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I recently passed my JPJ test after a very long wait, all these waiting, are all JPJ's fault. Really, waiting for the L license, then I need 1 month before I can proceed with the JPJ Test. Now that I have passed the test (will blog about that in another post, quite a crappy experience too). I must get my P license ASAP.. And things arent going out as planned. Let see..

As a boy who is very much interested and passionate on anything related in automobiles, I have been longing for this one time of my life.. 17 years old! Wonder why? Because in Malaysia, you are only allowed to take apply for your driving license once you have passed your 17th birthday. My birthday was in March, but as with pretty much other 17 year old's here in Malaysia. This year is the most important year as we had a once in a lifetime Examination. which is SPM. I don't really want to talk about that so lets just continue.

The final papers of SPM are coming, unfortunately for me, I had to take Arabic paper whereas most of my friends from government schools don't, so my exams ended a week later then them. I couldn't really concentrate on the paper as I was getting excited on getting my driving license, so you might be wondering, which driving institude/academy did I choose? That was a non-existing issue for me because there's one neighbour who is a driving instructor, I applied to get my driving license from her. Just after finishing the last paper on Tuesday, all the Form 5's students (well theres only less than 50 in my school) went for a relaxing vacation at Eagle Ranch Resort, Port Dickson for 3 Days and 2 Nights. We left on Friday , said goodbye to each other and parted on our own ways. Sad isn't it knowing that you might never ever will be able to meet your friends again.. Oh yeah, before that. I had asked my old friend Ariff to join me to take the driving license as I dont wanna take it alone, and I was still in Port Dickson when Afiq WhatsApp'ed me saying that he is also interested in getting his license. I immediately told my driving instructor that Afiq wanna tag along with us..

The next week, (on a Monday or Tuesday I cant remember), sharp at 7:30 am, Ariff and Afiq gathered at my place as we were going to attend the KPP course which is around 5 hours in total.


This is essentially a talk on the usual Highway Code, what do you need to know and prepare before hitting the roads and yada yada yada. But most importantly some tips and tricks to pass the upcoming computerised test. The book as in the picture above contains the 500 questions that might be asked during the computerised test, and to be honest, some questions were quite silly and I didn't bother finishing them anyways.

The next week, halfly prepared, we went together to MyEG Danau Kota for the computerised test, when we reached there, it was full of after SPM students like us eager to get their license too. We gave our details to the counter and was given a number. I was at number 49 if I am not mistaken, yeah we had some time to study before entering the computer room, but did we study? mehh,  Everyone else was busy reading questions and last minute preparations, the three of us was laughing and chit chatting all the way. Eventually I got called in to do the test, pheww, I got 48 out of 50! I was targetting to get full marks but I guess this is alright since the passing mark is 42, Afiq and Ariff also got respectable marks.

On the 24th of December, again the three of us went to the Theory class (3 hours), here we learnt absolutely nothing something about how the car works and yada yada yada, I dont think this class was necessary, such a waste of time.. There should be an Amali class afterwards where u were supposed to "Hands-On" with the car's engine, and so on and so forth but we didnt do that..

All we had to do after that was to wait for our Learners permit to be issued by the Road Transport Authority (JPJ laa apa lagi), and you know what? They were so called in a process to upgrade and implement their new and buggy MySikap system, we were the ones who had to suffer due to this.. Other people got their Learners permit at most 2 weeks after the Theory class, but us? A month. But luckily for me, my next door neighbour had a contact with someone working in JPJ. I went to JPJ to meet him at 4:15pm, note that JPJ closes at 5pm and there was still a lot of people waiting for their number to be called. I felt a little bit guilty because I didn't have to take a number and just proceed to settle my Learners permit due to the help of my neighbour's affiliate.

There it was, my learner's permit, took so long!, but finally its in my hands now, I called up my Driving Instructor and set a date for the driving lesson. She told me she had booked the JPJ test on the 19th of February 2014 which was fine for me as I need it as soon as possible and the learner's permit needs to be 1 month old before I can sit for the JPJ test.

I will stop here now, we will see again in my next blog post, see ya!

Some might say that we are paying so much for our cars here right in Malaysia, but, do we? Here are some of the things might make you think differently. I'll give you one example,




This is the price of a normal Volkswagen Passat in Malaysia. So, do you think its expensive? Now let me show you, the price of the same Volkswagen Passat, but this time in the United Kingdom.

Do note that in UK the car is at bare minimum and most of the features we get on the Malaysian market are optional features to them, so I configured a matching specification of the VW Passat on the VW UK website and here is the result.



See what I meant? The difference is just around RM5000, and yet the Passat in the UK does NOT offer leather seats like the ones we get here.

Please take note that is conversion is a DIRECT currency conversion without any factors such as the salary of the rakyats, the petrol prices and the general cost of living.. Because this is how we Malaysian's compare laa.

Think about it, comments is appreciated.

These past few years, we've been bombarded with the launch of B-Segment hatchback in Malaysia such as the Mazda 2, Peugeot 208, Kia Rio, VW Polo, Suzuki Swift and all the likes of it.. Now here comes the Ford Fiesta.

Ford Fiesta was first introduced in Malaysia in 2010, it had a 1.6L 120hp engine, as of this week, Ford Malaysia has introduced the updated version of the Fiesta..


So, what is so great about it? What is the changes between the new one and the old one?

Lets look at the DESIGN first.

OLD

NEW Updated grills is the most noticable because this is just a facelift model. So, you are expecting a LED DRL like the Fiesta's in other countries? Sorry, you wont get it here.. Features The new Ford Fiesta gains an automatic headlights ,automatic wipers, Keyless entry with Push Start Button (Most new cars have this anyways, no big deal).  Smart Regenerative Charging This advance feature allows additional energy to be converted and stored in the battery rather than dissipated at the brakes, especially during vehicle deceleration.   Electronic Stability Programme and Hill Launch Assist. Negative Points  Now, to the downsides of the car, the engine now spots a new 1.5L Ti-VCT which produces 112PS compared to the old 1.6L Ti-VCT which outputs 120PS, why? I believe there's something to do with the tax structures of cars based on the engine capacity in Thailand. because u know la , Thailand mostly uses Vios.. So fikir-fikir sendiri la ye. Ah, before I forget, the car still only has 2 airbags,  When the competitors all have 6 airbags as standard.. Pricing, the price of the old car (inc. insurance) is RM 84888 while this new facelift costs (inc. insurance) RM86988, RM2000 more than the car it replaces.  So, is it worth the price increase, with the downgrade of engine power but upgrade in features? Tepuk dada tanya selera. PICS  I have seen the car live infront of me when I went to the Ford Showroom in Ampang (Trio Mantap), here's some pictures I've taken with my phone. The phone's camera was having some sort of issue with lightning and I am not sure what's the cause of it.. 12V Port, the Ford SYNC is powered by Microsoft, that means it would accept Voice commands like smartphones these days. Was a little bit dissapointed as there was a lack of armrest.  Time to end this post, for me, I still prefer the Proton Suprima S, just because of the turbo engine and the whole array of features it offers. Well that's just me, You might have your own opinion.. Interested? All Ford showrooms nationwide has the new Fiesta on display, go check 'em out. Bye!