GREAT PEOPLE WILL THINK BIG AND CREATING BIG IDEA.

You big by thinking big. Small when you think small. Your limitations are your thoughts. Dreams are awarded so that you can think big. So dream so big. Start from your mind.

The success solely in meletakannya how you pkiran. Nothing is wrong with the neighborhood. Nor did any of your time. All provide a place and a chance for you untu success. Stay you take the first step, that is to think big.

There's nothing wrong with the frog missed the month. There's nothing wrong with the monkey who wants to be a god. Do not mind the words of others. Bergaulah with those big personality. Treat yourself with a sense of respect, then others will respect you as a great man.

There is no other way can you do if you want to be a great man is a big think and vice versa if you think small then you will be small, your mind will affect your soul. For that use your mind to determine your success will be the future.

Discover your identity by thinking big, and try to get along with those big personality, and get used to deal with an issue with large, then you will feel how important you are, so you will appreciate yourself.

By doing activities that demonstrate your greatness in determining the success will help you create great ideas that will benefit other people, your role in the eyes of other people would be so great that feels Andapun always wanted to do the things that can help others.

This is perhaps the benefits we can offer if we can always devote our energy and thoughts to help people with many great works, we, with all the optimism we can build individuals a strong case for the road to success together.

Hopefully with all the resources and efforts that I have, I can create things out of ordinary that can later be my lot to contribute to society through the writings that I make, and I hope there will be more people who have similar thoughts that is creating great ideas that will benefit the people. Inshallah ...

Lexus IS F upgraded – what’s the diff?

Lexus IS F has received a new, compact mechanical Torsen LSD (Limited Slip Differential) that supersedes the previous Brake LSD function unit.

The change has seen the IS F gain a two second improvement in lap times around Japan’s Fuji Speedway and joins other convenience and design feature upgrades in face-lifting the model.

The Torsen LSD redistributes the torque that is lost when a wheel loses traction during cornering, without limiting engine output. New differential oil has also seen the unit perform more smoothly as well as making it quieter.

IS F upgrades also include a revised satellite navigation unit with improved route guidance, functionality and map view.

The 14-speaker Mark Levinson audio system has been upgraded too and now features a new USB input for iPods along with new software to allow selection of tracks via the vehicle’s touch screen navigation unit.

Interior revisions see the inclusion of folding rear head restraints, F logo on the ultra-thin card key, and a new steering wheel and centre cluster design.

The new steering wheel has added colour trim in the lower section of the rim and new “overcast” stitching pattern to provide a neater finish to the leather wrapped steering wheel.

The centre cluster has improved audio switches, as well as a new facia around the navigation system and air conditioning unit.

In addition, Lexus has redesigned the moonroof controls with seesaw-type switches in lieu of a dial-type switch, for greater ease of use.

“IS F has continued to outsell its allocation month on month, with the upgrades ensuring its sustained popularity,” said Lexus Chief Executive, Mr John Roca. “The adoption of a mechanical LSD will deliver a greater drive experience on the road and on the circuit. IS F has been of critical importance in shifting Lexus’ brand perception.”

Mazda3 Review & Road Test

You’d be smiling too if you were a 3

Model Tested:

• 2009 Mazda 3 Maxx; 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, petrol; five-speed automatic; sedan – $27,050*

Options:

• None Fitted

Build quality; ride & handling; smooth drivetrain
Road noise; strange looks

CarAdvice Rating:

Okay, okay, let’s start with the obvious – the Mazda3 has a big smile. It’s kind of a goofy grin, too, with the numberplate causing it to look a bit like it’s buck-toothed. Bugs Bunny smiley face or not, this is one of the best small cars going around. Will buyers look past its looks? The sales figures seem to indicate that they will.

Just last month, for example, the Japanese company sold 2900 Mazda3s in Australia, giving it a 15.5% market share for the highly competitive small car under $40K segment. So what’s all the fuss about? We asked Mazda for a week in the Maxx model to find out.

We were handed an automatic, and as we’d driven the manual in our SP25 we had a few weeks ago, it was interesting to see if it’s worth the extra to lose a third pedal. It is and it isn’t.

The ‘box itself is very good, slurring and covering changes very nicely. It holds onto the gears at full throttle, making the most of the power curve. On part throttle, it quickly jumps to the higher gears conserving fuel, which is also helped by carrying five ratios to choose from, compared with six speeds in manual guise. The spread of gears in the “Activematic” – Mazda-speak for auto – works well with the free-revving engine. There’s a slightly short first gear, to help get things going, with the following ratios evenly spaced. The transmission is excellent.

So what’s the issue? There’s a little indicator panel between the speedo and tacho that lets you know the transmission selection is. P for park, D for drive, and so on. The problem is not the panel itself, but the colour that’s been used.

It’s a reddish-orange, and when it’s set to D, because of the way the LCD numbering system is set up, it’s a roundish sort of shape. While you’re driving and looking ahead through the windscreen, your peripheral vision notices a reddish-orange round light on the dash. Damn, I’ve left the handbrake on – wait, no, it’s just in drive. Several kilometres down the road, you’re ignoring the light, but in the back of your mind, you still think it’s a warning light. Throughout the week, I found myself constantly looking down, checking this warning, only to be reminded it’s just the auto-selection panel (see below; imagine yourself in the driver’s seat, staring at that for a week – or the term of the lease).

Now, if it were green, or blue, this wouldn’t be an issue, and maybe I’m making a big thing out of nothing, but it was quite distracting. Thankfully, it’s about one of the few negatives with the car. The rest of the cabin is brilliant. The dash materials are very nice, almost Civic Type R in layout, as it’s quite driver focussed. The seats are very good, not too flat, with a nice cloth trim.

The controls are all nicely laid out, and the brakes are decent. The steering is good on the whole, though mid way through the lock on each side, while on a long sweeper or cloverleaf, it loses feel, but around centre, it’s crisp and well weighted. As far as a driver’s car goes, the new Mazda3 is very good.

It tackles directional changes with a little roll, but remains unfussed, taking undulations in its stride. There’s no crash from the suspension over broken tarmac, and while it’s not an MPS model, there’s enough firmness to inspire confidence when heading out on country roads. With a load, it does soften a little, but it is a small car, so you probably wouldn’t be stuffing five people inside. Small kids are fine, but anyone over 14 would start to struggle on long trips.

If you did decide to load it up, it would probably get a little squashy in the back, but for room and for the size of the car, Mazda has packaged it well. The boot on the sedan offers enough space with more room than the hatch (430 litres versus 340 litres), the rear seats are still comfortable and the smoothness of the ride helps to keep the cabin a fuss free place to be.

But the interior has one failing that looks to be carried over from the previous model. Road noise. Especially on coarse-chip surfaces and at higher speeds, the drumming inside the cabin continues, albeit a tad more muted that the previous Mazda3. More attention to acoustic attenuation would be nice, though most people might not care.

It’s a cliche, but it’s the sort of car you call “zippy”. There’s plenty of mid-range torque to keep the car spooled up and responsive. It revs cleanly to its limiter, and even from a standstill doesn’t bog down and low to middling revs. It has enough power for everyday applications, it threads through inner-city traffic with ease. It’s unique in its looks and is built to withstand the daily grind. I’d still pick the manual, as it’s quicker, two-grand cheaper, and it uses less fuel (7.9-litres/100km, versus 8.2-litres/100km).

Importantly, the Mazda3 Maxx comes with excellent safety features, such as six airbags (two curtain bags, mind you), ESC, ABS, collapsible steering column, and active head restraints. It’s a shame the base Mazda3, the Neo, misses out on some of this, though you can pay an extra $500 for side and curtain airbags in a “safety pack” – it is worth it.

The next step up is the Maxx Sport, which costs $27,690. This gets you bigger wheels, a mild body kit, Bluetooth and sat-nav. For the price, if you were considering a Mazda3, this would be the one to go for.

While there’s nothing about the Mazda3 that would hand it a clear lead over its competitors, the Golf, Impreza, Corolla and Focus – each has its strong points – the Mazda3 is a great alternative for those who want a small car, but still enjoy attacking the twisties every now and then. There’s enough “zoom-zoom” to keep driving enthusiasts happy.

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Mini Cooper D Review & Road Test

The Mini Cooper D is an interesting car, it’s both cool and yet still green, two concepts which so far haven’t gone all that well together despite the best attempts of the world’s largest car companies. Making a car that can go 1000km+ on a single tank, put out very little CO2 emissions and yet still be fun and not embarrassing to be in? Is it even possible? Yes.

It takes several hundred kilometers to review a car properly and usually when an evaluation vehicles goes home it has about ¼ tank of fuel left in it. So you can imagine my shock as I was handing the Mini Cooper D test car back to BMW and realised that the fuel tank was still more than half full. That would’ve been more than believable had I not done 496km!

On the whole I am not a big fan of fuel efficient cars, in a way they say a lot about the mentality of the automotive industry today, with manufacturers desperately trying to be environmentally conscious and promoting their green image, meanwhile keeping the passion and performance aspect alive at the same time. There is a lot incongruent with that idea.

Fortunately though, the Mini Cooper D is a little different to the rest, for a start it’s a Mini so it instantly has some cool factor attached to it. Additionally, it’s not powered by some super complicated electric hybrid engine that requires half the planet to get involved in its construction.

Of course, then there is the drive factor, it drives like a proper car, you can push hard into corners and you can drive up a twisty mountain and it won’t complain, it won’t make you feel like you’ve sold your soul just to save a few trees.

Best of all though, it’s not incongruent, it’s not confused, it knows exactly what it is. Mini call it Minimalist design even though the car is relatively well equipped.

I collected the Cooper D from Brisbane BMW in Fortitude Valley and headed into peak hour traffic, BMW had decided that since I’m going to be driving it around for a week, it may as well use the car as an advertising billboard. Two giant stickers each side made sure of that, one side read 3.9L/100km and the other side read 104g co2/km.

I was driving around in a beacon of the green movement in peak hour traffic, hippies waved, men in BMW M3s frowned as they sped past. Alas, I am open minded, so what if it helps save the planet, it can still be cool, it’s a Mini! Plus if you buy one, BMW promises to take the stickers off.

On the first set of lights in the middle of Brisbane CBD, the car turned off. Oh dear, had I stalled the car? Had the car broken down, could this get any more embarrassing? For a good 30 seconds there, I started wondering how I was going to end up on the 6 o’clock traffic helicopter with the tag line reading “Hippy in eco friendly car stops Brisbane traffic”.

I looked down, the car was in neutral, how could it possibly stall? It hadn’t, the Mini is so smart it had decided to turn it self off similar to hybrid cars that turn off their petrol engine when stopped. Perhaps if I had paid more attention to the lady explaining the car’s ins and outs 10 minutes ago the Mini’s start-stop system wouldn’t have come as a surprise.

With the system on, the Cooper D will turn itself off (safely) everytime you’re stopped in traffic, even if its for 10 seconds, when you press the clutch in, it will turn back on instantly. Now if you’ve never experienced a car with Start-Stop technology, it may seem like a gimmick, something that might slow you down, however it’s quite a brilliant system.

The idea is that instead of the engine running while you’re not moving, it simply turns off for the duration of your stop to save fuel. To the outside world, it may seem like you’ve gone mad with the ignition switch (or are incapable of driving) but it’s all very seamless and after a few days you get used to it.

Start-stop aside, there is a lot more to the Mini that makes it fuel efficient, it’s powered by the BMW/Peugeot designed 1.6-litre turbo-diesel engine. With 80kW and 240Nm of torque, by no means is the Cooper D a performance car, but nor is it slow. It will go from 0-100km/h in about 10 seconds but somehow BMW have managed to bring fuel usage down to just 3.9L/100km (equal best fuel rating on the market). It does help that the car only weighs 1090kg.

To put that into perspective, the new third generation Toyota Prius with all its ultra-modern technology, electric drives, batteries, hybrid engine and what not can only manage the same fuel rating.

For a car that costs $33,750 you get a lot of underlying technology to go with the good fuel economy. Mini’s famous driving dynamics apart, the Mini Cooper D comes with pretty much the basics, the chilli variant ($37,350) gets a rear spoiler, uprated interior, 16-inch alloys (as oppose to 15), front fog lights and a better stereo system (10 loudspeakers and a digital 8-channel amplifier).

Safety wise you can’t expect anything less than five-star these days and the Cooper doesn’t disappoint. With airbags all around and a five star rating from Euro NCAP Crash Test the Mini also comes with Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), Brake Assist, Automatic Stability Control Traction (ASC T) and Dynamic Stability Control (DSC).

During the week I drove to the Gold Coast, around town and even used the Mini to move some furniture. If you’re like me and don’t have any kids, it’s hard to argue against the Mini’s practicality.

Of course it wouldn’t be a proper green car if it didn’t have a few gimmicks, for example the Brake Energy Regeneration system helps charge the car’s battery whenever the driver brakes or the car is coasting in traffic.

In the manual variants, there is even “Shift Point Display” that works out what’s the best gear to be in and prompts the driver to shift up or down via arrows in the rev counter.

For the low to mid 30s there are a few other alternatives on the market, Volkswagen, Peugeot, even Fiat make similarly specified cars for around the same or lower price. So the question you have to ask yourself is, and if I may use Toyota’s marketing department genius for a minute, are you a Mini person?

What makes a Mini person? Being a little different, as much as I love the Volkswagen Golf diesel (and it’s a brilliant car), it’s not exactly a unique car and as much as I want to recommend a Fiat to anyone, resale and reliability come to mind with all Italian cars. So for me it comes down to the Peugeot 207 and the Mini Cooper D.

The only minor downside that is worth mentioning is the stereo, it’s just not what I expected from a car of this caliber as it seems to be lacking much needed bass and clarity. However if you go for the Chilli variant that won’t be an issue.

Handling and performance wise, there should really be no need to explain as the 1.6-litre diesel is the fastest 1.6-litre diesel in Australia (0-100km/h) but it also handles rather well despite its tiny 15-inch wheels (16- on chilli). Steering response is typical go-kart like as with all Minis and the pedal position feel makes for an easy drive.

You have to remember the Mini Cooper D can travel 1,025 km from a single 40-litre tank – and that’s no small feat. Yes it’s a little more expensive than its other European rivals, but being cool has a price.

If you’re looking for a car that is green but still keeps its cool factor whilst being extremely fuel efficient, it’s really hard to go past the Mini.

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