BELLAMYBUDIMAN

As impulsive as it may sound, I went to ITC Fatmawati today to buy a new set of wipers and brought home along with me a brand new subwoofer for my car. I figured that it has the right price, it’s reasonable, I’ve owned the car for almost five years now and I think it’s a valid reason to have a simple audio upgrade.

The subwoofer is the Steel Mate SW826. It is an active subwoofer with a class A/B amplifier, meaning that I don’t have to install a new mono channel power amplifier for it. Well, at least for now.

Due to the space arrangements in my car and the fact that the sub itself is a slim model, I decided that the sub should be installed under the driver’s seat for the time being. It may not be the ideal place for it, but it would have to do until I have the time to tinker on where to install it permanently. I’m quite happy with how it sounds and feels for now. The bass is quite responsive and it gives a lighter feel to the existing speakers. Besides, they’ve been working hard to produce the adequate amount of bass for the past four years. This is probably something that I should’ve done years ago.

This is the second time some dude text messaged me on my cellphone asking, “Maaf pak, jual lowering kit merk Eibach untuk Avanza?”

Well the answer to that is NO. I am also not an Eibach dealer nor that I ever had the thought of becoming one. And if I did, I would surely let people know.

How did these people ever get that thought anyway? When I wrote an article about how you properly lower your Avanza, it doesn’t mean that I’m selling the kit. The logic to that conclusion is truly beyond me.

The Toyota Avanza and Daihatsu Xenia are probably Toyota’s and Daihatsu’s cheapest and most popular family MPV available in Indonesia. Their reliability, high resale value, and load capacity have been major key factors of why people chose these cars over the past six years. While I personally not too fond of its now beige interior, and its overly-chromed exterior (one of Toyota and Daihatsu Indonesia’s biggest disease when handling facelifts), the Avanza and the Xenia are still overally good cars if you’re on a budget.

As we know already, even the most expensive car available on Earth is bound to have flaws, the Avanza/Xenia has quite a long list of fixes if you want to have a good, comfortable, and a bit more exciting ride quality. As an Avanza user for four years and counting, I’m going to share the key points on how to turn your Avanza or Xenia into a better overall car. Remember, when you buy a cheap car, expect that you might need to spend more to get it where you want it, and here’s a good example of that.

Before we start, I’m going to base this on my 2005 Toyota Avanza, so if Toyota and Daihatsu are concerned about their customers and they follow good business and manufacturing principles, there’s no reason not to have improvements of the cars’ weaknesses in the newer models.

Major Flaws
There are some major flaws that I immediately encountered when I bought this car:

• The engine often stutters on low gear and RPMs, this is because of somewhat an idiotic approach from Toyota and Daihatsu to create more fuel economy. I believe this symptom no longer exists starting from the VVT-i models and up.
• Overall body roll is almost unacceptable in high speed turns, and the car sways a lot during high speed commuting. This is due to the low quality shock absorbers that Toyota and Daihatsu chose to equip these cars with.
• The tires are too thick and the wheels are too small for the normal dimension of this car. This leads to the previous problem (swaying and unstable) as well as less grip, since the tires’ width are very small on the lowest end model of Daihatsu Xenia.
• The car bounces back vertically in a ridiculous manner when hitting a speed bump or a pothole. This is again because of the stock springs that is way too soft for a car of this dimension

Since most of the cars’ problems revolve around the running gear, I’m going to base my tips on that, and have them presented in tiers that I found most important first, and the ones least important (or even optional based on your preferences) afterwards.

Eliminating the Sway
The ridiculous swaying of the car can actually be cured by using a simple Sway Bar or better known here as Stabilizers. I had mine custom-built, but you can find these easily. Just remember to find one that is prominently thick and that you cannot bend these bars by your bare hands. If you find ones that are easily bendable, they are not Sway Bars. They’re accessories and does nothing to your car.

Once installed, you’ll begin to notice that your car can now cruise in a stable and straight position while driving high speed. Depending on how well you feel your car when driving, you will also find that your car will now have a slightly reduced body roll, especially when cornering.

Eliminating the Bounce
I found that most Indonesians prefer that their cars have soft suspensions. While this is probably comfortable for sedans or with cars that has more sophisticated engineering with automatically-adjustable suspensions, this is not the case for an Avanza or a Xenia. Having your car bouncing up and down continuously when hitting a speed bump or a pot hole is quite annoying, especially for the ones riding on the back.

There are two sequential ways to overcome this problem. First, invest on a better and harder shock absorbers that doesn’t bulge that much when you push your car while standing still. This gives extra stiffness to your ride quality, and as an added bonus, your car would even sway and roll even less on high speeds. While most people are skeptical that having harder shocks means more comfort, trust me, you’ll see the difference when you have this on. My shock absorbers of choice are KYB Excel-G gas shocks for the rear, and Gabriel gas struts for the front. You can also opt for other brands according to your preference, as long as you use the right sizing for your car.

Second, if you feel that you need to go even more stiffer than what the new shocks provide you, you can invest on a lowering kit. What a lowering kit does is that it lowers your car around 2-2.5″ to the ground. This gives a lower center of gravity, which means better handling, and even less roll and sway. Additionally, it eliminates that ugly fender gap and gives your car a better stance to look at. I believe there are several good aftermarket lowering kits that could go with your Avanza or Xenia. My choice is from Eibach, and there’s also another from Espelir, and Jamex (original ones, that is), among others.

Adding the Grip
While most riceboys doesn’t know shit about this and often ends up with rims that are too big and tires that are too thin, you can actually improve your car’s grip and handling if you know how to modify your car’s tires and rims correctly. Since the stock Avanza rims are 14″ in width, and Xenia’s are in 13″ in width, there are two things that you can do with this. First, you could opt for a 15″ rim. They usually go with a 6.5″ width and you can pair them with 195/60/R15 tires. For most people this is enough and it gives you the balance between performance and comfort. Just make sure that you get yourself a good set of tires. I always go with Bridgestone whenever I can, but there are tons of good tire brands in the market for you to choose from.

If this is not enough for you, you can always opt for a 16″ rim, with usually a 7″ width. You can then pair them with 205/50/R16 tires. You’ll get less comfort that the 15″ rims, but it gives you a bit more grip, especially when cornering.

However, I will not recommend going with 17″ rims. Why? Because it adds up the unneeded unsprung weight to your car, resulting in slower accelerations, and you won’t be able to fit a nice and comfortable set of tires on your car. You might be able to get away with 225/35/R17 tires with no problem, but that means sacrificing your ride quality, not to mention that you may need to modify and forcefully shift those front springs to fit the tires and rims in. I don’t recommend this at all.

Firmer Handling
One of the things that I don’t like with most cars is that they have too-light steering wheels. While ladies and elderly drivers might appreciate this, I found that having a firm and a bit heavier steering is better. Again, this is my preference and it doesn’t mean that it is a requirement. I opted for a Issota Meg steering wheel that is slightly smaller in diameter and has a slight bigger steering grip. Please note that I don’t recommend changing your steering wheel if your car is equipped with airbags, as this is probably equal to suicide.

So there you go, several ways to make your Toyota Avanza or Daihatsu Xenia into an overall better car to drive in. I hope you find them useful for a better and safer drive.

For the last several weeks (or perhaps months), Lippo Village’s traffic has been like tomorrow’s the end of the world. The culprit? Well, of course, the construction of the circuit. Yes, that circuit, the one A1GP bailed out on some time ago because of Lippo Village’s incompetence in racetrack constructions (Yes, Lippo Village, the A1GP would need an entire complete track to be able to race there, not something that looks like a junkyard). If I’m not mistaken, a valid race track must be ready weeks before the actual venue. Supposedly the venue is a go, which will be held this Friday, 6th of February, today is 2 days before the venue, and the track is not even finished.

When I got home today, I was stuck for like 10 minutes just to circle around the boulevard and get in to the tollroad. Seeing the opposite traffic, I can’t see clearly, but I think it spanned for at least a couple of kilometers.

The way I see it, with the price of immense and almost uncontrollable traffic, they are probably trying to pace up the construction for the GT Car Championship that’s going to be held there this Friday. Yes, the GT Car Championship, there, with that kind of asphalt. To be honest, if you see the current track’s condition, I don’t think you would approve it even for the local Bajaj fun race. And when people push a construction like that, chances are something is going to go awol.

And that’s not the only thing. When I walked out after teaching my class today, and went on to go to the mall for lunch, I saw this:

And if you look closely, you’ll notice that this is probably someone else’s BMW photo they grabbed from the internet (or from a stock photo CD at the local pirated software shop) and mashed up with sponsor logos with no consideration of a real-world perspective at all. It’s like someone did this under five minutes. Look at how the sponsor stickers and distortion doesn’t even line up with the car’s lines nor shadows. And worst of all, the BMW logo on the car’s hood is mirrored. So now it’s called a WMB. And they call this “World Class Action”. How exciting… All I can say is meh.

With that humongous banner in mind, as a conclusion, the way I see it (for the second time), it’s as if they really have to get something going because A1GP bailed out on them. It’s like having a venue with no preparation. I’m not even sure if by the time the track is done, there will be enough time for health and safety inspections. Maybe, somewhere there, someone said, “Oh shit, the A1 left us! We got to have something going! Fast!” And behold the GT Car Championship. I just can’t imagine the traffic and the hell that’s about to break loose this Friday. If you can help it, you might want to try avoiding the premises this weekend.

And oh yeah, one more thing. You can’t actually cross the road and go straight to the mall anymore now. Since they are “constructing” the track, you are now required to take a right turn, and cross the 5-lane (or 6?) road and risk yourself on getting hit by those pesky angkots, and then walk up the small pathway that has turned into a pedestrian body-bumping centre, next to the police station.

After a while since I drove out of town and back, I realized that there are a few things that I hate when driving in toll roads. I already hate pesky motorcyclists, but that doesn’t mean that what I’m about to discuss is less irritating. This involves idiotic drivers that probably don’t have a clue about how to properly act as a motorist.

Accident Watchers
I hate all road users who watched goddamned accidents that happened either on the same or the opposite lane. This is just stupid. You don’t contribute any help, and you caused nothing but pointless traffic jams. I can tell you who do this often this: You are all idiots, and you should get some life instead of watching accidents that already happened. Most of the time, it doesn’t even affect you or your miserable life at all.

False Hazard Flashers Users
I also hate all of you who uses the Hazard Flashers during the rain. This is not what the Hazard Flashers were intended for. Let me quote this from Wikipedia:

International regulations have since the 1960s required vehicles to be equipped with a control which, when activated, flashes the left and right directional signals, front and rear, all at the same time and in phase. This function is meant to be used to indicate a hazard such as a vehicle stopped in or alongside moving traffic, a disabled vehicle, an exceptionally slow-moving vehicle, or a vehicle participating in a motorcade.

So this is not something that you should use while you’re driving at normal speed under the rain. Why? Because I couldn’t tell whether you’re going to switch lanes or not. Can you imagine what would happen if you missed a view on your rear-view mirror and nobody expected your car to switch lanes because your stupid Hazard Flashers are blinking and overriding your turn signals? And second, in case you don’t know, the wave length of your stop lamps (since they are red) is longer than your Hazard Flashers (since they are orange), thus RED IS MORE VISIBLE THAN ORANGE, AND YOU SHOULD TURN ON YOUR STOP LAMPS INSTEAD OF YOUR FUCKING HAZARD FLASHERS DURING THE RAIN.

Slow Cars on the Rightmost Lane
This is easy, you’re definitely an idiot or a person with only a teaspoon of braincells as the rightmost lane is to be used only for overtaking or faster cars. So if your car is fucking slow, then stay out of the rightmost lane. If you can’t understand WHY THIS IS STUPID, try acting like this in Autobahn. That is, of course, if you could get a German driver’s license with your knowledge of motoring. Capiche?

Bottom line, if you don’t even understand the three things I mentioned above, why don’t you try this: SELL YOUR CAR, because you don’t deserve to be driving one.