Searching for my next Kuruma~~~ 1st review (Great Wall M4)

For the past few months I had been rigorously collecting and researching on what the car market had to offer. Thanks to my rather unique preferences, the whole process is made easier as not many of them fits in to my list of consideration.

My preferred specifications:

·         Below RM 80K

·         Manual Transmission

·         Displacement of 1.6cc and below

·         4 or 5 doors

Okay, we are not here to argue about my preferences. Matching the above list of specification, I had found a few kuruma and they are:

·         Great Wall M4

·         Nissan Almera

·         KIA Picanto

·         Toyota Vios (J)

·         Proton Iriz

Why no Perodua? Let’s just say that it is not my cup of tea. My plan is to test drive all of them and finalise the chosen one to be purchase next year. As I had posted on my Facebook that I had tested the first in the list and below are my brief review on the car.

Disclaimer: the review stated below are based on my personal opinion thus does not represent any party. Praises and critics are made base on the test drive unit provided by either the manufacturer or retailer.

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GWM’s Great Wall M4

Apparently this model had been in Malaysia for a couple of years. The main attractive point had to be the price. Ranging in between RM50k-60k, undoubtedly the mini SUV had grab some attention. I am not going to explain in detail on the available versions, prices, and differences as you may refer them from the below flyer. The below review are based on three sections: exterior, interior, and drive experience.

(test drive unit: Great Wall M4 Comfort MT)

1. Exterior

If you were to notice, the M4 design looks familiar to other cars in the market, to me it is a design with the mixture of the front grill of Ford, head of a Toyota, and the back of Kia. Despite that, it still looks pretty decent (compare to some). I rated this mini SUV pros and cons as below:

            Pros:

·         Decent head and tail lights

·         Nice fitting 16 inch rims

·         Big side mirrors with indicators

·         Solid build with 6 choice of colours

·         Proper body ratio and size (very easy to get in)

·         4 disc brakes

Cons:

·   Heavy Doors

·       Gap between bonnet and windscreen is somehow a little too wide

·       Fuel cap panel does not come with holder and the cable attached must be proper adjust every time you close the panel as it might caught the dangling cord

·        Big fat backside that does not add value to the car’s function and design

·        The stand panel beside every door are covered with easily scratch plastic

·        The door open handle feels fragile (same goes for the roof rails).

  

2. Interior

Behind the wheels of the comfort version limiting my review to a certain accessories such as the touch screen navigation system, leather seats, and the rear mirror smart tag thingy. Nevertheless, the rest are covered as below:

     2.1 Seats and leg room:

The driver seat’s height is not adjustable as it only allows you to adjust forward and backward. I find the height really not suitable for short waist dude like me. Overheard from another fellow female test driver, she claims that she have problem with the height as her sight is reduced. Since my legs are not short, I pushed the seat nearly all the way back and to realise the rear seat leg room vanished.

With the cushion covered in plastic wrap and the floor covered with newspaper, there's no way to tell whether they are comfy but from my observation, it seems comfortable as the cushion comes with anti-heat netting but might raise a worries as it may tangle with clothing zips or other hard material object. The rear seat are not for long journey as they are nearly at 90 degree and not to mention the limited leg room.

     2.2 Dashboard and center console:

The meter layout on the dashboard is handsome. I personally have no complaint about it. The digital speedometer lit in dim orange is warp around nicely by two stripes of white lights that indicates the temperature and the fuel. Although it looks nice, it takes me some time to get used to the digital speedometer as I still prefer the traditional needle (exactly what the unit have for the rpm reading to the right).

The steering wheel is comfortable to hold but for a car that size, one can only wish for a larger one. The volume rocker button on the steering wheel is decent but when you press down the honk, you will realize that the front cover of the steering wheel is not well fix and align to the base thus creating plastic friction.

The buttons layout on the center console is a copycat from other reputable manufacturer, so it looks nicely arrange to me. Despite the good v shape layout with mini LCD screen to indicate the air-condition’s status, the buttons as predicted and reviewed are just way too flimsy. It is actually worse than my expectations. Only the two nob buttons are good to press (air condition and radio on off) the rest must be handle with care. (Same goes for the control panel on the driver’s door) the comfort version comes with a big LCD screen for the radio that I find it a plus point.

  

     2.3 Storage

The side pockets by the two front door is meaningless as my hand can’t fit in. The grove box in front of the passenger seat is pitifully small. Above the grove box comes a curve in space that I have no idea what would be place there, maybe it is meant for little McDonald toys / figurine as decoration? I ponder.

Despite having a big backside, the boot space without folding down the rear passenger’s seat is relatively small. It only fit a maximum of two medium luggage bags. I did not fold down those seats to reveal larger space as it is troublesome and defeats the original purpose. I forgotten to check whether there’s pocket behind the two front seats (will do it next time). P.s.~ there’s no place for your Rayban~~~

3. The Drive

Before taking off, I manage to spend some time in the unit with engine ignited. The sound of the engine remain calm and smooth. As I switch on the air conditioner, the rpm meter started to rev (normal). That is when I felt a minute vibration from the engine. Given the fact that the car is low on fuel, the vibration could be as innocent but I fear that it is from the improper fuel injection or distribution. (My current car produce such vibration in larger scale as it chocks for fuel). Realising the car is vibrating (you might not feel it) I decided to rev the car and to find out the paddles are not as responsive. That is when the engine roar it’s loudest.

Still before taking off, I manage adjust the side and rear view mirrors without problem. However the air-condition is leaving me head scratching. It is not easy to adjust all the dials (still not getting it done) the main concern is the sound of the fan of the air conditioner. At medium fan speed, it is way too loud! It overwhelmed the noise from the idling engine and the radio at soft. To see whether the radio’s voice can counter it, yes it does but the speakers are poor.

Eventually I took off after waited for about half an hour. With the radio and air condition switched to off, the sound of the engine is not bad at all. As a spirited driver, I started to play with the clutch paddles and gear stick. More disappointments brews. Knowing the clutch paddle can be adjusted to my preferred height, I am not going to comment on that. The annoying part is the gear stick as it is short to thrust forward for first, third and fifth gear and long to pull backward for the other three gears. That’s not all, the gear switching is not comfortable as they are too close to each other (Please refer to diagram below). With the gear shifting not making it any more comfortable, I could not really test out on the gear ratio but it appears to me that the ratio gap are close as I have to shift more often than my current car.

  

I took the unit (and the salesman) to a more remote area so that I could pick up some speed. The speed struggles to go up at first as the paddle’s respond is not sensitive enough for me. (Can get used to it) the unit became smooth to drive at about 40-60km/h. it is pretty decent to drive / cruise around town. (Given the fact that I had driven something worst). Since this car is not design to dash, I give that department a rest. The car balance well in corners but you can feel a slight tyre friction with sharper turns. The sales person told me it could be caused by the not proper inflated tyres, I have no idea. The brakes on the other hand are responsive and it does perform as well as any other cars with 4 disc brakes. No fuel test could be conducted as the test unit’s fuel and distance recorder is removed.

As a conclusion for the drive review, other than the annoying gear shifts mechanism and the seat height’s that force me to sit up straight, I managed to drive the unit around without much trouble. I wouldn’t say I enjoy driving the unit as much as my current car (could be my problem), but given the fact that it is really dirt cheap, I will still put it in my consideration list for now. Is it worth your time to even have a look at the car? Yes! Just remember that you do not get another car that size for that price and it is not ugly.

If you are planning or had tested the car, please provide some feedback as this will determine whether the problem lies in the test unit or my driving behavior. But keep one thing in mind, do not be put off by my findings above as I tend to scrutinise to details, some of the mentioned might not affect you. Have fun~~~

公主病

又一個睡不著的夜晚，剛從麥當勞回來的我回想起了兩件事。其一是無意間聽到一些年輕小伙子的對話，一個足以讓他們談了一小時有餘的話題：公主病。 （第二件事請留意另一片有關文章）

 

不久前有為朋友在面子書上放了有關於此話題中國某節目，事情不是很嚴重而有了好的結局。我想了很久，到底什麼是公主病？病患者都帶著什麼病兆？怎樣才算是患上了此病？來源呢？

 

經過一番思考（有點吃飽太得空的感覺）有了以下的結論：

問題一：什麼是公主病？根據理解，凡是被寵壞的女人談戀愛時顯得自私而採用了不理智的方法去戀愛者都有此病。

問題二：來源？

可能性有幾種：

1．從小嬌生慣養而長大了和社會有代溝（往往與家庭和環境灌輸的概念有關）。

2．不了解愛情​​運作方式而踏入了（初戀）。

 

3．太多幻想和期望（大約是電視劇的惡作劇吧）。

4．被男友寵壞了。

5．完美主義者 （常以他人做比較）。

6．將以上所提到的都混在一起。

愛情佔有了女人一生中的多少是男人無法理解的。從小很多小女孩都希望自己是個漂亮的公主而希望某日王子會騎著白馬到來。到了青春期，女孩接觸了世界而對愛情有了幻想和期望。從小要風得風的小女孩和從小什麼都得不到的女孩都希望從愛情上得到安全感，無論是物質上或心靈上，有誰不希望自己的另一半能滿足自己的每一個慾望？

 

 

初戀時期，相信每個人都上了寶貴的一課。有的醒覺了，有的成熟了。至於那些沉睡於夢幻的公主呢？有的仍然不停的尋找王子，有的還期望另一半化身王子。當然還有一些真的遇見王子了，繼續被那傻乎乎的王子寵著。當然我所提到所謂的“期望”和“寵”是非凡的。

 

很多男人都很怕自己的另一半患上此病，但是往往是自己把這病菌注入自己的女伴。有些人說只要訓練好自己的女人就不會患病，也有人說女人是拿來寵的。我再次告訴大家，女人是拿來愛的，寵物是拿來寵的，別把自己的女人當狗狗貓貓了好吧？別等到把她寵壞了，無能為力了，她說你變了，你說你累了，鬧翻了才來後悔。

 

在我的世界裡其實並沒有什麼所謂的公主病，這些女人只不過是一些缺乏安全感的人。只要你給予她最基本的愛那就夠了。若有必要，請喚醒她，提醒她這段感情的重點在哪裡。沒有了愛再多的物質與陪伴都是無謂的。學習享受一段感情，放下所有其他無謂的，這就是愛。

 

如果男人非相信此病存在不可，那不就代表世界上也有王子病？世界是圓的，換個方式去想的話，所謂的公主病其實就是男人無能女人無知？愛等於了解，別隨便投入，否則後果自負。

Foodiot

Not long ago while I was having lunch with my friends, a young female appeared beside me from nowhere to stop me from digging in to my food. She said that my food looks interesting and would like to snap a picture of it. The conversation (translated from Chinese) as below:
Lady: WAIT! Don’t eat first, I would like to snap a pic of your food.

Arthur: would you like me to hold the dish up?

Lady: No, I only want to take a picture of your food but not you.

Arthur: so you are going to take a picture of my food without me being in it huh.

Lady: Yes, I wanted to post on my Facebook. With you in it, viewers might misunderstand that you are my friend (snapping away without my approval).

Arthur: so you decided to befriend my food instead. By the way, my name is Arthur and nice to meet you and are you one of those food reviewers?

Lady: I am here to take picture only.

Arthur:  Hmm, a tourist from another state huh?

Lady: No, from where you get that idea? Just because I have a DSLR in my hand doesn’t mean that I am not from local.

Arthur: oh okay, my bad, so can I assume that you like to collect food photos?

Lady: why you ask so much?

Arthur: just curious of why would a local snapping tons of picture of a local dish.

Lady: is that against the law?

Arthur: of course not, is just rather rude of you to do it even without my permission and if you may, kindly please allow me to eat now as I am very hungry.

Lady: you are not the chef, I don’t have to ask for your permission.

Arthur: but I am paying for the food, that makes me the owner of the food and you are breaching my privacy now, and when you are done, please walk away before this gets any uglier (unbelievably that my face still have a smile on it).

Friend A: we are kind of in a discussion, so when you are done, please allow us to carry on.

Lady: ok (walk away)

 

After that weird conversation, I literally scratched my head, a lady just befriended my food and refuse to talk nicely to a human. Questions of the day:

1.       Why would a local take picture of a local dish?

2.       Can’t she afford a RM5.00 dish?

3.       Isn’t it easier to snap with a phone camera (she had a smart phone)?

4.       Why would a local carry a heavy DSLR everywhere?

5.       Does my food have a fan page in Facebook?

Am I the only curious one? Why would people snap and share their every meal on social media? It will be all different if that meal were:

1.       Taken by tourist

2.       You made it (something special)

3.       Specially decorated for an event

4.       Mean something to you

5.       Being review

6.       Comes with a hefty price tag

If this is a new culture, I think I will suggest to restaurants that they should have photo taking service or to have food photos to social media uploading service. Okay, before you slap me in the face, I do take picture of my food as well but I am sure that it fit the above reasons.

What do you think? Are you one of them?

To love you but not to understand you?

A female friend of mine once told me that when comes to relationship management, guys should not attempt to understand their female partner but to love them whole hearted will do. Well I must admit that I am not a person that always gave fast respond answers as at that moment, any feedback from me might trigger any offensive response (please refer to another article of mine by the title of pride management). Thus at that moment, all I can do is to nod my head silently and reply with a smile. I’ve been doing some thinking lately and the below written should be my best feedback to the related issue.

I know there are plenty of authors had mentioned that how males and females reacted when comes to handling relationship, in any language and culture, males and females are always classified as two different species. Well, not biologically but mentally. I am not thoroughly agree with most of the so called research conducted between men and women but at times we have to just blame it on the culture.

Before I sway further away, let’s get back to the topic: Understanding a female. That is not something new I guess, but it is really impossible for guys to figure a girl out when comes to relationship? (Ok, found guilty of narrowing down the topic but I really need to or else this article will become a freaking thesis about women). In the past I had plenty of friends came to me for some advice on this matter, sounds weird but don’t ask why they approached me, I have no idea as well. The solution will always be the same – Profiling. It is the best way for guys to understand girls if that particular guy really care about their female partner.

A person who knows me well knew that I profile nearly everyone. That is the best way to enter anyone’s life. Well, everyone actually does it, the only difference is between whether you do it consciously or unconsciously (please refer to article: profiling). So is female not to be understood? My answer is a sweet NO. Guys if you are reading this and felt relief, seriously refer to some profiling method I reckon in another article. Wait, I have to put this in capital wordings: FEMALE ARE MEANT TO BE UNDERSTOOD AFTERALL, YAY. (If you are wondering whether had I lost my mind, don’t worry, I had not!)

Bear with me for a while, let’s make things simple by breaking down. Can you even love someone without basic understanding? Let’s test all your senses and hope there’s not a case of malfunction. For a man, it always starts with sight. Once your brain registers an image of her, it will automatically ping you that whether this girl is your “type”. Once approved (within seconds), a dude will start to calculate a million possibilities about the girl (stereotyping is not healthy for you). On first level, that my friend is not an understanding yet as you had not find out the truth about her.

So you walk across and introduce your-self or you asked around, now that is trying to understand (basic profiling) and you are likely to get a set of answers (till you get those answers only you are certified with basic understanding). After using your bunny ears, the most common thing that you will do is to exchange information, typical man huh. From there, it tells us one thing which is even before starting a relationship, the upmost common understanding between both parties must be there to spark a fire (well let’s not talk about the case of she is not that in to you). Where had it gone wrong after being together?

To be very honest, love it or hate it, it is always the case of either the male stop trying or the female start asking for more (or both at the same time). In this situation, the question is no longer “do you understand me?” but “are you tired of me?” or “had you lost interest in me?” etc. A lot of girls always complaint that their partners do not understand them, in some case yes, but most of the time, that is a big NO. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to love someone or something without further understanding unless he or she is gifted in a way or blinded in another way.

Look at your shopping patterns, okay, look at the things you bought that costs you at least half of your earnings and above, from something as simple as your smart phone to a car (or even an apartment). Had you not consider the specs or criteria before throwing out the cash? It proves that we have to understand before we fell deeper for it. Let’s not compare with items, it can be very offensive to some. But come to think of it, you girls dare to absorb a guy that merely understands you as your life partner? I don’t think so. Conclusion: when guys said that they “don’t understand”, it is most likely they don’t want to further understand due to any reason (the cause can be from either party).

So when a girl ask a guy not to understand her, to me is a joke, are you asking me not to further develop interest on you or are you trying to hide something from me? From my personal opinion, to love means to understand. You can’t tell me who and what to love. If I don’t like Chihuahua (I really don’t like them) means I don’t like Chihuahua, why? Because I don’t understand how to shut them up and why are they always so loud. On the other hand, if I said I like to play tennis (I do play tennis), that means I like it as I understand how the game works. I can’t be saying that I like it when I don’t even know how to hold my racket right?

So why does female said such a sentence? To me, very simple, you are asking for one or more of the below stated:

1. Seeking for attention (more time together)
2. Pride protection (no discussion no argument)
3. Money spent on you instead of another person (including the guy’s mother)
4. Etc. (go figure!!!)

To all the girls that are reading this, never ever said that to a guy (well, at least to me) you are merely asking for trouble or a fight. It is equivalent as asking me to think without my brains. Do not attempt to use this for the above stated. It will only make your male partners lose their hair due to over scratching. Guys, never say that girls are not meant to be understood. Same theory applies.

(I have a few related articles coming up to support my theory, if you like to view them, do let me know, I will post it up)

Hello~~~

It’s been awhile since I last updated my blog, if you are reading this, thank you very much for visiting. To be honest I have no idea on what to write but yet I strongly have the desire to write. Let’s start with some interesting topics:

For my Family:
• I can’t wait to see you all in the coming Christmas celebration, and phew! What a relieve that we had finalized the celebration location. I had started to written down some crazy ideas that hopefully not to complicated or costly to prepare. I might come up with some surprise. Do feel free to provide more ideas ya 

• For those of you that are going to HK, please remember that no souvenirs are required. Enjoy be safe and have a great time ya  oh ya, snap more photos please 

• For my brother who are going to join me for Jacky Cheung concert, I will contact you a week before travelling to KL. Excited aren’t you? 

• A little update of my side of story: I am doing ok but kinda miss home. Recently had written down some plans for my own future, share with you all when meet up
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For my Friends:
• For those who I have no time to meet up recently, I sincerely apologize and will eventually make it up to you.

• For my Tennis buddies, due to the recent raining season, we had not been really having fun. But I assure you that the session will go on as usual, and I strongly suggest that you all bring friends to try the sports. Our group are getting smaller and smaller… thanks in advance ya 

• To those who are recently indulged in Love River, I congratulate you and wish you all happily ever after. (now that you all are occupied… I assume that I can see you lesser then usual?>>> just kidding)

• Those that recently had “sharing” session with me, feel free to share anything and be more open up in the future sessions. If my ideas are not working or my words of motivations are not helping, please come back to me as I am learning too. I hope you all found happiness as well 
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For my Colleagues:
• We are here for a reason, no matter what reasons, remember to be happy and stress free 
• Office politics is not healthy for you!!! Be kind

Quote of the day:
• Everything is perfect when you are happy


Signing off~~~@rt Cafe

Pointing Fingers

I had crated this picture to remind everyone not to point fingers at anyone...

- no matter which finger you are pointing... is rude...

- When you pointed one finger out, you have 4 fingers pointing at your-self.

- We are not here to judge anyone... accept them for who they are.

- Only say what need to be said... the rest, keep it...

- Middle Finger: if you are a girl and you show your middle fingers, i think is reasonable but if you are a guy... i would say no... why? simple... guys are born with that thing we called penis... if you really wanna to show... i dare you take of your pants and show it... be a real dick... or ass hole... unless you don't have one...

Be Strong Japan

We are here with you - one world one nation one love