Due to historical reservations Koreans hold towards Japanese products—stemming from Japan's brutal occupation of Korea during World War 2 and the decades leading up to it—Japanese cars have traditionally received a lukewarm reception in Korea. For example, Honda is largely ignored there. However, Korean buyers rank among the most discerning when it comes to high-end luxury products. They make exceptions for Japanese luxury brands like Lexus. In fact, Korea is probably the only country where Lexu

Akio Toyoda wants you to know just how different the 2023 Toyota Alphard and Vellfire AH40 are between each other, despite them being developed on the same platform. Nonetheless, the approach in design and engineering for the duo couldn’t be more different, and their chief engineer regards these latest models as the greatest ever. An easy way to sum up the approach is the brief given, “One a pleasure to ride, the other a joy to drive.” That led to the strikingly different character infused durin

Part two of our three-parter on SUVs coming to Malaysia in 2023 revolves around electric vehicles (EVs). Last week we talked about regular, pure-ICE models, and if that's more your swing here's the link. Plug in your chargers, we're going in... BMW iX1 The missing link in BMW's i electrified range in Malaysia, the iX1 made its global debut alongside the all-new BMW X1 in June this year. Considering the BMW electric range is pretty complete here, expecting it to be sold on our shores isn't too fa

As the 15th general election looms upon Malaysians like the monsoon season, the question on some of our minds isn’t who will be the next PM or whether party X can ensure that no such backdoor moves will happen again, it’s what cars do our politicians drive? Okay fine, so maybe the “some” is just me but perhaps some of you might have thought that since these elected officials are meant to be representatives of the rakyat, they should at least do their job well first before travelling in an Alphar

If you have RM 250k or thereabouts for a premium SUV, frankly you'd be spoiled for choice, Mercedes-Benz GLA and BMW X1 being the most obvious candidates. But how about a Japanese face-off for today? We're talking about the Toyota Harrier and Lexus UX. Yes they are cars from different segments but in terms of price, they are perilously close to each other. For this comparison, we pit the Toyota Harrier 2.0 Luxury (one variant only, RM 249,706) against the Lexus UX Urban (RM 243,888) as they are

If you are shopping for a Toyota Alphard or a Vellfire, you would’ve noticed by now that it’s very difficult to find one that’s not pained in white or black colour. You can almost paraphrase Henry Ford’s quote, “You can have your Alphard or Vellfire in any colour so long as it’s white or black.” Yes, white and black are the most popular colours for Japanese car owners but the aversion by Alphard / Vellfire owners to an equally conservative silver colour is perplexing, even when judged by Japanes