2008 Honda Civic Mugen Si Sedan

Mugen, which means “without limits,”is Honda’s tuner of choice and has been since 1973. Although Hondas with Mugen goodies have been sold in the homeland for a quarter-century, the 2008 Civic Si sedan is the first such vehicle officially exported to the U.S.


Basically, it’s an Si with a body kit, sport exhaust, and revised suspension. It looks like an import tuner’s dream: a huge, bigbore exhaust tip; sexy GP 18-inch forged aluminum wheels; side skirts; an aggressive air dam; and an A380-sized rear wing. It is beautifully done, which isn’t often the case when import tuners modify cars. Inside, the only difference from a stock Si is a Mugen aluminum shift knob.

The Civic Si’s 197-hp, 2.0-liter inline-four remains a stock virgin, save for the sport exhaust that reduces back pressure aft of the catalytic converter. This seems a lost opportunity, because tuner kids know that Mugen’s real expertise is in giving Honda engines more suds. On the chassis front, Mugen lowered the suspension 0.6 inch, added forged wheels shod with BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 215/40ZR-18s, and increased spring and shock rates.

Anyone expecting extra performance will be disappointed. At the track, the Mugen Si sedan went from 0 to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds, 0.1 second slower than the last Si coupe. Put that down to the sedan’s weighing 81 more pounds than the coupe, at 2941 pounds. The super-revvy engine gets wearing, but we liked the exhaust note.


On the skidpad, overall grip was a slightly disappointing 0.88 g, lower than the coupe’s 0.91 g. The best feature of the Mugen Si is the suspension, which trades little in ride quality for sharper steering, crisper turn-in, and better body control.

Honda is shipping only 1000 Mugen Si sedans a year here, so the car will be exclusive. The price will ensure that, too: $30,135, a premium of $8190 over a base Si sedan. Most Honda tuners will think they can do a similar job for less money—and the merely rational will buy a Mitsu Evo or Subaru STI.

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door Sedan

PRICE AS TESTED: $30,135 (base price: $30,135)

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, port fuel injection
Displacement: 122 cu in,1998cc
Power (SAE net): 197 bhp @ 7800 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 139 lb-ft @ 6100 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.3 in Length: 177.8 in Width: 55.9 in Height: 69.0 in
Curb weight: 2941 lb

TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 6.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 17.6 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 7.5 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 15.2 sec @ 93 mph
Top speed (redline limited): 130 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 166 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.88 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city driving: 21 mpg

2008 Subaru Impreza 2.5i Sedan

Although the Impreza WRX is ever the lovable bad boy who attracts the cheerleaders’ adoration, it is the practical Impreza 2.5i sedan and hatchback that do the heavy lifting in Subaru’s showrooms. For 2008, the Impreza has undergone a makeover—for starters, it’s 4.5 inches longer—although its driveline is little changed.

The familiar 170-hp flat-four propels this latest Subie to 60 mph in 7.6 seconds—0.3 second quicker than its forebear, 0.2 quicker than a Mitsubishi Lancer GTS, 0.1 quicker than a Honda Civic LX. The engine is satisfyingly quieter at idle—4 dBA, in fact—but is slightly louder at WOT and at 70-mph cruise. The boxer’s raspy growl remains endearing, but if the company intends to finagle its way into the wallets of luxury-car buyers in the next decade—as Ikuo Mori, CEO of parent company Fuji Heavy Industries, claims—then it must slash the Impreza’s NVH levels to those of, say, the Nissan Altima 2.5S.

With its generic new skin, the Impreza is no longer instantly identifiable as a Subaru. Onlookers asked if it might be a Suzuki or a Kia. Also new is the control-arm rear suspension that was expected to improve handling. It has not. Grip has fallen from the 2007 model’s 0.80 g to 0.78 g. You don’t notice it on the road, however, where the Impreza, with its 3.7-inch-longer wheelbase, still takes an eager, confident set in turns. Body roll is noticeable but never seems to impinge on path control, and there’s less squat at launch. Overall, the ride-and-handling trade-off is just about perfect.

What the new control arms have delivered, however, is a slightly larger trunk with a lower floor. Combine that with rear seats that now fold in a 60/40 split, and the Impreza is more useful at Whole Foods.

The steering is linear and informative, with zero kickback and strong self-centering. The car tracks like a vehicle twice its size. Nicely weighted at speed, the steering is nonetheless a titch heavy in parking lots. The shifter is light and positive, as gratifying as any competitor’s, and the pedals are heel-and-toeable.

With two more inches of front shoulder room, the cockpit is far more welcoming and airy, and visibility is fantastic, aided by the “portholes” in the C-pillars. Although all the interior surfaces are base plastic or vinyl, they’re nicely grained and pleasing to the touch. The switchgear is silky, the three rotary HVAC controls are the quintessence of thoughtful ergonomics, and the radio is perched at the top of the center stack. The mouse-fur front seats are grippy, and the back seat is spacious for two adults, although the seat cushion is so low that your knees are above your beltline.

2.5i sedan carried a sticker of $17,640 (add $500 for the five-door), which, of course, includes Subaru’s all-wheel drive with a viscous limited-slip center diff—a lot of car for the money. In the hardscrabble world of econoboxes, the Impreza remains mighty imprezzive.

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

PRICE AS TESTED: $17,640 (base price: $17,640)

ENGINE TYPE: SOHC 16-valve flat-4, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 150 cu in, 2457cc
Power (SAE net): 170 bhp @ 6000 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 170 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 5-speed manual

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 103.1 in Length: 180.3 in Width: 68.5 in Height: 58.1 in
Curb weight: 3050 lb

TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 7.6 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 22.1 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 8.9 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 15.9 sec @ 87 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 130 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 179 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.78 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city driving: 20 mpg

2008 Mazda CX-9 Grand Touring

Does big become more attractive when it gains a half-step in the 0-to-60-mph dash?

The question is pertinent because reducing that time-to-speed sprint is more than mere visceral gratification. When a vehicle is quicker to 60 mph, you can also expect it to be quicker through the quarter-mile and— of greater importance to most drivers—quicker in passing acceleration from 30 to 50 and 50 to 70. While few full-size SUV drivers will engage in frequent stoplight drags, passing acceleration acquires real meaning when you pop out to pass on a two-lane and another car suddenly rolls from a hidden driveway into the oncoming lane, a.k.a. your lane.

Introducing, the 2008 Mazda CX-9.

Agile for Its Size

Introduced for the 2007 model year, the CX-9 gave Mazda its first-ever entry in the full-size SUV market. Looking like an inflated version of the nifty CX-7, the CX-9 traces its architectural roots to the front-drive Mazda 6 sedan, though the structure has obviously been stretched and strengthened for this far bigger vehicle.

The engineering work yielded a unibody that’s arguably the best in its class for structural rigidity, which in turn yields benefits in terms of ride and handling, two of several areas where the CX-9 gets high marks.

The parent company, of course, claims things like the “Soul of a Sports Car” and “Zoom-Zoom,” the athletic dynamism that allegedly separates each Mazda product from its competitive herd. It’s not untrue to say that the CX-9 is agile, especially when measured by the water buffalo standards of the full-size crossover SUV class.

We should also note that agility expectations in this growing class are escalating steadily, as exemplified by GM’s new crossover trio—the GMC Acadia, Saturn Outlook, and Buick Enclave. And we’d say further that when it comes to fancy footwork, the CX-9 trumps them all, another plus on the active-safety score sheet.

Of course, fancy footwork is a relative term in vehicles that weigh over two tons—4398 pounds in the case of our front-drive test unit (add about 200 pounds for all-wheel-drive models). And getting that much mass to move quickly takes muscle.

More Power, More Performance At introduction, the CX-9 was propelled by a then-new 3.5-liter V-6 supplied by Ford: 263 horsepower, 249 pound-feet of torque, the same engine that has more recently helped to make the Ford Taurus (previously known as the Five Hundred) a much more desirable offering in the full-size sedan market. Hitched to a 4400-pound SUV, though, forward progress becomes a bit more deliberate: our testing of a front-drive ’07 CX-9 revealed a 7.8-second 0-to-60-mph time and a 16.2-second quarter-mile at 88 mph.

Nevertheless, the CX-9’s V-6 has expanded a bit to 3.7 liters for 2008, and that bumps output to 273 horsepower and 270 pound-feet of torque. And this, in conjunction with the CX-9’s outstandingly responsive six-speed automatic transmission, reduces its 0-to-60 time to 7.3 seconds and improves quarter-mile performance to 15.7 seconds at 91 mph.

The other good news here is that the more powerful beast also seems to be no thirstier in the fuel department, although this, like agility, is a relative matter. The ’08 CX-9 carries EPA fuel-economy ratings of 16 mpg city and 22 highway, which are the same marks the ’07 model would get with the 2008 EPA test method. In our hands, the 2007 model yielded a dismal average of 16 mpg. This time around we recorded 19 mpg—not exactly Toyota Prius territory, but a significant improvement.

Of course, there’s more to like here than agility, increased hustle, and a potentially slight uptick in thrift. The CX-9 is tastefully furnished, attractively styled, and quiet at highway speeds, and it has the usual range of options such as a DVD entertainment system, premium audio (Bose), a DVD nav system, leather, and a power sunroof, to name a few.

Safety features include ABS, stability control with roll stability control, traction control, enough airbags to cushion a Mars lander, and a new camera-based blind-spot monitoring system that flashes a warning light in the mirrors when another vehicle is hovering in either of the CX-9’s rear-quarter areas.

Not Many Demerits

Demerits are few. Third-row legroom could be more generous, although it’s better than average by class standards and mitigated by fore-and-aft second-row-seat adjustability. Ride quality can be a little choppy on warty pavement with the 20-inch-wheel option, and like most crossovers based on front-drive platforms, towing capacity is modest: 3500 pounds, and then only if the vehicle is equipped with the optional towing package.

As you’d expect, pricing is similar to that of competing vehicles. The CX-9 is a smidge higher than a Saturn Outlook, model for model, and a bit lower than a GMC Acadia. The base front-drive Sport version starts at $29,995. Our top-of-the-line Grand Touring begins at $33,950. Figure another $1300 if you want all-wheel drive, and be careful with the options packages: The $2500 GT Assist package—DVD nav with voice command and touch screen, a rearview camera, a power liftgate—and a $1760 package that added a power sunroof, an in-dash six-D changer, and a Bose stereo.

Those two packages, plus pearlescent paint ($200) and Sirius satellite radio ($430), added up to a $38,840 front-drive CX-9, which begins to feel pretty expensive.

Specs

VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 7-passenger, 5-door wagon
PRICE: $38,840 (base price: $33,950)

ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection

Displacement: 227 cu in, 3726cc

Power (SAE net): 273 bhp @ 6250 rpm

Torque (SAE net): 270 lb-ft @ 4250 rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manumatic shifting

DIMENSIONS:

Wheelbase: 113.2 in

Length: 199.8 in

Width: 76.2 in

Height: 68.0 in

Curb weight: 4398 lb

TEST RESULTS:

Zero to 60 mph: 7.3 sec

Zero to 100 mph: 19.2 sec

Zero to 110 mph: 25.1 sec

Street start, 5–60 mph: 7.4 sec

Standing ¼-mile: 15.7 sec @ 91 mph

Top speed (governor limited): 119 mph

Braking, 70–0 mph: 172 ft

Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.79 g
*Stability-control-inhibited.

FUEL ECONOMY:

EPA city/highway driving: 16/22 mpg

Proton Satria Neo

Satria Neo

The Satria Neo was introduced in June 2006 as a replacement for the first generation Satria. Based on a new platform developed in-house by Proton (with some parts borrowed from the bigger Gen-2 and Waja), the car is currently only available in a three-door hatchback guise. The car was developed at a cost of RM500 million and four years, and was expected by Proton to generate a monthly sales volume of 2,000 to 2,500 units. The car was also intended to target those who are "youthful and sporty". The Satria Neo was launched by Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The entry-level Satria Neo, the 1.3 L-line, is powered by a 1.3-litre, inline-4 twin-cam Campro engine, producing 94 bhp (70 kW). The 1.6 M-line and top-of-the-range H-line models have 1.6-litre versions of the same engine, with an output of 110 hp (82 kW). All cars have the option of either 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic gearboxes supplied by Mitsubishi that are carried over from the previous Satria, with the H-line benefitting from safety features such as twin airbags, ABS with EBD and seatbelt pre-tensioners.

Modded Satria Neo

Recently, there's rumors said that there will be a few more new model from Proton, that will produced in various category. Such as MPV, Concept, new Satria Neo Sedan, Satria Neo Wagon, and even though there's a new model, Satria Gemilang, which had been produced just in a few that been used during big events at Malaysia.