King Long CAM Placer 15 seater Van review

Engine : Isuzu sourced 4JB1-T (engine also used in hicom perkasa MTB150T, and isuzu trooper 4x4).
Engine type: 4cyl,8 valve, euro 2, turbocharged diesel engine
Transmission: 5 speed manual , full synchro with single plate clutch

Drive type:  front engine , rear wheel drive,
front suspension: independat suspension
rear suspension: Torsion beam with leaf spring
Brakes: front disc and rear drum type

This King Long CAM Placer commercial van is the latest 15 seater van from China Auto Manufacturers group, priced at an affordable RM83,837.60 for private registration and RM84,201.71 for company registration, it represents great value if you compare it againts other chinese competition such as Jinbei. This van offers huge amount of headroom, and small people could easily stand up in the cabin without bobbing his head.

The engine

As expected from every diesel engine, it is noisy and clattery, but thats all that is sacrificed. The engine is powerful, torquey and very economical. Because of my work that involves commercial trucks, i dont find any problems with the engine, and i think that Kinglong has made a wise decision in fitting the world's most popular diesel engine into the worlds most undesirable brand, as it balances it.

The cabin

The cabin is a great place to be in, although the rear seat are a bit upright,hard and covered with canvas and cloth, but i do get a powerful air conditioner, and the ride is quite comfy too. I might scare you when i say the engine is a bit loud, but the quietness and the comfort level of the ride is more than make up for that inadequacies. And a expected too are its quality level which is typically low, although i do noticed that the plastics on the door of this van is less rough and inferior to the Proton Exora's, and the doors close with solid thud'."not so Tinny as expected", and i also liked the LED lights on the wing mirrors of the van.

The drive

The van is powerful and effortless enough to cruise along highways  at a fairly high speed straights, but DO watch out for the corners as it isn't very good there. At speeds of 80-100kmh, the ride is still comfy, but as it goes higher it deteriorates.The supplied onboard computer is a gimmicky device...sure its got reverse camera,trip, info and etc function, but it is difficult to see under a bright day due to poor LCD screen, and its difficult to judge the distance when reversing, even with a reverse camera.

Conclusion

All this while, i've never been in a chinese made van before, and i actually thought that these vans are inferior and prone to breakdowns, but guess what, My perception is wrong with this van. And i'll suggest this product to those who wants to ferry 15 people, drives around town, wants cheap and good value van.

I maybe selling this product,but i try not to be bias in my reviews, anyway i can be contacted through e-mail to arrange for a test drive.

Review on the Nissan Murano or Impul 725SW SUV

This Nissan Murano or Impul 725SW SUV 4x2, specifications as follows:-

 Engine capacity: The QR25DE is a 2.5 L (2488 cc)
Bore and stroke: 89mm x 100mm
Compression ratio: 9.5.1
Power output : 175 HP / 130KW @ 6000rpm
Torque: 180 ft.lbf at 4000rpm


Performance wise, its just merely OK from the 2.5litre unit, as it need to haul something that's around 1.8tonnes. A hard drive on the stretches of genting highlands will expose all the weaknesses of the handling of any vehicles, and this big SUV is not exempted. This SUV gives a bumpy ride on rough roads even though it has a long travel suspension. The low speed ride is terrible, and small ridges rattled their way into the cabin, and even those fantastic and cushy seats cant seems to hold you in properly in place because the ride can get so bumpy that you will constantly find yourself adjusting your bottom very often.
When cornering, this SUV tends to lurch thru the corners. The amount of body roll is OK, but when cornering, it tends to feel front heavy, making cornering entry feels scary. Thankfully the steering feels is good and accurate, but there's not much feels to it.
The brakes on the other hand feels just 'sufficient' to stop this SUV, perhaps its because of the long travel pedal? The brakes also tend to cook easily, because when i reached the foothill of genting highland, i found myself slamming harder on the brakes to stop.

On highway runs, this thing feels more comfortable, partly due to its smooth CVT gearbox. The engine is spinning at merely 2000rpm when doing 120-130kmh, and at speeds of up to 160kmh, the cabin remains very quiet. But in town the CVT behaves differently, because i found myself braking more frequently in heavy traffic.The gear ratio can be so high that a dab on the accelerator can bring the vehicle so far away. Fuel consumption of this vehicle is relatively high, and i average around 6.4 - 7.3Km/litre when driving around town , but when driving on the highways it improves at around 10-11km/litre.

The interior of this cruiser is a very comfortable place to be in, because it is spacious, the big and cushy seats are comfy feels supportive just like couch would, and it is quiet. Driving controls feels good,  tactility is OK, ergonomics is OK but the overall build quality feels somewhat poor. The doors don't close with a solid "Thud", the back tonneau cover rattles when going over bumps, and door handles that feels too filmsy.
The rear seats are very spacious and comfy, and it can fit 3 big and tall fellas back there comfortably. The keyless entry feature is very usefull, as well as the rear and side camera that becomes indispensable when parking this vehicle in tight spaces.


As conclusion the the ownership of this SUV, i'd say its best suited for highway runs, because its the only place where i find it relaxing to travel in, and also won't scare me. Most auto magazines will tell you how good this SUV is, but let me tell you that it ISN'T, and the only reason why i end up owning this Murano is because there is no other car in the market that is this stylish,big,have good ground clearance, good standard specs, and within the 2500cc range.

The way it drives feels 'similar' to the KIA SORENTO.

Sorry for the poor picture quality,  its taken with my HD2 again, lost my lumix yesterday
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Update 16/4/2010

Taken the Nissan Murano 3.5 AWD for a spin and it is different compared to the IMPUL tuned units. For one the ride is smoother and much much more comfy, but with extra weight at the front, it feels a little more nose heavy when cornering hard. Also, the Nissan Murano rolls more in corners.

So the  Impul 725 is actually, a tuned up version of the nissan murano, that has a terribly harder ride, and a little bit more enjoyable when cornering hard.

Final Year Project

I'm currently studying on the suitable materials for cargo body construction, will start with a design via dassaults systemes solidworks 2009 x64 designing software.

1st stage designing the crossmembers
2nd stage assembling the floor panels
3rd stage assembling the crossmembers and the floor panels
4th stage simulation

But before starting these designs, i'll first have to do test on the various types of woods, aluminium and steels.

Review of the Proton Exora 1.6 auto

I’m lucky to get my hand on my friend’s Proton Juara 1.6 that he just bought. This little MPV here sits 7 people without problem. I myself is 6 feet tall, and I don’t find any problems sitting at the third row seats although getting to the third row is a problem. Overall this MPV is spacious enough to fit 7 people onboard and long journeys (1 hr) won’t easily tire the occupants courtesy of the comfy “Benches” and very good aircond system for the rear as well with separate blowers. Interior looks nice with clear and bright dashboard and controls are easy to reach, ergonomics is OK

I felt the car strained itself during the test drive with 7 people on board, well its logical to assume that for a family MPV that fits 7 and with cargo to haul, do you think a 1600cc engine can be up to task? Apparently Proton engineers said YES.

The ride quality is acceptable, better than a Nissan Murano but not better than Toyota Estima, no further comments can be given as I didn’t drive aggressively because the owner is sitting next to me at that moment. The suspension arrangement is typical of a MPV, independent at front and torsion beam at rear.

As for quality wise, I think it’ll disappoint many. The first impression of opening the doors had already let me down. The doors open and close with a hollow sound, even the boot and engine hood sounds ridiculously tinny, furthermore, the interior trim is so hard that it seems as though as its made out of rhinoceros hide, and glued into place with cement, A piece of shit if you ask me.
As for conclusion, if i am in the market for a MPV that cost around 80k, I’ll definitely definitely not buy this, because the quality of it make me feel unsafe in it…… Sorry proton for bashing your product, I really liked to support our local product, but it seems that every car that rolls out from your production seems to be like shit.

Anyway, the pictures were snapped with my HTC hd2 sorry for the cheap quality

My new obsession: The alienware M17x

I've just ditched my ol dell inspiron 9400 for a spanking new alienware M17x gaming lappy. This beast here weighs more than 4Kg, and it aint pleasant to haul one around, but the looks and the attention it attracts more than makes up for that. This laptop is so good chiefly because it has 2 of everything, hard drives, graphics card, processor cores, and a screen that generally bigger than yours...lol (just looks at the power adapter).

The high resolution screen (1920x1200) together with the nvidia SLI provides the eye candy that i've never experienced in any laptop before, and So far a week of owning it i must say that i'm very happy with its performance and its looks, and i find myself constantly changing colours to suit my mood. But the only gripe i've got with this laptop is its stability issues. I'm not sure if its alienware or windows that should take this blame but i've lost count of how many times it crashed and the frustrating moments i've had with the built in slot loading Optiarc CD/DVDrw drive which doesnt seem to work with some of my DVD's and those "ahem" discs.

WTF???? Are you threatening us?

I nearly choked on my early morning coffee when i read this news while having my breakfast. This statement made by the IGP is really kiddishhh.Read On:-


Seriously, this is the second time the IGP Musa had annoyed me, his first case is when i he said that he did not know about PI Bala subramaniam leaving the country.

http://eckoric.blogspot.com/2009/12/cop-and-mouse.html

Now he says that he wants leave us to rot in the streets of K.L "IF I ASKED HIM TO". What kind of IGP are you man? Aren't you supposed to say something better?. A kid is dead, people are getting angry, please do your job, find the killer instead of threatening us.

GEEeezzzzzuz, don't they teach communication skills in the police academy anymore?