vishkid

Cheers bro - a good choice. And if you could note down your initial impressions here (and later in detail), it would be helpful to others and fulfill the topic.

Is this the same as paint protection films you apply to external body parts as well?

It will be possible with the new vanity plates. They are scheduled to be available soon (at a thumping cost). Your regular plate - no.

The company is called LandWind! Hope it's not called RangeWind I saw it being described as LandWind X7.

You can get an Evoque (look alike) for 4 -5 Million LKR soon. That's if the FTA with China works out Link

Drunk truck

Slightly OT, but my 2c having registered a vehicle last week; If you're planning on paying 50k and getting number in the CAC range, don't really bother as all the good looking/sounding numbers are gone - unless your plan is to get whatever the current number + 10,000. If you really want a nice number, the best bet is to pay up a little more and look in CAD or CAE categories. Otherwise, like me, spend the money on something exciting for the new car TBH, I gave up after checking out 14 numbers and finding none are available!

Yeah, many posts during the last few days are OT (including this ). BTW, it started with some of us getting anal about app/tech usage - now I come from a much older generation and I don't apps to track when and how I pump fuel, but still think that there nothing so wrong about using the tech to your advantage specially if it is easier for some people to mange that way. And I also think if the car gave you enough accurate data to understand your driving and the car's performance - it would be for the better, not the detriment, and I wouldn't find it depressing at all .. and MasterDon's cousin just might learn what he's doing wrong!

Sure does. So it's an advanced version of an optical fiber with a much thicker strand (or multiple standard fibers in a strand), somehow managing the optical propagation. Hope they can get it to work in mass production soon. Agree on the FCX/Clarity - but the launch of that helped to create awareness and increase the # of H-pumps, at least in the US I think.

Is that some form of EL wire or LED powered optical fiber on the proto? I met a guy from Audi (Stephan Berlitz) at a work event who has been experimenting with multiple new methods for automotive lighting including EL sheets / wire as well as printed OLED. The problem with all these apparently is with the lifetime where printed OLED do not last even half the life of a conventional light source and EL is much worse. The other problem is that with these methods you have to replace the whole light fixture rather than replacing a bulb! His plan is to introduce solid OLED based lights on Audi in 2017 and printed OLED (with all sorts of cool effects that you can see on youtube - Audi Swarm) a little later. He expects Audi to lead on these timelines (naturally) and no one else ... BTW the Honda FCV which they released sometime back - was it pulled off the market or still there? In which case, the Mirai might not be the first.

Quantified self mate. People are keeping track of every damn thing possible and Gen Y is more receptive to this than any other generation before. It might mean only a little to the person tracking things but the collective data (big data) is big money when it comes to understanding product usage and marketing. I personally feel that our cars are not sufficiently talking to us with enough long term data (they sure have the capability to sense, store and process them) so that we as consumers can make more educated decisions about usage, maintenance and repair. IMHO, It's not just about being a lazy ass to keep tab of when and how much you pumped fuel - it's the wasted ability for the car to inform us in detail about fuel consumption habits and trends. Hopefully we'll get there. On Rumesh's point - our lifestyles are indeed at a turnpoint and we will lose certain cognitive and processing capacities as we depend more and more on AI, but it will certainly not be diminishing returns; because our perceived return would be higher for less effort.

IIRC 100 is not the ultimate octane (RON) though, it's just better than 98? But I don't think there are many road cars requiring anything above 100. Even 95-100 is required by a handful of models and probably doesn't justify maintaining a separate stock?

Cheers. Keep us updated.

I mentioned that and I really don't understand the difference except the slight difference in engine capacity. I actually don't know how much a brand new 'elite' would cost after the budget.

I just got my Sorento and have not noticed anything so far but this issue has been common for many North American 2011/12 models. Just google for Sorento 2012 drift/pull issue. Attached is a TSB issued by KIA on the matter in 2011. The solutions include a camber kit or a pin which just counteracts the built in (pull inducing) camber as far as I can see. Don't know how much of it is relevant to Korea manufactured Sorentos we get here. TSB CHA 032 LOWRES.pdf

I agree .. each of those attributes should add at least 100-200k to the value of the car

Yesterday on H!tad I saw a full page ad for Perodua Viva for 17.6M brand new with all options ... a page or two later there is a private ad for a 2011 Viva with 40k on the clock for 18.5M .... Was a classic facepalm moment and signifies the current 2nd hand market expectation vs reality. But people will adjust. (Edit. there could be a slight engine displacement between the two cars, but still ...)

or those who 'import' firearms, in one case

If this was true, there would be no used vehicle markets in economies like US and UK where financing a new vehicle is very easy for those with good credit. Sometimes, you don't even need a down payment. But a thriving 2nd hand market exists, albeit at realistic values (and you don't get really old crapboxes, unless they have value in terms of being limited editions etc)

Usually, the sound comes from an external siren/speaker added with the security system and is typically mounted in the engine bay, closer to the battery and driving compartment. Check if your system has that - if so a wire might be disconnected somewhere to disable sound. IMHO, in case of security sirens that's a good thing; unless you've got yours setup to quick beeps, instead of wailing sirens.

This is what I did myself except i/o #1, I drained through the sump. I used a can of BG Mercon-V in the 2nd step. There would hv been some old ATF in the system but percentage-wise I think that's something I can live with.

Don, judging by OP's profile pic I don't think his Mz3 is CVT (only the latest model years had CVT). Your recommended ATF is M-V (it would be marked in your ATF dipstick) and although you can try substitutes, you cannot find a reasonably good one for cheap. So my advise is to stick to M-V. I changed my ATF on the Axela 2 months back and here are the quotes I got for genuine Mazda M-V; Colonial - 19k (ATF + labor) Mazna - 17.5k (ATF + labor) Carmart - 17k (ATF) Asiri - 16k (ATF) Rainbow - 13.5k (ATF) > negotiated down to 11.8k for a 4L can and replaced it myself (drain & refill ++) (My old ATF was not bad in color or smell but I felt a slight lag/slip in transmission and was a bit low on the dipstick)

You can try with Mazna Motors as well? Could be more expensive than Rainbow, but they stock more genuine parts than any of above.

Thanks for the info. From what I've heard, there is a bit of change about their service levels now. Glad to know your problem too is seemingly on the mend!