Hello MPV

We received the delivery of the new Starex earlier this month, and since then Anita had been doing plenty of her own driving with it. In fact, she even drove all the way to Port Dickson last weekend!

It was an 11-seater "people carrier" with a diesel engine, spacious and hopefully also a fuel saver. And it was huge and took a bit of manoeuvring to get around tight spots and parking. I was also worry about blind spots during driving, but so far it had been handling very well. Much more nimble than the size suggested.

It did not have all the trimmings of the old Estima. The boot were manually controlled, and the power doors had to be installed as an extra. The alarm system was also pretty basic but it had the standard audio unit and a couple of screens, GPS - which was actually a Papa-Go unit - and nice seats. No sunroof though, something that I missed!

It had to be done however after counting the amount of money I had been spending on the old Estima doing repairs. The Estima was bought with limited warranty and it was not a brand new unit - one could not get one in Malaysia due to the good Government policy of protecting the local car manufacturers! So, even though it felt like a bit of a down grade, I was pretty happy with it! The main thing was the children and Anita loved it.

Good Bye MPV

Our Estima had been a loyal servant for the last 5 years. Unfortunately in the last year, it had been causing plenty of issues, and I had spent a lot of money fixing it. After much deliberation, we decided to let it go.

It was quite a spur of the moment thing, after Anita got fed up during one of the breakdowns. She went around looking for good offers and found that Hyundai offered the Starex as brand new units and it came with very good warranty package. Her mind was set ....

Not a Great Start

Last night, when we were about to go out for a quick night drive, I couldn't start the Estima. The reason? One of the lights were on all day. The battery went flat. And Estima is one of those vehicles with plenty of electronics. All went kaput.

So, we had to get a mechanic in to reset the system and replace the battery. Still to hear from Puan Anita since she was organising it with her driver.

Hopefully it could be sorted out soon since she and the boys were planning the weekend at Port Dickson. I couldn't join since I would be on duty during the weekend.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

The First Day

A right shine!Being on leave has its perks but at the same time stretches the day making the day felt longer during Ramadhan. After a hearty sahur, we went back to sleep and only woke up way past 10 am. I then had to drive Puan Anita around, to the bank, then for grocery. And lastly of course Pasar Ramadhan. But I would keep the Pasar Ramadhan tales to another entry.

The traffic today was really bad especially driving back from Great Eastern Mall through Jalan Ampang. A good 45 minutes just to enter MRR2. Since returning from the Penang trip, we have yet to give the van a good cleaning. That was sorted out, wax and all at GE Mall. And ad usual, I overspent again at Cold Storage. My trolley seemed to be filled with nachos!

GE Mall has yet to get into the spirit of Ramadhan yet. There were hardly any deco up for the time being.