Malaysiaminilover

Category: Cars

It’s all about Cars

  • Fahrradi Farfalla FFX – Ferrari look-alike bicycle

    Fahrradi Farfalla FFX

    An Australian artist built a Ferrari look-alike bicycle – the Fahrradi Farfalla FFX, where FF stands for its power option, Fred Flintstone. This homemade Ferrari Fahrradi Farfalla FFX did not powered by anything above 500hp but it is equipped with pedals, crank arm, chain rings, handle, absorber, brakes, gear, four wheels, and some basic things you may find on a typical bicycle. In other words, power from driver’s leg is the source to move the car.

    Guess what? The car has side mirror, glass look-alike sunroof, two seats, and gullwing doors! Headlight is built from 200 LEDs and the front view of the 220-lb Fahrradi Farfalla FFX is a combination of Ferrari Enzo and Ferrari 458 Italia. As for the rear view, phew, it’s one of a kind but kind of futuristic. If you view the car from far away, you may think that the car is fitted with some kind of 20-inch hot exotic wheels but it is actually bicycle wheels with less than three inches wide.

    Fahrradi Farfalla FFX

    A cool car can’t without a cool name. The Australian artist Johannes Langeder named his vehicle Fahrradi Farfalla FFX not just because Fahrradi sounds like Ferrari. It’s because Fahrrad means bicycle in German and Farfalla means butterfly in Italian. Inside the car, there is no luxury dashboard or a set of nice audio system. There is an angle gear attached to the rear axle and it moves the gullwing doors while driving, resulting in wing beat similar to that of a butterfly – Farfalla.

    Fahrradi Farfalla FFX

    The question now is if the Fahrradi Farfalla FFX is going for an auction, how much you willing to pay for the zero-emission, tax-free, maintenance-free exotic car? Hmm, yes we consider it as a car because it is four-wheeled, covered, and has a cool exterior.

  • Ten craziest modified exotic cars

    All of us know that exotic cars aren’t cheap to own one. Some people prefer to collect them in their living room but some will spend thousands of dollars to modify them. Some people love them too much and not willing to step hard on the gas pedal but some will rape their exotics. Whatever your preference is, let’s check out these top ten craziest modified exotic cars of all time, make sure your eye don’t pop out! (more…)

  • Best small SUV with highest mileage

    best small suv

    As driving increases, gas prices usually rise during the vacation season. The rising of fuel costs could kill someone who owns bad mileage cars. While you can’t control the gas prices why not think twice before buying your dream car? It is not necessary to sacrifice the hobby to own an SUV with the advance technology today. Old days in the market we had only SUVs with bad fuel economy but nowadays it is different. There are many small SUVs are giving good mileage with lots of fun. If you are into small SUV or crossover, the best small SUV listed here is definitely delicious for you.

    MINI Cooper Countryman

    2012 MINI Cooper Countryman

    The 2012 MINI Cooper Countryman gets triple thumbs up when mentioned about mileage. It is the best small SUV with the best mileage in small SUV and crossover segments. It drives like an appropriate MINI Cooper and it delivers the fuel economy that above many people’s imagination. The MINI Cooper Countryman did not get thirsty easily because it only drinks a gallon of gas every 27 miles for city drive; 35 miles for highway drive and 30 miles for combined. With no surprise, the handling is as sharp as the Cooper hatchback and the ride is firm. As for interior, it fits four adults comfortably including the driver. Well, this could be controversial but it is pretty much depends on you needs. If you are in need of a small SUV with best mileage and your family is only four persons, why not?

    With an adjustable back seats, large items like golf equipment is no longer an issue that happens to MINI Cooper hatchback owner all the time. Power wise, the Countryman is powered by a 1.6-liter inline-4 engine that pumps 121 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque. This power is adequate to push the car from 0 to 60 mph in 9.8 seconds on the six-speed manual version and 10.9 seconds on the six-speed automatic version. One thing that some SUV fans expected aren’t found in the car is four-wheel drive option. The Countryman is only available with front-wheel drive. A list of active and passive safety features come along with the car include ABS, stability control, airbags, adjustable traction control, and the optional rear parking sensors.

    Price? The MSRP is started from $22,450. Love this car but feel it is too expensive? Would like to go for a cheaper alternative that has the same or similar gas mileage? Here it is, the Kia Soul Base!

    Kia Soul Base

    Kia Soul

    The Korean car manufacturer always provides the automobile market with a much cheaper price tag. With MSRP $14,650, you can get a brand new front-wheel-drive Kia Soul Base that delivers 27 city/35 highway/30 combined fuel economy. This rating is exactly the same with the Countryman but it is 35% cheaper. What is more surprise is the Eco package that offers a great fuel economy of 29/36/32. It is obvious that Kia has put in a lot of efforts to target on budget-minded small SUV buyers.

    The base Kia Soul is powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that delivers 138 hp and 123 pound-feet of torque. It is slightly higher than the Countryman. Transmission wise, a six-speed manual is standard but it is optional for a six-speed automatic.

    Let’s move the camera to interior. It isn’t as luxury as what we had in the Countryman but it did not short on practicality. All buttons are located at where it should be. Gauges and dials are nicely design too. The boxy design helps to create extra headroom and legroom. It has no problem for tall passengers.

    Conclusion

    The MINI Cooper Countryman and Kia Soul is rated the best small SUV with highest mileage in 2012. If both of these small SUV doesn’t suit your taste, you may consider some of their competitors including Scion xB, Honda CR-V, Nissan JUKE SL FWD, Dodge Journey, Nissan Rogue, and Kia Sportage.

  • Top ten box cars

    Design is limitless whether in clothing, automobile, or many other things in life. There are famous automobile designer who creates well-known cars with extraordinary outlook. Giorgetto Giugiaro is one to be mentioned. He is a famous Italian automobile designer who designed some notable cars including the De Lorean DMC-12, Ferrari 250 GT Bertone, Ford Mustang Giugiaro, Lotus Esprit for James Bond and the 1993 Lexus GS. Luc Donckerwolke who brings the 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT 6.0, 2002 Lamborghini Murciélago, (more…)

  • Cost to own a car vs. Cost to take taxi

    Most of the people who depend on public transport in their daily life may think about getting a car for their own. Anyone can purchase a cheap car with low maintenance cost, low monthly car payment, as well as low cost car insurance. However, does one really need an own car when the public transport is so convenience at such low cost? Here we did a calculation based on a case study in Thailand.

    In Thailand, the taxi is 35 baht once you get on it, every km after the first km is charged 10 baht accordingly. Let’s say you are going to travel 10 km from home to work everyday, it will cost 125 baht one day, and return will be 250 baht. In a month, we roughly work 22 days, the total cost of using taxi to work will be 22 x 250 baht = 5500 baht a month.

    So, what about getting one cheap new car for 508,500 baht? Now we do a calculation if you get a Honda Brio for work. Honda Brio gives 47 mpg, which is roughly 19.8 km per liter of petrol. A liter of petrol cost 34 baht and the cost to travel 20 km a day in a Honda Brio will be (34/19.8) * 20 = 34.34 baht a day. In 22 work days, it will be 686.8 baht. Other than the petrol, there is a monthly car installment of 9746.25 baht. The total cost for a month is now 10,433 baht. So, owning a car may anytime cost you double compared to using taxi for work.

    The true cost to own the car in 5 years time

    In long term, the calculation will be different compared to what we showed above. There is something else is excluded, the value of the car. If you spend 5500 baht a month for public transport to go for work, in 5 years it will be 330,000 baht. You get nothing because the money you paid goes for the service. Well, you have someone drive you to work.

    On the other hand, if you bought a Honda Brio 5-year ago, now you can probably sell it for 300,000 baht. In 5-year time, you paid a total of 584,775 baht for the car price including car loan interest. The cost for petrol in 5 years is 686.8 * 60 = 41,208 baht. The total cost to use the car for work in 5 years without including the maintenance fee will be 625,983 – 300,000 = 325,983 baht.

    Here is the conclusion of having an own car to go for work and using taxi to go for wok.

    Using car to go for work

    • Pros to own a car: Flexible in time, convenience, and can use the car on weekend for other purposes.
    • Cons to own a car: Extra monthly car payment compared to taxi, having extra cost like car insurance, car park fee, car maintenance, and some intangible cost like car wash as well as anti-theft accessories.
    • True cost to own the car over 5 years: 325,983 baht excluded car insurance and maintenance cost.

    Using taxi to work

    • Pros to use taxi: Just sit and relax in the car and need no tired to drive alone. Taxis are almost everywhere in the town.
    • Cons to use car: Extra cost may occur during weekend when you are going to somewhere else.
    • True cost to use taxi over 5 years: 330,000 baht excluded extra cost during other day.

    From the comparison we made here, the cost to own a car and cost to use taxi to go for work is more or less the same. The only different is that owning a car will have higher cost for every month. It is up to individual and which way you prefer. What will be your choice?