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On the outside, it may look like very little work has been done. But look a little closer, and you will realise that Kia has lengthened the Soul, tweaked its headlights and front bumper, and smartened up its rear end. The rear taillight cluster has been replaced by a much smarter and more modern unit, while the rear tailgate has been widened and is now made up of a single piece of glass, with the centre decked out with a piece of body-coloured trim.

Happenings

Kia’s Got A New Soul!

IN Kia, Soul, New, Supermini, New York

Kia ditches the ‘boy-racer’ look and goes for a more matured look in the facelifted Soul.

Enter the new Forester XT. With a 2-litre ‘Direct Injection Turbo’ flat-four putting out 240 bhp and 350 Nm, the car will sprint to 100 in 7.5s and top out at 221 km/h. And, this being a crossover, the long-travel suspension should be able to soak up the bumps quite decently. The perfect replacement for newly minted dads needing something more family-friendly than their hopped-up WRXes?

Happenings

A Real Trailblazer

IN Subaru, Forester, XT, Turbo, X-mode, AWD

No, not that honking great GM SUV; Subaru’s latest offering has the pace to be a real scorcher.

Happenings

Eurokars City Centre Revamped And Unveiled

IN Eurokars, Group, Centre, MINI, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Showroom

With Second Minister for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran as the Guest of Honour, the Eurokars City Centre opens its doors to the public.

No need to hunt for a parking lot or wonder where to go, the Basement 2 car park is dedicated to receive you. Just pull up at the service reception bay and a service advisor will attend to you promptly. He will then run through the areas that your car will be worked on for the day, and proceed to give you a cost estimate.

Happenings

Audi Service Excellence 'Test Driven'

IN Audi, Audi Centre, Aftersales, Service, Premium Auto

They could have sent out a press release saying that they've got a great aftersales service program. But Audi went one better and invited us to experience it for ourselves.

Combine that brief with Tilke's characteristic safety features and tarmac run-off areas (less exciting for professional racing, much safer and friendlier for trackdays), and everyone's a winner. As a car enthusiast in Singapore caged by endless rules and taxes, this news comes at a perfect time to give us hope and take our minds off the recent ridiculous trends in our car industry. If you'll excuse me, I've now got to start saving for my own trackday monster...

Happenings

FASTrack Iskandar Appoints Hermann Tilke As Track Designer

IN FASTrack, Iskandar, Johor, Malaysia, Track, Racetrack, Motorsports, Trackday

Motorsports fans and petrolheads rejoice. After news of the Changi Motorsposrts Hub's demise left car enthusiasts disappointed, there now seems to be hope for the local motorsports fraternity.

Happenings

Beetle: Now With Added Poke

IN VW, Volkswagen, Beetle, TSI

VW Singapore bolsters the Beetle range with a more powerful 1.4 TSI twincharged engine that packs 160 bhp.

Two models of the A-class will be available here, both powered by turbocharged 4-cyl engines: the 1.6-litre A200 with 156 hp and 250 Nm of torque, and the 2.0-litre A250 Sport with 211 hp and 350Nm. Claimed performance figures for both models are 8.3 s and 6.6 s respectively for the 0-100 km/h dash, and top speeds of 224 km/h and 240 km/h. Thanks to Mercedes' BlueEFFICIENCY engineering philosophy, both cars are rather fuel efficient at 5.8 and 6.4 l/100km, while CO2 emissions of 136 and 148 g/km ensure up to $10,000 in CEVS rebates.

Happenings

All-New Mercedes A-Class Launch

IN Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz, A-class, A200, A250, Hatchback, Cycle & Carriage

The previous Mercedes A-class was an innovative exercise in compact packaging and practicality, but suffered from ungainly looks and the results of the infamous Elk Test. Will the new one redeem it?

The 3.8-litre V8 engine, although smaller than the previous flagship's 4.7-litre, is built to deliver 18% more power and 39% more torque, while having a 20% reduction in emissions. 530 bhp is available if you're gunning it all the way to 6800 rpm, but a hefty 650 Nm of torque starts to warm you up from as low as 2000rpm. Oh, and this can be overboosted to 710 Nm from 2250 rpm, enabling the car to hit 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds!

Happenings

Private Preview Of The All New Maserati Quattroporte

IN Maserati, Quattroporte, V8, V6, Sedan, Twin turbo

Maserati's all new Quattroporte received a warm welcome by the media recently at a private preview held by Hong Seh Motors, distributors for the italian marque.

The difference is not only cosmetic. The new DB9 gets more poke too. That said, this is no Vanquish; the new DB9 is heavier than the Carbon-Bodied Vanquish. Anyways, back to the topic. The new DB9 is powered by Aston Martin's trademark 6.0-liter V12.

Happenings

Aston Martin Facelifts The DB9

IN Aston Martin, DB9

The DB9 is the latest Aston to receive a facelift. So how did its little surgery turn out?

Stomp on the pedal from standstill and the new GTI will accelerate to 100 km/h in 6.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 246 km/h. The GTI Performance will edge ahead a little at 250 km/h and 6.4 seconds for the sprint to 100 km/h.

Happenings

New Volkswagen Golf GTI To Grace Geneva Motor Show

IN Volkswagen, Golf, GTI, Geneva Motor Show

Following the news on Volkswagen's GTD diesel hot-hatch, their iconic GTI has officially been announced and will make an appearance at the Geneva Motor Show.

Motorsports

TimeToAttack Final Round

IN Zerotohundred.com, TimeToAttack, Event, Sepang

2012 ened with a huge bang as Zertohundred.com closed their TimeToAttack series with a final round at the Sepang International Circuit.

Happenings

Aston's Sedan Gets Rapide-ly face-lifted

IN Aston Martin, Rapide, Rapide S

Aston Martin continues its face-lifting spree, this time, on their Rapide sports sedan/coupe.

Our test-car was finished in black and matched with glossy black wheels. Racing stripes, wing mirrors and brake calipers were peppered in red, and the result is a rather mean looking supermini that looks ready to take on cars twice its size.

New

MINI In Name Only | MINI John Cooper Works Hatch

IN MINI, MINI Habitat, Cooper S, BMW Asia, John Cooper Works

In the past, if you wanted the hottest MINI, you could only get it with three pedals. Now the John Cooper Works range comes paired with an autobox that works (pardon the pun) surprisingly well!

Thank god the Mayans got their doomsday predictions wrong. We'll now get a taste of some JCW action before we die. Mr Neil Fiorentinos, Managing Director of BMW Group Asia says that “The latest MINI John Cooper Works model continues to make driver’s heart beats faster with its even quicker responses and stoke their admiration with significantly reduced fuel consumption and emissions”. I look forward to agreeing with him on this.

Happenings

MINI John Cooper Works Range Goes Auto

IN MINI, Coupe, MINI Habitat, Cooper S, BMW Asia, John Cooper Works

MINI's John Cooper Works range of baby performers are now available with an automatic transmission.

The headlights are now smaller in size and have daytime running lights that may have been inspired by Nike. The car’s rear end has also received a radical redesign. Gone are the small taillights of yesteryears, and in their places, is a pair of aggressively-styled taillights that extend towards the rear quarter panels.

Happenings

New Lexus IS Revealed

IN Lexus IS, Borneo Motors, Lexus, Spindle

Lexus’ redesigned IS rocks the entry-level sport sedan segment, in hope of leaving their ‘boring’ image behind.

AMG is going all out for the styling; the car has a very aggressive appearance to tell all the bystanders that this is no businessman’s bog-stock E-Class, but a performance car capable of scarsely believable performance figures. The front and rear bumpers, headlights and the side skirts have been modified. The headlights come in the form of a one-piece unit with LEDs and bi-xenon, as compared to the two-piece unit on the outgoing car. The side skirts are more pronounced and features trim that runs goes along the length of the car.

Happenings

New Mercedes E63 AMG Already?

IN Mercedes E63 AMG, E Class, AMG, V8

AMG’s family-friendly 5-seater gets a new face, new drivetrain and even more power!

The engine is not that new, the 4.0 TFSI, which debuted last year, is an example of Audi's downsizing strategy in the high-performance category. In the new Audi RS6 Avant, the twin-turbo V8 delivers 560 bhp and 700 Nm of torque that is available between 1,750 and 5,500 rpm.

Happenings

New Audi RS6 To Be Powered By Twin-Turbo V8

IN Audi, RS6, V8, Estate

Lighter and more efficient than the previous model, but with 2 cylinders less. The new RS6 still manages to be even faster than the V10 model it replaces.

Happenings

2014 Nissan GT-R Engines Get Enhanced

IN Nissan, GT-R, Turbo, GTR, New, 2014

As if it needs more power and 'improved throttle and acceleration feel' - the Nissan GT-R still gets it anyway. That, and an aluminum nameplate with the name of the engine constructor.

Plus it's not all about the looks, the S5 (like your perfect date) is versatile and smart. It can play a wide variety of roles, from highway cruiser to back road bruiser. Powered by a 333 bhp 3.0-litre V6 supercharged power-plant with 440 Nm of torque, this new engine replaces the old characterful 4.2-litre naturally aspirated V8.

New

Perfect Date | Audi S5 Coupe 3.0T

IN Audi S5, Audi Singapore, Premium Automobiles

The Audi S5 got a refresh recently, we take one out on a date and remember why this is one of our favorite Audis.

Happenings

MINI John Cooper Works Paceman

IN MINI, Cooper Paceman, Paceman, John Cooper Works