FC = depending on your right foot.

full tank for my 2.0L - full highway cruising, the furthest I got out of it before warning lights came on was around 580km. for city driving usually 420-430km with around 50-60km left according to the car's computer, and I do drive quite fast even in cities.

Depends on whether you like leather or fabric.

Leather looks classy but it's a hassle to maintain. Look after it properly and it'll reward you nicely, but be slack and it'll crack/scratch/rip much easier compared to the normal fabric. What's not so cool with leather is during hot weather, it sticks to your skin; and during winter in where I am it's freezing.

In terms of the Forte's upholstery, the typical fleece-like material found in lower spec Fortes (at least in Australian spec ones) are more comfortable but tends to be more susceptible to stains/dirt/moisture. Mine comes with the sportcloth trim, which feels more hard and coarse but it's easier to clean; not forgetting looking slightly more sporty with its red stitching.

Kudos to Proton for finally releasing a car that sounds pretty awesome, at least on paper.

Rear fog lamps - my Cera has them but the downside is that during night time when you switch on the rear lamps, only the two outer lamps light up. The rear fog lamps are turned off by default, and they won't light up during braking. If you turn them on they appear much brighter than the regular lamps and the driver behind you might think you're braking all the time. I only use them during poor visibility such as heavy rain or fog.

ISOFIX - I think Cera has them too, can't really remember... but they are quite useless to me for now.

GPS - not sure how much they cost in M'sia, but over here a cheapo AUD150 unit normally works better than any factory-optioned GPS unit... which if ticked, will cost you more than buying an aftermarket unit from the shops.

autowipers - is it that hard to manually turn it on ? same with autoheadlamps which I'm not a fan of.

in-car Wifi - not quite sure how well it works, we'll have to wait till the car is released to see. Most people carry smart phones with data plans anyway hence it's not essential.

engine - niceeeee numbers, on paper at least. Let's hope the transmission is on par as well, unlike the pre-face lifted 4 speed 308T.

The Cee'd, like the previous generation model, is a European market exclusive. It's a hatchback and at the moment there aren't any news suggesting that it'll have a sedan version, although there are already plans for an estate which offers much more boot space. The previous generation Ceed had a younger sister called Pro-ceed and it's very likely that this new one would have a 3-door sporty version as well.

As for the new Forte, no one really knows how it would look like or what specifications it will offer. If one were to speculate, it's likely that the new Forte will share the same tiger nose grill like the Cee'd and the K9, although it would be a lazy effort for Kia if the new Forte is just a booted Cee'd. The Forte was born in 2009, hence the new model would likely be hinted around mid-2013, and we should be able to see prototype pictures by late next year or early 2014.

It's the scroller next to the ESC-off button located at the lower right area of your dashboard.

Those are test mule pictures, and yes we can speculate on how it would look like but it is hard to have a clear idea on the overall look since most of the parts are camouflaged or deliberately concealed.

What we can tell so far includes the tiger nose grill that I mentioned, eyebrows not unlike the E60 but with LEDs, extra piece of glass in front of the side mirrors, and a rear roor with two ugly curves. Can't tell much about car's body especially side panels, especially whether it will be smooth and clean or incorporate the Bangle-famed flame surface with lots of lines that the new A and B class have. It's good to see that they are persisting with the angular shoulder line which makes the current Forte look more chiselled and muscular, but so far the pictures hint towards a softer, more curvy look. In fact, it's more Frascella than Schreyer although we don't know who's the one sketching it for now.

I'm still quite reserved on its overall appearance. One thing's for sure, it won't look as aggressive as the sketches. Production models are always toned down.

This post has been edited by StarGhazzer: Apr 6 2012, 05:15 PM

Koup forum: https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/1815579

If your wife likes the Koup, go for it provided that you can afford the premium over the sedan.

If you have children in the near future, buy new car/MPV/SUV for wife. Keep the Koup for yourself Don't get the Optima unless Naza/Kia decides to bring in the 2.4. The 2.0 is underpowered, just like any other NA 2.0L D-segment cars in the market.

When you are cruising in 4th gear at a low rpm, the engine doesn't generate enough torque to pull your car up the slope.

As you depress the gas pedal further, if the slope is not too steep the engine can actually rev at a higher rpm and yet still remain in 4th gear. However if it's a very steep ascent, or if you completely floor the gas the gear box will automatically downshift to third. It will take a second or two for the gearbox to 'sense' your need for acceleration before it downshifts though, a common trait for most non-performance automatic cars.

I'm assuming that you are flooring it when you down shift hence the engine revs spike straight to 4K; although it could be due to the smaller 1.6L. My 2.0L rarely needs to go beyond 3.5K for accelerating unless I manually shift it into 2nd gear and floor it madly, which I occasionally do.

From what I see here, most of our members' have fairly similar average FCs be it 1.6L or 2.0L with the smaller engine having a slight (but probably insignificant) advantage.

I probably use more fuel than most of you guys here because I upshift very late in semi-auto mode and our normal fuel here is only RON91. RON95 and above are too expensive. T_T