Wifey's Forte is somewhat decorated with dust and water stains from the daily torrents of rainstorm in KL and I was debating if I should send it to the hubby-powered drive-thru car wash (manned by yours truly :) or leave it for another... say, 600 km or so. Which coincidentally, was the approximate distance to and fro Cameron Highlands.
Smells like nature's call... for an adventure, that is...
Now, to get to Cameron Highlands, you could choose to tackle the long and winding roads by going green (the bicycle, not the soon-to-be-reduced-pricing-thanks-to-2011-budget RM140k Prius, you nimwit!) or at least trying to go green with a fuel-efficient but fun car.
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| "Take me home, country road" |
Hmmm, sounds like wifey's Forte SX was in the running then.
Situated at 1520m above sea level, Cameron Highlands is Malaysia's green bowl supplying vegetables to the local major cities and Singapore. The cool climate makes it an excellent tea growing area and indeed the Cameron tea (Boh and Cameron Bharat comes to mind!) is highly prized in the world market. With temperatures ranging between 25 and 10 degrees Celsius, this place is popular all year round with tourists.
Cameron Highlands is the premier hill top holiday spot at Pahang. Discovered by a British surveyor, William Cameron in 1885, this highland paradise still retains much of the charm of an English village. Thus, European cottages are very common at in Cameron Highlands.
Places of interest are the Robinson Falls, the Rose Garden nurseries and the strawberry and vegetable farms. A visit to the tea plantation is well worthwhile, to see how one of the world’s favourite beverages is processed fresh from the plantations. Stroll around and admire the old colonial buildings such as the Old Smokehouse. This hill station is surrounded by jungles and trails are marked for jungle trekking. There are various villages inhabited by Orang Asli, the indigenous people of the hills.
To tackle the long and winding roads, I could drive sanely- using all ounces of the Forte SX's security features, while humming and listening to the over-played "My Heart Will Go On". Or I could insert 6 Linkin Park CDs into the CD changer and drive like a nimwit ala Initial D drifting, but with my limited driving skills, I'll probably be steering the Forte SX towards bad press then.
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| Initial D air filter? Checked! |
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| Dirt and grass? Checked! |
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| Turttle-powered roof top? Checked! |
Right, since I'd be ferrying wifey, my in-laws and naughty lil' Alex, turning turtle is not a desirable option; so it's a big "Yes" to sane driving- so I'd need to squeeze every bit of juice from the Forte's 1.6 engine and 17" sports rims and suspension setup to enjoy the drive, while ensuring that my very-important passengers are comfortable and snoring away (least that I get an earful!).
Updated from the hotel 2.5 hours later :
It kinda helped that along the way, I was joined by enthusiastic Mazda 3 and Lancer EX drivers about 50 km from Exit 132 (Tapah); so having companions "battling" it out en-route kinda helped cut short the overall ETA of 3.5 hours. The Forte was stable and well-spirited along the national highway limit (of course, I can't make "unsubstantiated theoretical comments" that it was stable at 140 kmph least that I get a saman ekor ;p) and when the winding roads begun, the rims and suspension setup was well-tuned to soak up the corners brilliantly.
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| Unofficial Champion : Mazda 3 |
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| Unofficial 1st Runner-Up : Kia Forte SX |
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| Unofficial 2nd Runner-Up : Mitsubishi Lancer EX |
It was a fun, friendly competition and before long, the Mazda 3 was taking the lead, the Forte SX closely-following and the Lancer EX seriously-tailgating behind. The Forte could probably gain a lil' more lead if it wasn't that I had a full load and need to ensure that I drove in a "sane enough" manner that I don't attract twisting of earlobes; but then again, if the other drivers had more balls, they probably could drive even more aggressively and leave me well behind.
When we separated at Tanah Rata towards different hotels, I could well-opined that all 3 rides gave a fair fight and probably made us looked like better drivers that we really were, and presented themselves as good driving machines.
Miles miles behind the real ultimate driving machine perhaps... but at a fraction of such prices, a real gem nevertheless.
The Lancer has always been a well-made and well-tuned ride; but the problem is that to make the car more sellable, MMC has to come out with "cheaper" variants for more people to buy.
ReplyDeleteHow many people can afford a genuine Evo X? Not many, so these people buy the much-cheaper RM120k Lancer GT and slap on Evo X bodyparts and drive these fake Evos around. Then MMC got the idea for the even cheaper RM116k Lancer EX; and soon with Proton's new RM80k Waja-Lancer on the road, there'll be even more fake Evos around.
Then, more Fortes would beat these fake Evos and think that Evos are losing it. But actually, it's just these joker Lancer owners whom are bringing down the Lancer's previously bullet-proof reputation.
If you can only own a Lancer, don't slap on Evo parts and badges. Biar betul!
I should have joined your race- make it a 4-way fight and the result will change to Civic FD, Mazda 3, Kia Forte and lastly, Mitsu Lancer. I'm always plying the Genting hills so look out for my Wxx 4x49. When my i-vtec kicks in, other cars better move aside.
ReplyDeleteLancer GT sucks big time- I would know as I own one. If I can't sell this car off since its resale value is so low in the market now, I would be upgrading to stock suspension to the Inspira's much-hyped Lotus setup when the Inspira's is available later.
ReplyDeleteTo Civic FD2-KL Drift, Honda Civic is nothing to shout about actually. You obviously have not tried an Alfa Romeo 156 manual. This is an old school model, cheap as used sanitary pad yet packs enough punch to make your FD looks like shite! I know cos I owned one before I traded-in for the Lancer GT.
Thanks for all your comments! No need to argue if the Lancer GT or Civic FD or Forte SX was the better car- as there are all better cars compared to many other models (perhaps not as good as Anonymous' previous 156 manual [tongue-in-cheek qualify : when it was working properly and not in a workshop], that was) in the market.
ReplyDeleteWe can all choose our own poisons and see where it suits us best. I am, however, pretty much looking forward to Inspira's debut though- especially since Proton is said to have worked out a deal to make the Lancer GT for MMC to be sold overseas, so Proton's quality should be finally up to the international car standards.