When I started writing this entry, I was thinking of yet another “BOOO!” to the Malaysian government. But I think there’s more than enough of that on the Internet.. my adding to it won’t help matters.

The fact is, petrol prices have gone up. And we have to do something about it. No, not by complaining.. but by changing how we do things. Here I’ll present to you what I’ve been doing to save petrol.

1. Avoid taking unnecessary trips.
2. If possible, do your driving in the morning or evening. Cooler temperatures mean denser air which is easier on the engine. Plus, cranking up the air-conditioning in the afternoons just adds to your petrol consumption.
3. Similarly, top up on your petrol when it is cooler. The cooler temperatures mean denser petrol.
4. Don’t drive aggressively. Curb that right foot! The harder you accelerate, the more petrol you burn.
5. Plan your trips to avoid jams and heavy traffic.
6. Let your car coast in neutral. Of course, you have to make sure the situation is safe as a neutral engine means a lack of engine braking.
7. Don’t leave your engine idling. When waiting for someone, turn your engine off. Too hot? Get out of the car and in the shade.
8. A friend of mine does this in Australia, he turns off his engine when waiting at a long traffic light. Of course, you need to be familiar with the lights and anticipate when the lights will turn green so you don’t bring any unnecessary attention on yourself.
9. Don’t drive with your windows down or your sunroof open. These create drag. The more drag you have, the more your engine has to work. Remove that bicycle rack when you’re not using it! Thinking of adding some cool rear spoilers? Think twice… those spoilers may look cool, but they also add drag. Besides, how fast do you think you’ll be going that you’ll need to add more rear downforce??
10. Ensure your tyres are properly inflated. An underinflated tyre creates more rolling resistance. It also wears your tyres out. Oh, and remember.. a tyre’s pressure goes up after some driving due to heat build-up. So, if you drove 10 minutes to the petrol station and then inflated your tyre to the recommended pressure, chances are, it’s still underinflated. The recommended tyre pressures are for COLD tyres. So, overinflate your tyres at the station, get a pressure gauge and measure the pressure in the morning when they’re cold and adjust the pressures down accordingly. Need I mention not to overinflate your tyres past their recommended limits?
11. Make sure your car is in tip-top condition. If your spark-plugs aren’t working as they should it means your petrol isn’t burning as completely as it should. Keep your air filter clean… a dirty filter means an inefficient engine.
12. Polish your car! A clean car means less drag.
13. Carpool! Yeah.. the added weight makes your car less efficient, but it sure beats driving two or three cars to work or to that mamak.
14. Reduce weight! Stop carrying that bag of golf clubs in the boot!
15. Do you leave your car to warm up in the mornings? Don’t! Just drive gingerly and you’ll be fine. Leaving the car on idle for 10 minutes is a sure fire way to increase your petrol consumption.

I’ve been practising some of these tips for the past 3 months. And it does affect my petrol consumption. My car’s trip computer calculates an average distance (km) per litre of petrol (L)consumed, or km/L. I used to get about 9.8 - 10.1 km/L. Now, I’m averaging 10.8 - 11km/L. At the maximum, it’s a 1.2km/L increase which means I can go 50.4km further on my full tank (42L) of petrol.

Give it a shot… and see what kind of improvements you get!

Here’re the rest of the pics! If you missed the first post, here it is. EXIF info has been retained if you’re interested in finding out the settings used.

JPJ should start enforcing a mandatory installation of spittoons into cars, lorries, buses, motorcycles, etc. They can start with Proton. Maybe this will halt the problem of motorists spitting out of their vehicles…

Seeing a motorist spit is an almost a daily occurrence. A not so pleasant one at that. There’s all kinds too.. those that aim far, and sometimes either lands near your car, or on it. Then there are those that open their car doors and just let one drop on the road/pavement. Oh, about those that hold one nostril close and just exhale real hard?

On second thoughts.. will it really help? They’ll probably still be spitting all over the place. Excuses?

• AIYA! My spittoooooooon full laaa.. how?
• Lazy to dirty my brand new spittoon la…

Being a journalist for almost 11 years (yup, still have my press tag renewed every year), it’s difficult not to smell a story that interests me. But I also missed having a loaded camera in my hand, ready to capture life as it passes us by. Then, my mom bought me my first ever camera phone, and suddenly I was taking pics all over. Not very good quality ones, but opportune ones nonetheless.

One type of pics I love are accident pics, so you can guess how much I almost get into one every time I take them on the fly. Here are some I’ll share with you guys. So do yourself a favour. Keep both on hands on the wheel, both eyes on the road, keep your ego in check and your brain in drive.

I wouldn’t want to find out that one of the the cars in the photos I’ll take in the future will be yours.

Crash Whiskers

Yes, F1 fans. Time for me to piss you off again. But this time, I’ll be nice. I promise. Again, I know nothing about F1, but Foxtrot told me that Singapura is going to have a street track like in Monaco. I immediately had doubts over how successful it will be (even though it’s the 2nd time). Below, I give my reasons why I doubt it will succeed.

1. The drivers will need to get cashcards to enter the restricted zones.

2. The team will have to stock up on parking coupons whenever their drivers come into the pitstop.

3. The speed limit, cameras and cops will kill the game.

4. They’ll get fined for driving and drinking. (get it?)

As you may already know, Tango and I, armed with our trusty Nikons went to Bukit Jalil to get some photos taken at the Xtreme Nights event held on 7-8 December. Yes, there were cars. Yes, there was booming music. Yes, there were loads of riced up cars. Yes, there were models.

So where are the pics? Well… let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first huh? Bring on part one….

“What?! Where are the chicks??!” I hear you exclaim? Laterlaaaa… doing post processing…

Toyota Australia has begun selling the latest version of the Toyota Corolla. Here in Malaysia the Corolla is being affectionately called Altis. I own one and I can attest to Toyota’s reliability claim (touch wood). Malaysians will probably get the same one being sold in Australia. I suspect it will also be branded the Altis again just to maintain continuity.

The car looks sweet. The front looks like the new Camry, handsome and regal. Less ‘uncle’ look like the current Altis.

The back, however resembles the current Altis. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. Toyota might be trying to please their current Altis users by not deviating too much from a proven design. Plus with the similar look, the current Altis might not drop in value too much when the 2008/2009 is finally available.However, overall I’m kinda underwhelm with the looks of the new Altis. It’s not a revolution like what Honda did to the 8th Generation Civic. It is, as usual, Toyota playing safe with their design. When will Toyota do something radical? When will they release something that will catch the public’s breath?

But one thing for sure, come 2008, my current Altis value will drop like a rock. Sigh…