Tabla de contenidos para December 2017 en Torque

PICTURE THIS LOON SENG CHEE Despite the mad prices, Singapore is still filled with lots of people who love their cars, and also love your magazine. How about a quarterly section that showcases these cars? Let owners send in photos of their cars, modifications done, rims, or even photos of their rides when they go overseas. Instead of an SUV set against a bunch of HDB flats, maybe we will see one set in an American national park or with a beautiful waterfall in Iceland. And I don’t think your readers will mind if the photo shows a lovely driver in a cute pose! Proud homeowners show off their homes, and I believe drivers will also be happy to share photos of their beloved cars. Torque Mr Loon, thanks…

“WHILE THE BIG-HEARTED MASERATI ALLOWS YOU TO BASK IN THE GLOW OF UNTAPPED PERFORMANCE POTENTIAL, THE PORSCHE SEEMS TO SILENTLY ADMONISH YOU FOR FAILING TO EXPLORE IT FULLY.” CONTRARY to the hysterical complaints of many keyboard warriors, much credit is due to our urban planners for giving us a road network that is mostly wide, well-paved and fit for purpose. It helps that despite being a city state, Singapore’s streets are neither cobbled nor hemmed-in by immovable historical buildings. What the LTA cannot compensate for, however, is the complete lack of anything resembling interesting topography. This is why cars here can never be enjoyed to their full potential. Miniscule city cars made for the narrow alleyways of London or Rome are overwhelmed by the size and speed of our roads,…

VORSPRUNG durch Technik, or “Advancement through Technology”, has been Audi’s tagline for the longest time. And nowhere is this more evident than in their latest flagship limo, the A8. According to Mirko Reuter, Audi’s head of autonomous technology, the new A8 gets a mind-boggling list of over 40 driver assistance systems. Topping the list, I had a firsthand sampling of the A8’s AI Traffic Jam Pilot. With Adaptive Cruise Assistance (ACA) activated, and a press of the AI button, the A8 was able to self-drive in a simulated traffic jam scenario, at speeds of up to 60km/h, sans steering or pedal inputs by me. The A8 is said to be the world’s first production car with this Level 3 autonomous drive feature. Weird and unnerving to me initially, the experience…

SENTOSA’S THURSDAY TIPPLE FOR THIRSTY, THRIFTY PEOPLE Sentosa’s Thirsty Thursday deals (6-10pm on every fourth day of the working week until 28 December 2017) offer a tasty variety of 1-for-1 drinks at eight different watering holes on the little leisure island to the south of Singapore. The participating joints are Bikini Bar, Coastes, Ola Beach Club, AJ Hackett, Wave House Sentosa, FOC Sentosa, along with Rock Bar and Michael’s Bar in Resorts World Sentosa. The thirst-quenching “gasohol” to fuel the revelry includes draught beers, bottled beers, wines, spirits, ciders and cocktails. Sentosa has also arranged for complimentary GrabShuttle rides (and free entry) to bring workers in the Pasir Panjang and HarbourFront areas directly to these Thirsty Thursday participating outlets. Using the GrabShuttle app, they can hop on the minibus at…

The recent Tokyo Motor Show venue, Tokyo Big Sight, saw the debut of two big rides from Toyota and Lexus – the Century and LS+ respectively. The Toyota limousine looks back to the past, whereas the Lexus limo looks ahead into the future, but both play relevant roles today. The 2017 Toyota Century (right) is only the third new model since the 1967 introduction of Japan’s “first domestically produced full-fledged chauffeur car”. The second Century only arrived in 1997, with a unique 5-litre V12 and a price 1.5 times higher than the Celsior, which was the domestic version of the Lexus LS400 flagship at the time. The Century was gently updated in 2005 and its ancient 4-speed automatic was upgraded to a 6-speeder. The latest Century has replaced the 12-year-old…

SO I recently read about this spectacular new luxury mansion in California going for a nine-figure sum. It’s got 12 massive suites, 21 bathrooms, three fully equipped kitchens, five bars, a 40-seat cinema, a four-lane bowling alley, a spa room, a gym, a wine cellar bigger than the average HDB flat, a 30-metre infinity pool, you name it. The ultra-luxe villa also comes with its own ready-made US$30 million classic car collection, presumably parked in its massive climate-controlled basement garage. Now I’m no game hunter, but I would imagine the thrill of a hunt is all in the pursuit – it would be no fun if you just got your hunting guide to deliver the freshly shot antelope to your doorstep. Likewise, surely the thrill in collecting classic cars is…

Towkay. Tycoon. Big boss. Even bigger boss of the big boss. As captains of industry, their preferred vessel is a limousine, and limo makers go to great lengths to create a great and lengthy cruise liner for the industrious captains and their privileged passengers on board. One of the greatest and lengthiest limousines ever created is the Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman (below, right). It stretches to a whopping 6.499 metres and makes the long-wheelbase S-Class look like an “s-class”. The cabin is configured as a spacious, luxurious and fully leathered four-seater, with two forward-facing VIPs in first class and two backward-facing LIPs (less important persons) in business class. If you’re a CEO with a COE, consider using it for one of the new limos in this issue – Rolls-Royce Phantom (pg…

TORQUE readers of a certain vintage (like myself) may recall the burly Korean manservant to the titular villain in the 1964 Bond film, Goldfinger. Apart from displaying surreal strength (he could crush a golf ball in his palm) and occasionally tossing his lethal steel-rimmed hat at people, Oddjob also spent part of the movie driving his boss, the bullion-obsessed Auric Goldfinger, through the Swiss Alps to the latter’s hidden lair, with 007 (played by Sean Connery) in secret pursuit. Goldfinger’s choice of wheels? A classic 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III, which was, quite literally, the vehicle for Goldfinger’s gold-smuggling exploits (its huge radiator grille, dinner-plate-size headlamps and other parts were cast in gold, and the car was then simply driven across the border to Goldfinger’s hideout, where the parts were…

THE Swiss authorities are known for their zero-tolerance approach to speeding. Being caught at even 1km/h over the limit will earn you a ticket. So it was puzzling that Mercedes-Benz chose to launch the S63 AMG, along with its tamer S-Class siblings, in Zurich. Perhaps it is because Zurich, being one of the most expensive cities in the world, suits Mercedes’ equally expensive flagship model. Fortunately, the bulk of the driving route was in Germany, a country with many unrestricted highway stretches, which I needed to stretch the S63’s legs. For apart from being sizeable, the S63 is also stupendously powerful. This updated model has a twin-turbocharged 4-litre V8 that produces 612bhp and a phenomenal 900Nm. Driven in anger, perhaps by a towkay running late for a board meeting, it’ll…

THANKS to Motul, a lubricant manufacturer with extensive experience and involvement in motorsports, I got to have my very first experience playing at being Sebastian Vettel. Climbing out of the cockpit, having hurled myself around the highly technical but mercifully forgiving Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, I grabbed the nearest bystander and projectile-vomited into his bewildered expression an avalanche of superlative babbling. “Astonishing! Fantastic! Intoxicating! And utterly, explosively, hypnotically addictive!” All my nerve endings were on fire from the elation of it all. I took some time to catch my breath and straighten my thoughts. Just how special is a single-seat racing car? This particular scalpel of red and black, slicing its path through the air in the hands of another journo while I perched on the pit wall cooling…

MAZDA CX-9 FROM $207,800 ON THE ROAD Mazda’s new seven-seater SUV is roomier and sprightlier than its predecessor, thanks to a 55mm longer wheelbase and a torquier motor. Although less powerful than the naturally aspirated 3.7-litre V6 in the older model (228bhp versus 274bhp), the new turbocharged 2.5-litre inline-4 delivers 420Nm at 2000rpm, as opposed to 367Nm at 4250rpm. The front-wheel-drive CX-9 (there’s also an all-wheel-drive variant) now does zero to 100km/h in 8.2 seconds, an impressive 3.8 seconds quicker than before. π RIVAL: HONDA CR-V GENESIS G80 $238,888 ON THE ROAD Introduced here three years ago as the Hyundai Genesis, the G80 is now being marketed under the Genesis brand, Hyundai’s premium marque. The exterior has been facelifted, and the suspension has been tweaked to deliver more refined ride-and-handling…

SPORTS utility vehicles are like sneakers. They can tackle a variety of surfaces, offer more grip in wet conditions, and are more comfortable to wear all-day than, say, a pair of dress shoes. The three SUVs we’ve gathered here aren’t just ordinary sneakers, though. They’re more like snazzy high-end trainers. The most dynamic-looking contender in this story is the Lexus RX Turbo, whose huge grille and sharp lines give it the most road presence, too. It promises buyers a cushy and roomy cabin, but does its performance live up to the expectations created by its dynamic design and Turbo moniker? Keen to repeat its success in the premium SUV segment is the second-generation Audi Q5. Apart from being more powerful than its predecessor, the Q5 also offers more space and…

“WHILE THE NEW MODEL IS DECIDEDLY TARGETED AT YOUNGER DRIVERS, EXISTING LS CUSTOMERS, WHO ARE USUALLY OLDER, ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.” THE Lexus LS is a very special car to me. Not just because the first-generation model was my bridal car when I got married in 1993. It was also, at the time, the quietest car I had ever been in. I actually recall cranking up an engine which was already running. And it had such a well-cushioned ride – without the benefit of air suspension. Fitted with a 4-litre V8, the original LS400 was also not a car which was short on power or verve. Various changes were made to the following generations, but Lexus pretty much stuck to the winning formula of putting comfort above all else. In September,…

HAVING been a motoring writer for about a decade now, it goes without saying that reviewing cars is second nature to me. Even when I’m riding friends’ cars, I find myself checking tyre sizes and tread patterns when I walk up to their vehicles. As we’re driving along, I cannot help but listen to engine sounds and odd rattling noises (if any). I glance at air-con settings and try to gauge the efficiency of the system’s throughput. In short, part of me is always trying to review any vehicle that I’m in. But unless I’m in a test-car, I never offer any opinions. That would just be rude. But when it comes to food, I’ll happily proffer opinions on the best restaurants for specific dishes. Eating, as we all know,…

I did my first drive to Malaysia in my fairly new car recently and I had a flat tyre. Fortunately, I was able to pull in to a rest stop. But I was surprised to discover that there was no spare tyre. Instead there was something called a tyre repair kit. I was at a loss because I had no idea how to use the kit. Is it unique to my car? First and foremost, when you embark on a long-distance drive, you must give your vehicle a thorough check, including all the tyres (the spare tyre, too). These days, many cars do not come with a spare tyre. To reduce weight and for convenience, a tyre repair kit is now a common flat-tyre fix, so you must know how…

IN case you haven’t already realised, petrolheads elsewhere have it much better than we do. Say, for instance, you live in Munich, have a penchant for fast BMWs, and have the urge to pedal some metal in a safe, controlled setting. No need to cross a border and drive 350 kilometres to get to the nearest racetrack, as we do. Just 30 kilometres from the Bavarian capital is BMW’s impressive driver training facility, a converted military and civilian airport near the town of Maisach. Spanning 130 hectares, the BMW and MINI Driving Academy (to give the place its formal title) boasts long straights, three 42-metre irrigated skidpans, dedicated acceleration, brake-test, lane-change and slalom areas, and a high-speed 1.8km-long circuit layout created from the existing runways and taxiways. Given the space…