petronas success

One word to describe adulting is sensibility. The moment you leave an education, you enter a life filled with responsibilities like commuting to work, paying the bills, supporting a family, or building a career. Yet you can still choose how to present yourself rather than just conforming to the straight and narrow. It can be obvious by the way one dresses, or it can be subtle like the keychains on a bag or a phone’s wallpaper. The same applies to cars as well with some visual upgrades being adde

Though still novel, digital side mirrors are becoming common in premium vehicles, with brands like Audi, Lexus, Honda, BYD, and BMW also offering the technology depending on the model and market. The recently launched 2024 Kia EV9, 2024 Audi SQ8, Lotus Eletre and recon Honda E BEVs are some examples of cars you can already buy in Malaysia with digital side mirrors. These feature cameras, housed in angular extensions, feed real-time video to screens positioned near the A-pillars, offering drivers

What comes to mind when you hear the word “luxury”? Maybe it’s a sleek, tech-filled Mercedes-Benz S-Class or a BMW 7 Series, gliding down the highway with all the elegance in the world. But what if the future of luxury looked a bit different? What if it looked a lot more… boxy? Meet the 2024 Toyota Alphard. Overview: 2024 Toyota Alphard Price RM 538,000 Segment Large MPV Engine 2.4-litre turbo in-line 4 Transmission 8AT Power 278 PS Torque 430 Nm Top Speed 180 km/h (claimed) Origin CBU, Japan Wh

Once again, we find ourselves on the cusp of another long-distance drive with a Honda hybrid. This time, it's a little different, as we have the current star of the H-range in Malaysia, the 2024 Honda City Hatchback facelift. The challenge this time is to bring it to Ipoh and back, on a single tank of fuel. If we're truly honest, this is chicken feed for a machine of this caliber. Honda is also very confident of that fact, given that we're free to do it however we see fit – no restrictions to ai

The MINI Cooper is one of those modern classics that seems to always rank highly among enthusiasts and casual buyers. It also has the rare distinction of fitting in the Venn diagram of cars universally beloved by guys and girls. Not many cars fit into the category as both a fashion icon and a fun amusement ride but the MINI Cooper has been widely accepted by both fashionistas and enthusiasts. While many pointed out the modern MINI is not quite as small as its classic predecessor, it is as endear

At the outset, the title isn’t to be taken at face value. It is meant to question the definition of modern luxury in cars. To quote Coco Chanel, “People think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.” Today, the majority of luxury vehicles – especially from German manufacturers – define luxury through massive screens, virtual AI ‘concierge’ bots that you rarely use, and disco-like ambient lighting. This tech-beyond-everything approach has replaced what used

The concept of “adherence to composer’s intentions” is a pertinent and divisive thought in music studies. Depending on who you learn from, some teachers emphasise that musicians should replicate the sound exactly as composers like Schubert intended, without ifs and buts. On the other hand, the idea of “interpretation” allows performers to inject their own personality into the pieces. This approach can be contentious; too much imagination can obscure the music, while too little can render it colo

Imagine a convoy of media folks, a fleet of Proton X90s, and a road trip for a durian feast. That’s how Proton rolled out the red carpet. The day was kicked off early with a breakfast. After fuelling up, we gathered for a briefing on the Proton X90 and the day’s driving plan. Each car was loaded with four media reps, ensuring everyone had ample time behind the wheel. Planned driver swaps at checkpoints meant we could all experience the Proton X90. From the moment the Proton X90 rolled, it showed

To be honest, I had a lot of apprehensions when I approached the Lexus LBX for the first time. With prices ranging from RM 238,888 (entry Premium variant) to RM 270,388 (Luxury variant, with two-tone paint), the LBX is asking for a lot of money for what’s essentially a more luxurious interpretation of a B-segment Mazda CX-3 sort of vehicle. Its engine? A 3-cylinder 1.5-litre Atkinson cycle Dynamic Force two-motor full hybrid (M15A-FXE). Will a brief drive from Mutiara Damansara to Janda Baik pee

BMW did not invent the coupe-SUV crossover look but it helped popularise it, for better or worse. When the folks from Munich introduced the BMW X6 seventeen years ago, it caught the attention of rivals like Mercedes-Benz and Audi. Eventually, almost every other carmaker from Honda to Porsche presented their take on melding the sportiness of a coupe with the tall height of an SUV. Some stumbled and some succeeded but what was initially thought to be just a fad of the industry became a mainstay. B