A short drive

I decided to send my Hyundai Matrix to the car wash tonight as feel so lazy to wash it and at the same time test the HID. Well here it is:

While waiting for my car to be wash...I took the chance to watch F1 over the mamak stall nearby. Good race and coverage...a unique race held at night and the 1st in the world.

I only ordered " teh ais"..RM1.30 per glass. Spend about 45 minutes watching F1 and drinking,by then my car is ready to collect. As I got off from the mamak stall..whole body itchy...I didn't realized mosquito bite me!

My 4 hours at Amoi Siam shop today

My Matrix HID has been giving problem for few months already....the HID bulb on the passenger side some time fail to ignite and some time OK. And sometime the high and low HID beam don't work. So today I took the chance to check what when wrong doing a simple DIY...exchange the bulb to check if the bulb is defective..found both bulb are OK..meaning the ballast is giving the problem. That makes me confident to claim for warranty today and off I went to Amoi Siam on about 1030am.

The trouble shooting takes long procedure, at last confirm the relay for high/low beam faulty plus both HID bulb high/low also faulty.The bulb is not under warranty but the relay and ballast plus the fuses are covered under warranty.So I decided just change the relay only. Changing the bulb will set me RM250.00... I also request the hight beam to be cancel since the Matrix are use during the night...not like before I use it to travel balik kampung...

Here is how the HID bulb high low bulb worked. There is a spring underneath to place it at default position. During high beam,the magnetic coil will energised and pull down the bulb..see my finger have to push down that shaft.

When the magnetic coil is de-energised, the spring will push up the bulb...this change the beam to HID low beam...see the length of the shaft as increase.

Other than that...I saw a US WRANGLER JEEP...came in..doing some upgrading to its ICE and installing a side mirror with LED...must have been ordered from US. Any how the owner has these set of large rims.....can even hangs an umbrella!!!

There is also a Toyota Harrier installing ICE plus some nice lcd head rest.


The Toyota Harrier door is also covered with plastic compare to Hyundai Elantra X20! Anyway the owner want the replace the side speaker for better sound quality.

Not far...there is this Proton Waja...installing body kit. To my surprised... SKYLINE front bumper is use to replace the OEM bumper! See to believe...its RM300.00 for the bumper.

Hyundai Elantra X20 2008 vs Toyota Altis 2008

In term of pricing, the Toyota Altis 2008 1.8L prices start from RM102,000 to RM120,000 . Compare with Hyundai Elantra X20 2.0L at RM93,888. The advantage is on the Hyundai Elantra X20 :

1. The Hyundai Elantra has extra 200cc engine
2. In term of pricing, its a difference from RM8,112 till RM26,112.

The Toyota Altis has a solid reputation and in this case, it meets it rival. Hyundai cars are improving with every new model launch.



View from front



View from the rear


Engine bay

Interior

When we compare between Hyundai Elantra X20 with Incus bodykit and Toyota Altis 1.8 which is also fitted with bodykit....the Hyundai Elantra looks better.





So again..both cars dont look alike.

Hyundai Elantra X20 and Toyota Altis

They say it looks like this and that bla bla bla...let me put the record straight..it doesnt!

My Elantra X20 1st service

During the 1st service as usual they change the engine oil/engine oil filter and normal checking.So I requested them to check the heated side mirror on the left side which is not functioning and also the radio that is sometime working and sometimes switch off by itself.

A delicate job as need the right tool to removed the center 2 din player cover. In the end the found a loose connection...phew! Same case with the heated side mirror.



The plastic door panel was also removed in order to replace a loose thread..and what a surprise!! The Elantra X20 inner door is not cover with plastic instead its made of metal plate. And it looks neat. The next thing in my mind was how to do the sound proofing...maybe not need lah.

I have seen Honda Accord 2.4 or BMW X5 ,do not have these design as their are still using the conventional plastic cover. The metal sheet on the Elantra X20 door provide better sound proofing and weather protection to its internal mechanism.

Fuel price down 10sen

As of today the new price for petrol Ron 97 is RM2.45 , Ron92 is RM2.30 and diesel RM2.40. But the price of goods outside remains the same. This show reducing fuel price don't work in tandem with price of goods. Why... do you know our country imported raw material including wheat's, flour, sugar, rice, petroleum product etc via ship..yes using sea passage.

Our sugar comes from Australia,Thailand or South Africa. And the wheat's..for human consumption and animal consumption are mostly from Australia.

Those days...about 10 years ago..the charter rate for a bulk carrier vessel are between USD6000.00 - USD10,000 per day.Now the charter rate are very expensive USD30,000 min per day. With the increase of world crude oil...it does not give a single dent to shipping industry as all the charges will be forward to the charterer then pass on to the public. Before our government increase the fuel price..the price of essential goods already increase. Our salary remains the same..thats is sad!

My Hyundai Elantra X20 2008

I collected my car on Feb 2008.This is my 2nd Hyundai and Im still keeping my 1st Hyundai...Hyundai Matrix 1.6M CBU. I trade off my Proton Tiara 1997. And this is my 1st ever auto tranny car. I never like auto tranny as all this while I find them rather tedious but after expericing the Volvo XC90,BMW E46 and Volvo S70 auto tranny..it change my perception...auto tranny has improved over the years.So has this Elantra.


I collected the car at night as day time was too occupied. We tumpang Dr Is, Hyundai Accent LC to Kah Bintang Jln Ipoh. My Kah Bintang SA.. Haji Rozali was there to assist me...the car was spanking beauty. My daughter was so happy..she decide to post infront of the car.



After collecting the car, we went off for dinner at Tmn Melati and was later join with Team Hyundai Malaysia members.

Now the Hyundai Matrix is parked outside and the Elantra is park inside instead...kereta baru..well in my area until this date,Im the only Elantra X20 owner.There are 2 Elantra XD owner here as well.
I choose black color as I find this color makes the car looks sporty.I know its not easy to maintain dark color anyway my Hyundai Matrix is navy blue..I just love the shining whenever you wash or wax the car..satisfying.

HID

Im using HID on my Matrix. So far it has served me well. With 8000k surprisingly it is very bright. Well JPJ would be very happy seeing white light..so you have to be clever to avoid them lah..he he he.



It cost me RM600 from Amoi Siam OKR. It comes with high/low HID beam.

To reduce the glare effect, I just need to adjust the beam to the lowest point...save me daily cursing from in coming vehicle.

Why the silence( update)

Hello..the price of world crude oil today is now usd103.00 per barrel...why no announcement to reduce the petrol price. Yes I have prayed that it mainted at usd109.00 but now it has gone lower...common..raya is coming...travelling is expensive...and my prayer has been answer...but our Goverment has not taken any action.

Even after the announce of reducing the petrol price...price of goods still has not reduce instead it increase.At Wangsa Maju Pasar Ramadhan..a piece of chicken is RM6.00 per piece.

Why the silence!

Pak Lah announced reducing the petrol price to RM2.55 per litre and diesel to RM2.50 per litre on 23/8/08, during that time the world crude oil price was usd121.00. Now the world crude oil price has drop further to usd109.00 per barrel as of today....why no new annoucement of further reduction of petrol price?

Another MISC vessel hijack

That makes 2 vessel is now held by the pirates:

1.MT Bunga Melati Dua with 29 Malaysians and 10 Filipinos aboard

2. MT Bunga Melati 5 with 36 are Malaysians and 5 Filipino temporary maintenance crew.

Onboard the ship, all crew will be advice on passing pirate waters and all crew will be on alert with waklie talkie, around the clock patrol on deck and water canons on standby at port/starboard,forward and aft. Flood lights will be place all around the ship.There are no guns on the ship and Master dont carry guns. Should they detect any incoming foreign craft, the water canons will be used to prevent them from approaching .The whole accomodation and the bridge will be secured.Ship security alert system will be activated to notify the nearest coast guard but in this case in Somalia...the pirates are heavily arm

If the ship underway at night, its very dangerous furthermore when the ship is fully loaded with cargo thus this will reduce the freeboard and any attempt to board the vessel is very fast and easy. These pirates comes with machine guns,knife and bombs...their objective is to take whatever belonging on the vessel or hijack the whole vessel. Its very easy to reconized a tanker and cargo or container vessel.

Once the pirate is onboard...just let them take what they want and hope they go away.No point being a hero at open sea like Steven Seagul.

We hope all the crew are in good health and return safely.