Toyota may has GOA (Global Outstanding Assessment) standard at Avanza, but there are reasons why I called it a rip-off in my last log.
Look at the door, it is empty.
It IS empty, this shoot taken from inside the “hole”.
I know Proton Wira has double steel rod in there, even Myvi has a tiny steel plate. This Avanza has air only.
We need a family car badly since we have lost the Myvi. So I’ve ordered a Azanva about 2 weeks ago, and finally got it yesterday.
Imagine one can get an Avanza in 2 weeks, compare to 7 to 8 months when it was launched about 2 years ago.
For 63.7K, the car is definitely a rip-off. Unfortunately I don’t have much choice. It has 7 seats, that is all about the good things with it. Period. The rest are all miserable.
I do consider the Suzuki APV, but the cabin mounted engine really scare me off.
The other car on my radar was the facelift Honda City – it wins all rounded, just a little pricey for us, and can’t carry huge human being and goods.
UMW has an “offer” during these months, throwing in a Sony LCD 32″ TV (worth 6k on market), so another point for me to get Avanza, so I just commit it as a family car for rough use.
I know the facelift is round the corner, but there isn’t any choice here.. really. Damn the Myvi theft.
Driving it home from Sungai Buloh Toyota service center was a snappy one.
The engine noise is on the high side, the RPM is about 700 cycles more compare to Myvi in order to get to the same speed – it is the same 1.3L engine used in Myvi mind you (2700 RPM on Avanza and 2000 RPM on Myvi at 80 KM/H).
The ride was a little too soft, maybe I was driving alone. The view was good, almost as high as my Land Rover Discovery. But the feeling of driving a Van is always there, as the panel and instrument looks pretty basic and “cheap”.
Yes, “basic” is the word that I’ve been looking for. It lacks of air-bag, EBD/ABS, adjustable steering and steering lock as compare to most of the car that I’ve owned. Those are minor things but really bugging me I start thinking about it.
What I like:
- very comfortable gear position, high and easy to reach.
- high view, can see traffic better.
- firm ride at low speed: 50 to 80 km/h.
- electronic side mirror control.
- very smooth gear swift, can’t really feel the swift and guess the gear level (maybe this should go into the “what I don’t like” section).
- good head room. No as good as Myvi and Land Rover, but GOOD. This could be due to the higher seat level.
- passenger dedicated air-condition, at roof top of the second row.
- central windscreen control, and the driver seat windscreen can go up and down all by 1 touch (something lacks in Myvi).
- the third row seat is reasonably spacious. Feel like more spacious than the Innova.
- it is rather quiet in the cabin, very little road noise. I guess that’s why the engine noise become more significant.
What I don’t like:
- no air-bags.
- roof material is a little hard.
- not adjustable steering.
- no fuel consumption vs milage meter.
- basic and cheap feeling on door handle (almost basic and cheap feeling everywhere).
- the third row of seat can be accessed only via the left passenger door. Not from both sides.
- pathetic booth space with the third seat up (this one lose to Innova).
- without ABS/EBD and many safety features, this people mover is not convincing.
- very hot under the sun, probably due to too many windows. A tint is a must.
- the booth door open high, there is no handle or something to grab it down. If you are short, you’ll have problem to reach up and close it down.
- no mud guard on 4 wheels. Prone to pick up small rocks and hit the body.
- no arm rest. Hey, this is suppose to be a mini MPV (another reason why I feel very Van alike).
It has 2 factory defaults so far:
- The steering position is not center. When the car move in a strait line, the steering steer a little to the left at about 5 degree.
- The front passenger door is not properly aligned when mounted. It tilted about 2 MM.
There you go. This is the car that I drive now.
My wife has a phobia on driving new car, so she will be using the 9 years old Kancil for a long long time.
Time to give the old faithful Kancil a treat, so that it will last for another few more years!
This door can be found in my office car park. Most of the doors at every floors has got a same treat.
Look at the red sign, it says “FIRE DOOR – KEEP CLOSED”. We’ll like to keep it closed, but it has been pined on the floor by a stopper.
No, this is not a practical joke. The pin job was done by the management. They want to keep the door open for some reasons, but they didn’t remove the sign for some other reasons.
One of my production servers has been up without a reboot for the last 500 days. That’s a major improvement, and major worry too 
It is a relatively low traffic server that throwing out 300 to 500 MB data daily. The load has been always bellow 1.0.
It runs on AMD low end processor (Duran 1.3 GHz), IDE hard disk, and 1 GB of RAM. So humble that I skip to check its status for months.
See Top capture here.
My office work desk has a lot of small ants. Could be due to they rich habitat on top of it: I eat, drink at work.
It was quite annoying, as I have to shake away 10 to 20 ants from my fork and spoon if I pause (take phone call) during my lunch placing them on the table.
They are so tiny and they don’t bite, so I really don’t mind sharing my food with them.
Until last Monday, I’ve noticed that they have turn one of my empty cardboard box into their hive. A lot of them. I have no choice to dump that cardboard box away (it was a good cardboard box, I’ve been using it to support my PowerBook from the back for easier typing and better ventilation).
After that, amazingly, I have no ant on my desk. Not a single one. I guess I have killed them all. Gosh, I’ve kill at least a few thousands of life in a few seconds. Can you imagine that?
Ok, maybe they’ll survive in the dumping ground. Could be more enjoyable too as the place has endless junk and food supply.
So I’ve done something nice after all, yes?
I’ve borrowed a temporary car from a friend since Myvi stolen. That car has an ant hive somewhere too. I only realize that during a raining day, where many of them running around in the car hopelessly.
Maybe I should placed a cardboard box in there too, that would provide a great shelter for them, I can invite them for a migration later.
Hard working is important, but knowing where to spend your effort is even more important.
Here is why (again, from the wisdom of anonymous email):
A giant ship engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.
Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away.
The engine was fixed! A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.
“What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!” So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.”
CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WAS THE BREAK DOWN????
The man sent a bill that read: Tapping with a hammer. …………. . $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap……….$ 9,998.00
I am not a particularly tidy person. Thanks to the file and content searching capability of today computers.
My desktop is getting a little out of control like this:
Don’t click, there is no zoom in version
I really missed the OS 9 pop-up folder drawer feature. I have been waiting for years on OS X.
If OS X 10.5 doesn’t restore that feature back, I’ll migrate to Linux, I’ll promised.
I usually drag all items on it and keep inside a folder with date, such as “desktop 2006-07″. I have a lot of these folders.
Time to swipe the desktop clean again.
I’ve been forced to get MyKad because I’ve been force to get a bank loan, and the bank want MyKad explicitly.
I’ve been forced to get a bank loan because I’ve been forced to get a new car.
I’ve been forced to get a new car because my Myvi being stolen.
There you go. Circle of life, always some forces around.
Well at least my 4th attempt to get MyKad has been a good one. I went to this far far away land call Sungai Buloh (somehow they have beautified that area with name like Kota Damansara), and hunted down a tiny JPN office – within a small business center in middle of bushes. I’ve overshoot that place and ended up at Toyota service center, making an U turn back, almost hit a reckless Waja driver that cutting across the road without looking.
The JPN office was cold and almost empty. A few things I like:
- No need for the endless “borang” filling process
- No need to ink my thumbs for finger print — it was ink-less 9 years ago when I re-do my lost IC.
- No need to comb my hair, the officer that took my photo has no complain.
- The coats are clean and no odor.
However, there is no “public” toilet in there. When I asked, they suggest me to go to the mak-mak restaurant next door.
Also, my “largest coverage” celco in Malaysia has very poor service in that area, I can hardly get a bar of signal.
Luckily, I don’t have to stay long. I’ve got everything done in 30 minutes, with 4 persons before me. Quick.
