The Toyota hybrid sedan that was Lexus is to the HS250h called the SAI. It came here since the end of 2009 and judging by the looks of it, you can't really tell the difference between this and the more expensive Lexus HS. Now, just like its expensive brother, the HS250h, gained a facelift earlier, it seems that it's the turn of the Toyota SAI to have itself a major nip-tuck but things are looking a bit more different because for the 2014MY minor change, not only the cosmetics are new but also fuel economy of it but we'll talk about it later though. Let's start at the cosmetics...
2014 Toyota SAI
On the exterior, just look at the massive changes on the outside view and judging by the looks of it, it's no longer a bit of a Lexus HS carbon copy although this is still a Lexus HS in Toyota's clothing. Although, I'm starting to argue that such looks kinda reminded me of the...Corolla Furia concept as seen in Detroit except this isn't a Corolla Furia. It's a bit more than that because it tries to draw inspiration from its bigger brother, the Camry, as well as its little brother, the Corolla. Of course, the Camry is available in hybrid-only while the Corolla does had a hybrid variant in two body styles. This 2014 SAI tries to be even more noticeable than ever but it's still not as exciting as it supposed to be. This is like seeing your lady boss in her shoulder pads.
2014 Toyota SAI interior
2014 Toyota SAI interior
Apart from your lady boss in shoulder pads, there's something a bit different on the interior although it's still look like the HS's aside from the Lexus-style Remote Touch. Past SAI models had speedos that read up to 180kph (the JDM norm for Japanese cars) but for the 2014 model, it now reads up to 220kph respectively and it's readable by its reworked instrumental panels that make it more convincing than a Saturday night at the pub. What Toyota also did to the new SAI is by adding some LED illumination on the dashboard to make it more classy yet futuristic. There are so many refinements happened on the new SAI out there but no matter what, it's still the car made for your lady boss in shoulder pads.
The 2.4L petrol engine with Toyota Hybrid System II develops a combined output of about 190PS of power, the same as the 2014 Honda Accord Hybrid's, while mated with the rather terrible CVT gearbox for fuel economy purposes. What I didn't know is that the 2014MY SAI now has new dampers to make handling a bit more personal than ever. Sounds hecky-peck but it's still tries to be worth a serious one. For fuel economy, the 2014 model SAI is now 22.4km/L, that's more than the HS250h, and then as for pricing, it starts at 3,210,000 Japanese Yen, cheaper than the Lexus HS.
Available colors: White Pearl Crystal Shine, Silver Metallic, Grey Mica Metallic, Black, Red Mica Metallic, Crystal Stream Metallic, and Dark Blue Mica.
Last year, Kia Motors shocked the world when their newest medium sedan, the K3, broke cover in the Autumn and served as the replacement to the Forte. Well, in some countries, the K3 was sold as either this, the Forte, or the Cerato. It maybe available only in sedan but for 2013, the K3 range expands with two additional body styles such as the hatchback called K3 EURO (to come out late this year) and then this...
2014 Kia K3 Koup
Debuted since the 2013 New York Auto Show, the new generation KOUP, now based on the K3, features European styling and performance to match with the 1.6 Turbo GDi engine. Wait, did you say turbo? Well, since the new model's turbocharged, the K3 KOUP is officially THE MOST POWERFUL KOUP EVER. Amazingly, this is the sort of engine as expected from the Veloster Turbo and let's explain why this new model's turbocharged.
2014 Kia K3 Koup
Well, the brand new 1.6 T-GDi engine offered on the new K3 Koup develops about 204PS of power and 27.0kg-m of torque. With about that stats, that's more powerful than the outgoing model and more importantly, more than the non-turbo model, which you can have one on the entry-level model. In terms of transmission types; you can have either a flappy-paddle gearbox or for the spartan ones, a 6-speed manual gearbox. What luck indeed, a 204PS engine mated with a 6-speed manual is just what this car needs. Although may not be a decent alternative to today's hot hatch, it's still worth trying to impress its owners but sadly, this is a Korean car and Korean cars are harder to impress than its European rivals so it may take some tough love getting to know more about the new KOUP.
To explain what I'm on about, I'm using both the Peugeot 208 GTi and the 2014MY Scion tC as the basis on what's what on the new KOUP. First of all, the new K3 KOUP weighs about 1,305kg or about 2877lbs, meaning that it weighs more than the 208 GTi but a few kilos lighter than the 2014 tC with the manual gearbox on it. Sure, all three have manual gearboxes but let's not forget that this new KOUP got more power than the 208 GTi or the 2014 Scion tC because of its 204PS power output. That seems legit but enough about that, what about how they drive?
2014 Kia K3 Koup interior
Well, if you are in the 208 GTi, it feels a bit more enjoyable thanks to its 3-door shape and its European handling but if you're in the tC, this is a totally different story because it feels a bit harsh in every direction. So, what's like on the new KOUP? Hmmm... Well, it may have the right tools, the right turbo engine for the enthusiasts, the right gearbox for the enthusiasts but let's be honest, this is a bit too odd to drive one even for a Korean-made car like this. It feels a bit rough, the steering's vague, the ride feels like you're in the economy section of Delta Airlines, and overall, it's not quite insane enough to be a "speedo boy" trend-setter. Even when you fickle its FLEX STEER setting to SPORT, it's not quite a "player" even when you thrash this around like a West Side gangster.
So, there we are, the new K3 KOUP. This new model proves that it has the right elements to succeed as a front-wheel drive sportscar rigged with a turbocharged GDi engine and a standard 6-speed manual but for a keen driver, these right elements hasn't been put into use just yet because there's been a long road ahead for the new K3 KOUP.
Available colors: Snow White Pearl, Bright Silver, Racing Red, Abyss Blue, Metal Stream, and Aurora Black Pearl.
That weekend's Formula One race in Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, proven to be worth the mettle even for the seasoned F1 racers and despite Hamilton's PP, it's no match to Red Bull's S. Vettel as they went through Les Combes and after 44 laps later, Sebastian Vettel takes it. Oh yeah. There was one part of the race where just before the pit entry, there has been some brakes failure with Kimi Raikkonen's F1 racer.
PRESS RELEASE:
Race - dominant Vettel waltzes to victory in Belgium
Sebastian Vettel took the lead from Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap of the 2013 Formula 1 Shell Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, and the manner in which his Red Bull imperiously swept ahead of the Mercedes on the climb up towards Les Combes set the tone for a dominant race in which the reigning world champion was never troubled. As Vettel checked out, Hamilton was unable to hold off the fast-starting Fernando Alonso who bullied his Ferrari through the field from ninth on the grid to second place, but the Spaniard was 16.8s adrift of Vettel’s RB9 after the 44 laps. Hamilton held on for third, another 10.8s further back and 2.1s ahead of Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, who made a welcome return to the points. At one stage the German was under threat from Red Bull’s Mark Webber, who made another poor start and spent the afternoon fighting back, but towards the end the Australian began to lose pace and was 3.9s behind Rosberg at the flag. Jenson Button had a more competitive run for McLaren and led very briefly during the pit stops on the 15th lap, but Vettel was back in front before the lap was over. Thereafter Button lost ground to the really quick runners, but held on to a decent sixth. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa finally overcame Lotus’s Romain Grosjean on the 40th lap to claim seventh, as a feisty run from Adrian Sutil earned Force India two more points. Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo was also quick towards the end, passing Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber and team mate Jean-Eric Vergne to claim the final point. The other McLaren of Sergio Perez was 11th after serving a drive-through penalty for squeezing Grosjean into a momentary off at Les Combes while relieving him of 10th place on the eighth lap. Vergne, who finished behind him, did not get a similar penalty despite appearing to do the same to Nico Hulkenberg as they battled later at Les Combes. Behind, the Sauber driver's team mate Esteban Gutierrez’s path to 14th saw him get a drive-through penalty for gaining an advantage by leaving the track limits. Valtteri Bottas was Williams higher placed runner in 15th after Pastor Maldonado was clipped by Sutil exiting the Bus Stop chicane on the 27th lap, then turned into Paul di Resta’s Force India after he appeared to belatedly try to get into the pit lane after he had passed the entrance. The Venezuelan received a 10-second stop-go penalty, which was no consolation to the angry Scot. Giedo van der Garde drove his heart out for Caterham in the closing laps to keep Maldonado at bay for 16th, with the Marussias of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton taking 18th and 19th. Besides Di Resta and Charles Pic, whose Caterham faded early, the only other retirement was Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn’s amazing run of 27 consecutive points finishes ended with an apparent brake problem after his Lotus was seen emitting black dust from its wheels throughout the race. That lost him two places in the title fight, as Vettel extended his tally to 197 points from Alonso, who jumps to second with 151, and Hamilton, who takes third with 139 to Raikkonen’s 134. Webber is fifth with 115. In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 312 points to Mercedes’ 235, Ferrari’s 218, and Lotus’s 187, while McLaren move back ahead of Force India with 65 to 61.
Source: Formula 1 official
On thr August 26, 2013's Banana Nite's IHAW NA segment, The guest of tvhe day is none other than Martin Nievera himself. Not only he's famed for being a singer, Martin Nievera is one of the most influential TV personalities in Philippine showbizness and he's famed for his rivalry between Gary V.
10 cute characters brought in by me will face my CUTENESS TESTS; getting kissed, getting hugged, and against Isabella's cuteness in a bid to top my CUTENESS RANKER leaderboard.
Today's cute character is...
Catbug
Is that Catbug from the web cartoon from Cartoon Hangover titled Bravest Warriors, which is a web cartoon made by the same people behind Adventure Time?
Well, Catbug does look cute but...HOW CUTE IS CATBUG?
First test is...getting kissed. Just how kissable is Catbug? Well, it's not quite bad to kiss Catbug in the cheeks and it seems Catbug likes getting kissed in the cheeks! It's as sweet as...um...eating chocolate sundae. Yum yum... Anyway, it's a 8 out 10 for Catbug's kissable rating.
Second test is...getting hugged. How huggable is Catbug? Happily though, it seems that Catbug enjoys getting hugged. One more thing though, at one time, there was a shopping site called WeLoveFine that sells an exclusive Catbug plush. In fact, more and more love this plushie so much, it sold out and we're awaiting the news when will it be restocked. Wowies. Catbug's on the equal side as BMO when it comes to getting hugged and that's a 10 out of 10 for Catbug's huggable rating.
The last test is...against Isabella. Isabella says "Whatcha Doin?"...like this. What would Catbug do? There's your answer..."DON'T HIT ME!". Feels like Catbug's getting hit by some sort of "gas-powered stick". Ouch... For that, that's a poorly rated 2 out of 10 for Catbug's Isabella-resistance rating.
Catbug from Bravest Warriors gets a grand total of 20 out of 30 points, putting him behind Mokona and ahead of Mog.
CUTENESS RATING:
1) BMO - 22/30
2) Mokona - 22/30
3) Catbug - 20/30
4) Mog - 19/30
5) Adipose - 16/30
How cute do I rank I? Very cute... HOW CUTE IS YOUR CHARACTER?
James: Well, it's a protest against the government's misuse over the "pork barrel" or PDAF. As I heard, thanks to some Facebook post, people will be at Luneta by 9:00AM Philippine Standard Time. Rain or shine, I think those who come here are protesting against the PDAF...for the hell of it.
(audience laughing)
Richard: Yeah, who would want to get themselves by the long arm of the law, even water cannons and riot shields cops are using against the protesters?
James: Or what about Typhoon Nando? There was a new typhoon approaching in the Philippines and do you think this will hamper the protest?
Jeremy: Rain or shine, with or without typhoon, it's still a bloodbath in Luneta. I'd expect that it's going to be a mess by the time the protest worsens.
(audience laughing)
Jeremy: Seriously, yes. It does get worsen.
Richard: Okay...That's a big warning, I'll give you that. So um...do you wish that the pork barrel must be scrapped for ever?
Jeremy: Well for me, yes. It must be scrapped. Reason why because this whole PDAF kept falling to the wrong hands, even Napoles, who was still hunted by the government for this scandal. Think about it, if PDAF has to be used well, the Philippines will have more schools, more equipment for the cops, more disaster-reducing equipment, more houses, everything to keep the Philippines upfloat but what just happened? The pork barrel was abused for the wrong reasons and if that keeps on happening, corruption will spell doom to the Philippines. (sigh)
James: Interesting idea, though. Maybe the pork barrel needs to be scrapped so the government needs to focus on the citizens' concern first than anything else. Think about it, people payed their taxes every year and what just happened? Instead of spending it for the good, they just spend it for the hell of it! No wonder one part of the Inferno book mentioned one part of the Philippines as "gates of hell".
(audience laughing)
Richard: Maybe the Philippines DO becoming the "gates of hell". The Inferno book was right! It is! Very!
(audience laughing)
Jeremy: Now, Motor Trend held the 3rd episode of The World's Greatest Drag Race as part of this year's BEST DRIVER'S CAR. Surprisingly though, it seems that Nissan's always a regular to this one. In the first one, the GT-R wins against the best of supercars. Then on the second one, the GT-R got beaten by the Lamborghini Aventador. Now, it's back for the third time and this time, it's the "For Track Pack" we're talking.
James: "For Track Pack". What is it?
Jeremy: Stripped out version of the GT-R. Numerous improvements, Spec V-style wheels, loss of rear seats, everything that makes this GT-R live to its name. Anyway, here's the clip...
(cheers and applause)
Jeremy: Nissan's done it, again! This time it's the Datsun!
Richard: Yeah. It seems it always love beating down supercars five times its price! What a bargain!
Jeremy: More like a bargaining chip to us. Now as this unfolds, I'd expect that future NISMO version's going to be a lot better than that and...we're not talking about that for a while...
Richard: Well, I do. And I kept laughing so hard by the moment I start up my computer! (laughing)
(audience laughing)
Richard: Well, that's gotta hurt. Proposing to a woman and then got disturbed by a crossing train at the mall and later got smacked by a guitar? Ouch. More like...PROPOSAL FAIL.
(audience laughing)
James: Well that was one gigantic failure for a proposal. I'll give you that. And poor him. His heart's got a big honkin hole forever ever since the girl he's proposing at smacked him with the guitar. Hope he's okay but sadly, he's already the laughing stock of the internet.
Richard: Laughing stock indeed. Guess this man's gonna hide himself in shame right now with bandages on head.
(audience laughing)
Richard: Oh hey! I just got a word that 2K Games, the company behind the Borderlands franchise, the Bioshock franchise, XCOM, NBA 2K, and others, just announced a mobile racing game called 2KDRIVE
Jeremy: 2KDRIVE? What is 2KDRIVE?
Richard: Well, it's a brand new mobile racing game for the iPhone and iPad and it's developed by a new company from UK called Lucid Games. Lucid Games is a boutique studio made by the creators of Project Gotham Racing and Blur and this is just one of the few developers you'd never heard of...but still, here's the clip for 2KDRIVE.
(cheers and applause)
Richard: Impressive!
Jeremy: Yeah. That is very impressive. Anyway, that is the end of the news, folks! Hey! You still have the whole HOW CUTE IS YOUR CHARACTER segment coming up so...you've already tackled Mog from Final Fantasy, Adipose from Doctor Who, BMO from Adventure Time, and Mokona from Tsubasa which surprisingly, Mokona's tied with BMO in the Cuteness Ranker.
James: Yeah, and I can't believe it feels like Mokona cheated at our third test because Mokona's eyes remained closed.
(audience laughing)
Jeremy: So, for the preview of the next HOW CUTE IS YOUR CHARACTER segment, who's gonna be and will this...mystery cute character beat BMO's ranking?
James: Wait wait wait...Don't you mean both BMO and Mokona's?
Jeremy: Well, BMO had higher scores in the 1st and 2nd tests than Mokona's but Mokona's higher in our third test than BMO's even if it was cheating.
James: Oh...Okay...BMO's.
Jeremy: Like I was saying, who was this mystery cute character gonna be and will it beat BMO's score?
Richard: Well, as for now, I don't really know who and I'm not spilling the details who will be the next cute character to take on our challenge but I do have a clue...
Jeremy: What clue?
Richard: Ahem...(mimicking a little boy's voice) SUGAR PEAS!
James: Drop 'em!
Richard: Okay!
(audience laughing)
Richard: There's your clue and I had to say that this cute character wants to be neck-and-neck against BMO and I reckoned...It could beat or tie BMO by a margin. Anyway, check in tomorrow and find out.
Everyone knows that more and more car gamers everywhere are willing to prefer the upcoming Gran Turismo 6, coming this winter exclusively on the Playstation3 console, than the upcoming Forza Motorsport 5, coming this autumn exclusively on the new XBOX One console. However, despite the 1200-car lineup, there are some cars GT6 should put...
Cars like...
1) Nissan Cefiro '89
WHY: The first-generation Nissan Cefiro midsize sedan is the kind of Cefiro we liked because unlike the second and the final generation, which runs on front wheels, this first generation is rear-wheel drive. Some say, it has a Silvia platform on it but whatever, the first-generation Cefiro was favored by tuners and drifters many. It would be nice to have this RWD Cefiro deserved a spot on GT6.
2) BMW 435i '13
WHY: The BMW 4-Series...why did BMW call this for the coupe version of the current 3-Series? Is it a bad move? I don't know but apart from its revolting looks, it's still worth being a wolf in sheep's clothing to me. Following the footsteps from the outgoing 3-Series Coupe models, the new 4-Series is worth an everyday car balanced with the required performance that will get you from Point A to Point B. If GT6 featured this, would this be worth the wait?
3) McLaren P1 '13
WHY: The McLaren P1 is a hybrid-engine wielding supercar that redefines the history of McLaren. Using the uprated 3.8L V8 turbo engine from the MP4-12C and the similar KERS technology from Formula One, over 903bhp of power were produced and that's more powerful than the McLaren F1. It's faster as well. I sure hope that the McLaren P1 hybrid hypercar has a spot on GT6, regardless of what would the promise be...
4) Audi R8 V10 Plus '12
WHY: A new Gran Turismo game deserves a new Audi R8 and this facelifted version should do the trick. The plus version of the Audi R8 V10 adds some punch to the R8 V10 without all the drama.
5) Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Black Series '13
WHY: This limited edition model promises to be the most hardcore SLS ever made and hey! The Black Series SLS does inspired by the SLS GT3 racecar. I sure hope this high-powered version will show up in GT6 no matter what.
The results please? So, if Polyphony's still on the rethinking process whether these cars I've mentioned will be featured on Gran Turismo 6, whether in game or as a DLC, you can't say that I didn't had a bit to do with that.
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