor feels anything wrong with my car until detonation occur... When I stop my car I can see that the temperature is sky high but I didn't get panic at the moment... The moment I got panic is when I open the bonnet... Water is everywhere... It even drips from the bonnet!!! The whole engine compartment is wet!!!

A quick check at the radiator and I know what actually happened... There's a BIG hole on the top left side of the radiator and besides that, I found the engine fan blade broke in several places... I can still use back the fan temporary but not the radiator... It need to be fix before I can put in anymore water... 

Ok these pics show the aftermath of what happened that day... As you can clearly see the whole engine compartment is in a mess... Rusty water all over the engine bay...

Is a bit hard to see the broken fan but it is broken in several places... At least 3 of the blades are broken...

Luckily I managed to get my radiator fix and got my car moving... But this was not the end of it... For the past few months, I've been having overheating problem with my car... Sent my car to a few workshop for diagnosis and change a few things but still I can't get it fix... 

I've change my original fan to an electric fan not once but twice!!! The first one is not powerful enough to cool down the engine... There's no point changing back to the original one because this will surely happen again as the fan is very near to the radiator... Is just a matter or time... Electric fan solve my problem temporary but still I'm losing water... Between these few months, I've sent my radiator for repair at least 3 to 4 times because of leakage... In the meantime, I'm also searching for a new aluminium radiator for my 'FrankenBenz' and trust me, it is not an easy task (will blog about the aluminium radiator in my future blog post)... After changing to a new aluminium radiator, I'm still losing water... This time I know that the cost of repairing will be high... Since this is a new radiator, the chances of it leaking is really low... So I know that the water must be going through the gasket and this means that I got myself a blown head gasket... I know '1JZ-GTE' is one tough engine but this does not mean that it is indestructible!!! Blown head gasket rarely happen to '1JZ-GTE' because it comes with metal gasket... So I blame myself for this!!! 

So what happens after changing a new head gasket??? Problem solve!!! No more overheating problem and I don't have to top up water everyday!!!

To be continue...

I promised my darling to cut down on fast food and damn it was hard... Luckily she didn't insist on 'NO FAST FOOD' policy because that will surely make my life miserable!!! I know too much fast food is definitely not good for health so I'm trying my best to get a compromise here... 

In my opinion, I believe you can't categorize 'GCB' as unhealthy because of the way they cooked it... The chicken thigh is grilled and not fried and I'm sure that grilled is much better than fried!!! At least I don't feel sinful when taking a BIG bite out of it unlike 'Spicy Chicken McDeluxe'!!!  

I still remember the first time 'McD' decided to launch the 'GCB' and frankly speaking I'm not a BIG fans of it... But I know a lot of people like it very much... I guessed people tend to change because the second time they launched it, I'm really loving it!!! But not as much as my all time favourite, the 'BIG Mac' and 'Spicy Chicken McDeluxe'... The impression this time is definitely much much better... No explanation for that!!! 

I used to order large set everytime but nowadays medium will do just fine... The reason for this is not because I can't finish it... The main reason is to cut down on fries... I loved fries a lot and I know this is what makes you fat and my darling is complaining about the spare tyre that I got around my belly!!! So I got no other choice but to downsize the set... Another thing is changing normal 'Coke' to 'Coke Light/Diet Coke'... But recently I heard a lot of rumours regarding these calories free drinks... These drinks contain 'aspartame' and it is said to be harmful to human... Not sure how true is this but for the time being, I will still stick to 'Coke Light/Diet Coke' because I find normal 'Coke' way tooooooo sweet for me!!! Besides that, I'm trying to be vain as well... Keeping my belly in check!!!

A note for 'McD Malaysia'... Can you please reintroduce 'Chicken and Beef Foldover'??? I'm really craving for it!!! Besides that, my darling love it very much and it will definitely make my life easier... I hope you know what I mean!!! ;)