may~june 2016 / Issue 1 / 2500Ks
MYANMAR'S FIRST AND ONLY PREMIUM CAR MAGAZINE
CAPITAL TIMES Naypyidaw In a CLS 500
ENTER THE CHIRON Bugatti's New Record Breaker
PRACTICAL LUXURY Cruising The Captiva
NEWEST CARS | KILLER CLASSICS | AUTO-TECH | DRIVING SKILLS | GADGETS
THERE'S METHOD TO OUR MADNESS
XE is here. The most hotly anticipated Jaguar to date. With its F-TYPE inspired looks and an engine range that can deliver thrilling performance and impressive eďŹƒciency, the new XE is redefining the sports saloon. But don’t just take our word for it. See it for yourself. JAGUAR.COM Capital Automotive Ltd No.3, Ward 12, Insein Road, Hlaing Township, Yangon, Myanmar + 95 1 966 9034-9038 jaguarmyanmar.com
editor's letter
T
hink back on the most exciting moments of your life. We'll bet that one of the best was the very first time your father or brother or friend let you get behind the wheel of a car to drive it yourself.
Your heart was pumping, your breathing went faster, you hit the gas pedal, the car lurched forward and you were hooked. (And your father shouted at you to slow down before you kill someone) It is a rare man (and often woman) that doesn't love to drive. There is something about the freedom of flying down the road at superhuman speeds, guiding your machine to it's destination – or nowhere at all – whether it is an economy box Toyota or an Italian exotic. This is what DRIVE Magazine is all about. Starting with this debut issue, we at DRIVE are dedicated to celebrating the passion for driving and all the wonderful details and trappings that go with it. With each issue, we'll show you what's new in the world of driving, what's coming ten years from now, review the best of the practical and performance cars available in Myanmar, talk about driving techniques for speed and safety, look more closely at how your machine works, and drool over the beauty of the world's most amazing automobiles, past and present. In this edition, Issue #1, we cover these subjects and more. And this is just the beginning. We will expand our coverage and engage with the local motoring community, covering events, and listening to Myanmar's many voices. We look forward to entertaining, informing, educating and hearing from Myanmar's motoring community and would love to hear from you. Feel free to drop us an email at editor@ lycheeventures.com. Whether its to damn or praise, or offer ideas, or tell us about an event you think we should cover, we want to hear from you. So... Start your engines and fasten your seatbelts, 'cause here we go!
CONTENTS
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news 14
Style and Substance Beauty, brains and brawn. DRIVE’s Chief Editor Cameron Cooper spends a week driving the Mercedes CLS 500 around Yangon and Naypyidaw, plumbing the depths of its multiple personalities.
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Losing Your Drive DRIVE Editor Cameron Cooper recently had his first accident in Yangon, getting clipped by a bus whose mirrors apparently weren’t working, and causing minor damage to a very expensive car. Though it was not actually his fault, a lot of people shouted and screamed at him, and this set him to thinking about the pros and cons of self-driving cars.
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Faster and Fastest Ten years after Bugatti made the automotive world gasp with the Veyron, the world’s first production car to crack the 400km/hr barrier, they’ve decided to have a go at beating their own record.
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CONTENTS
26
A Gentleman’s Guide to Automobiles 29
Captiva Escape Yangon’s roads are not for the fainthearted. A commanding view and presence, ample safety features, and a compact exterior for its class, makes the Captiva better suited to cityroads than expected.
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FOUR HOURS, two centuries As Yangon sinks beneath a traffic tsunami, Naypyitaw offers higher ground.
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Beastly Beauty We at DRIVE Magazine humbly submit to you one of the most beautiful and sought after automobiles ever built: The Bugatti 57SC Atlantic.
Whether your ride is a Lamborghini or a Toyota Belter, maintaining control on the edge is essential. These tips can help keep your car and your bones in one piece.
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Rolling in It Rolls Royce. These words have a powerful impact. For those who have heard tell of the marque since childhood, they are like the automotive equivalent of a unicorn; a mythical beast only rarely seen, inspiring awe when finally sighted.
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Turbos Blow 44
Fast Times Everyone wants a fast car. Few bother learning how to drive fast.
Ever wondered what that turbocharged symbol on your car means exactly? It means it goes faster, but there is even more to it than that.
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gadgets CES 2016 – The tech tradeshow for the world’s geeks and tech-loving consumers – once again unveiled a mind-boggling array of gadgets performing feats not possible just one short year ago. And this year the toys are getting smarter - so smart in fact, that you no longer need to be.
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Mercedes-Benz Welcome to DRIVE Magazine's first Brand Guide. In each issue, we will pick a car brand and give our readers a basic rundown of the models currently available in Myanmar, and their base prices, to help you match up the right car to your needs, desires and budget.
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NEWS
Sky is the Limit Drop top driving still carries all the romance it ever did – even if the wind blows your hair into your face, everyone can see your bald spot, and it gets a bit hot in the sunny tropics. Open air driving is young, frivolous and fun.
Evoqative The Range Rover Evoque is an unlikely candidate for the top-down treatment, but we like it. This baby Range Rover is a pleasantly chubby off road convertible with a roof that does the old up and down in about 20 seconds – even on the move – and still retains the off-road credentials of its hard top brother.
Baby's Got Fastback
Lazy Man's Lambo With the underpinnings of a Lamborghini (which Audi owns), and the outer skin of a young and suave German banker on holiday, this sensible supercar can raise or lower its canvas in 20 seconds while driving down the street – won't the girls just swoon... Oh yes, and with its 5.2-litre 540hp V10 and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, it goes like hell.
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Everyone’s favourite British sports car, built by the Japanese. Since 1989, the Mazda MX-5, one of the most fun cars ever built, has sold big. Last year, the sprightly two-seater underwent a major update, and this year offers the Targa Top – a Porsche-inspired take on the convertible that opens the space overhead, preserving its sexy new lines.
NEWS
Smoke without Fire Electric cars are finally coming of age, and the rules are about to change in a big way.
Electric Dreams Come True The 2017 Tesla Model 3 is the huge breakthrough for Tesla – an affordable top-class all-electric. Pre-orders are exploding with nearly 500,000 to date. For $35,000 (USA price), you get a pretty car that is silent, goes like the clappers (0-100 in under 6 seconds) and travels 325km on a single charge for a few dollars. Mark our words: This car is a game-changer in automotive history.
Big Auto Fights Back The 2017 Chevy Bolt EV is GM Goliath’s attempt to compete with Tesla’s David – and it's going to be a tough fight. Doubtless well designed and built, the Bolt can cover 320km or so on a charge and costs about the same, but is slower, and ugly next to Tesla’s sleek form.
The Middle Path With an onboard petrol engine, the 2017 Toyota Prius Plug-in is not a full-breed electric car, but it's closer, with a plug-in battery offering a range of 75km, potentially leaving the petrol engine dormant for days or weeks at a time. Toyota outdoes itself again by building the ugliest popular car on the planet. Gives you the long-range of petrol, with the short-range benefits of an electric.
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CONTENTS
Found in the Wood Now here’s a different take on building a car – and in clear violation of the “Three Little Pigs” principle. The car made of straw wasn’t strong enough, and the car made of bricks was too heavy. So sticks it is. Well... actually very complex woven multilayer wood laminate. The Splinter wooden supercar is the brainchild of industrial designer Joe Harmon, who spent seven years working on it with help from his friends, finally debuting it at the December Essen Motor Show. Though its mainly an academic and artistic exercise, this car is no novelty toy. Harmon was determined to make this a functional competitive car – a difficult achievement for a private individual in any material. And yet here it is, with 700hp, tipping the scales at a super light 1135kg, with a higher strength to weight ratio than steel and a top speed around 300km/hr. But if you want this in your garage, you'll have to build your own, because Harmon is only making this one. And it won't be for sale.
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NEWS
Japan Drops the Gauntlet Though lacking the cachet of their Italian cousins, Japanese supercars are performance bargains. For about half the price, you get speed and handling on a par with Europe's exotics. 2+2 = Fun Released in 2007 based loosely on the Nissan Skyline GT-R, this machine took Japanese automotive tech to a new level, hand-building its engine in a sterile lab. The result was a monster that embarrassed Italian and German supercars by matching their performance without the crazy price tag. In the new GT-R R, the 3.8-litre twin-turbo V6 is channelled through a six-speed dual-clutch automatic and all-wheel-drive. Enhanced turbocharging boosts power from 545hp to 565hp and hits 100km in under three seconds.
Absence Makes the Heart Go Honda The Japanese supercar of the 90s, built to show Ferrari a thing or three about performance, reliability and value, the NSX, discontinued in 2005, is back, with both feet planted firmly in the future. With its twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6, plus three electric motors, a ninespeed dual-clutch transmission, the 2016 Honda NSX is the one to beat, with 560hp, 0-100 in 2.8 seconds, and a top speed of 310km/hr.
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TEST
Style and
Substance Beauty, brains and brawn. DRIVE’s Chief Editor Cameron Cooper spends a week driving the Mercedes CLS 500 around Yangon and Naypyidaw, plumbing the depths of its multiple personalities.
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T
hat’s enough!! Slow down slow down slowdoooown!!!” These were the words of renowned travel writer Joe Cummings (whose story on our trip to Naypyidaw in this very automobile can be found in this issue,) in response to me stomping my foot to the floor of a Mercedes-Benz CLS500 on a rare open stretch of Yangon road. Joe is not normally a panicky guy at all. Never before have I heard him scream in terror, which is testament to the brazen power of the CLS 500’s turbocharged 4.7 litre 8-cylinder engine when it’s let off its leash. From a standstill, in just a few seconds (4.9 seconds, to be precise), we were travelling at highway speed, and since
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we were swiftly catching up on the next wave of cars up ahead, I had to put a firm foot to the brakes – which pull even more strongly than the engine, though in the other direction, of course. The car remained settled, almost sedate. Other than the G-forces that tossed us around a bit, in accordance with the laws of nature, the car itself behaved as if it was a Sunday stroll in the park.
product of its engineering and build quality. Its design confidently said, “I am solid, heavy, safe, reliable and luxurious.”
Solid Luxury
Flat is Fast... and Sweet
Mercedes has made an amazingly swift but somewhat seamless transition in style over the past 15 years or so. Benz’ main passenger car line-up, (with some noteworthy exceptions) was always an upright, stately, almost boxy car – its style a
But changing car-buyer tastes and changing regulations meant that MB had to start changing its shape, and in characteristic fashion, made an excellent job of it. Tall and straight, while great for headroom, is less safe for pedestrians when
You didn’t say, “I’ll bring the car around front of the house,” you said, “I’ll bring the Mercedes around...” It wasn’t just any old car. It was always the sort of car that demands a hood ornament.
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they get hit by cars; and also bad for fuel consumption, so Mercedes started to flatten out their cars, lowering both the roof and the floors, while somehow still maintaining that front engine/rear drive configuration (where do you hide the drive shaft?). In the early 90s, this design ethos began to express itself in the E-Class, and then slowly spread through most of the brand’s other sedans, looking more jaunty and sporty with every refresh. And then they decided to just go for it and show the world that Mercedes was not just a car for wealthy fuddy-duddies. This brings us to the CLS – the most devilishly stylish ‘family’ car Mer-
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cedes had ever built, when it made its debut just 10 years ago. Our test car was the CLS500, all enrobed in pristine white like some blushing bride, concealing the heart of a leopard. It is a sleek beast, giving any of its German rivals – particularly the one you are never supposed to say out loud in front of a Mercedes Benz employee – a run for its money. While the other guy had always been a bit sporty and loped along evolving its design in steps, Mercedes made a giant step a decade ago, and have continued to refine that into what is now an achingly beautiful machine. This one is what is known as a fourdoor coupe, which kind of defies the fundamental concept that coupes have two doors, but it is about a body shape and an ethic. ‘Coupe’ also usually indicates that the back seat will only accommodate people with removable legs, but this is not true here either – grown men (including me) sat in those chairs for hours on end without complaint as we drove haplessly around Naypyidaw, totally lost, again and again, looking for our hotel.
Inner Beauty But I didn’t care too much, to be honest. The inside of the CLS500 was a pleasant place to be. Apart from the fact that the company of travel writer Joe Cummings and photographer Dustin Main was relentlessly stimulating and amusing, you couldn’t ask for a better mobile environment. The interior is lovely, you see. All leather clad and stitched, well padded without being overstuffed – firm yet yielding. The front seats lit-
erally massage you, the seat wings tighten in to coddle you when you take a corner at any decent speed. It smells good and it is dead quiet – unless you have the superb sound
teenage boys in the late 70s). They hated to idle, guzzled fuel like a parched camel at the Aqaba town well, and generally behaved badly. They could only go fast, grumbling
Grown men sat in the rear chairs for hours on end in total comfort and without complaint as we drove haplessly around Naypyidaw, totally lost.
system pounding away the hours. This is a truly great road trip car. And it isn’t just about the interior and its ergonomic comforts and wicked strength interactive computer that lets you control the parameters on what was literally about 40 options (no space to list the all here, but reversing camera and night vision were two of my personal favourites).
and lurching at all other speeds. But a nearly-5-litre V-8 with a bi-turbo and constant computer control over valve and ignition timing, variable exhaust back-pressure and a host of other subtle but palpable electronic marvels, means you can have a super-powerful engine that is a blushing bride in congested city traffic, or a speed demon on one of Naypyidaw’s countless unintentional drag-strips.
Old School Power Brought to Heel
The CLS (with computer interventions in the suspension as well as the engine) stays flat no matter how hard you hammer it into a corner (the chair eagerly gripping you again). This beast was begging to be taken to the racetrack for a few unbridled laps.
There is also the power: 0-100 km/ hr in 4.9 seconds is pretty quick by sport sedan standards – even ones with Italian names. To lend some perspective to modern capabilities, there was only one 1990s Ferrari that was faster, and most were at least a second slower. When I was a teenager, 407 horsepower meant dealing with some tricked-out monster of a two-tonne engine weighing down the nose (and the ‘handling’, such as it was on rusting late 60s cars driven by
Strangely though, this didn’t compare to the cars of my youth, which were heavier, slower, noisier, had three automatic gears instead of nine, terrible brakes, no tractions control, and scared the living hell out of you – which was the whole point of having an insanely powerful car.
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The front seats literally massage you, the seat wings tighten to coddle you when you take a corner at speed. It smells good and it is dead quiet.
The CLS500, for the driver at least, feels totally planted, poised and in control when being driven hard on straights or bends. Utterly civilised. And if I have one complaint about this car, it is this: It is so well balanced, you never feel afraid (except in Yangon rush hour traffic, but that’s true of any car.) But then, you can’t moan about a car competently managing its power in a perfectly balanced package, can you? That is what carmakers have been working towards all along.
And if you want to feel fear, you can always feel it vicariously through your terrified passenger – who will
thank you later for showing them how much they love to be alive... and riding in a Mercedes Benz.
Spec Sheet
Mercedes Benz CLS 500 Coupé
Petrol Engine
V8 Twin Turbo
Power
408 hp @ 5,000-5,750 rpm
Torque
443 lb-ft @ 1,600-4,750 rpm
Acceleration
0-100 km/h in 4.9 seconds
Transmission
7 speed automatic Transmission
Fuel consumption
9lt/100km
Kerb Weight
1890kg
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COMMENT
Losing Your Drive DRIVE Editor Cameron Cooper recently had his first accident in Yangon, getting clipped by a bus whose mirrors apparently weren’t working, and causing minor damage to a very expensive car. Though it was not actually his fault, a lot of people shouted and screamed at him, and this set him to thinking about the pros and cons of self-driving cars.
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COMMENT
M
y worst nightmare is finally coming true.
TIME Magazine ran a cover story last month about the wonders of self driving cars. The cover blurb was: “No Traffic! No Accidents! All you have to do is give up your right to drive.” Noooo!!!!
Simply unthinkable. But sadly, it makes so much sense – at least on paper – that we will probably have no choice but to surrender and be the passengers of computer drivers. People don’t run the world; insurance companies and statisticians do. As it is with a lot of modern ideas, like political correctness, free market democracy for everyone, bringing stability to the Middle East with American drone strikes, or signing a free trade pact with China, it seems like such a good idea at the conceptual stage, that nothing could possibly go wrong. Google and Tesla, companies I normally admire, have been working
“Ferraris and Lamborghinis will no longer be necessary – gratify your egos elsewhere, gents.”
hard at this self-driving venture, perhaps seeing it as inevitable. And there are cars in several states of the USA now piloting themselves around without drivers or incidents
The Pros and Cons
Nobody has to face forward. Cabins will all be like the passenger compartment of a limo – little living rooms where we are forced to bore each other to death during a long road trip. On weekends, they will become mobile cocktail parties. You can spend commuting time working on your computer, or honing your Candy Crush skills. With freedom to place the people in the centre and the engine as well (the base for your coffee table), design and aerodynamic possibilities will be freed up. And since driving and self image are tightly linked, will anybody care anymore about their car's looks? Ferraris and Lamborghinis will no longer be necessary – gratify your egos elsewhere, gents.
There are advantages of course. Drunks will love them. Get completely hammered and be driven home without fear of arrest or killing anyone. Big plus point here.
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The days of the driver/dictator will be gone. Road trips will become democracies - anyone can push the “pull over” button.
COMMENT
Fast cars will be pointless. The computer will always drive sensibly and safely. There will be no ‘maniac’ mode, where the car drives itself at what would normally be stupid speeds, weaving between lanes and cars, much better than a human driver could. Regulators would never allow it. No country’s constitution guarantees the right to fun, unfortunately.
Pedestrians will soon work out that, unlike the incredibly selfish human being, self-driving cars will panic brake rather than take the risk of killing them. So pedestrians will take over the roads, jaywalking with the impunity of billionaires.
The first Google Car crash happened in the USA just recently, and it was an incident with ... yep, a bus. And that driver was probably welltrained, fully clothed and free of drugs and alcohol... What would it be like here?
“Pedestrians will take over the roads, jaywalking with the impunity of billionaires.”
Cars are in a golden era right now. They have small engines with huge horsepower, great handling even in family SUVs, powerful brakes, countless safety features, like traction control and airbags. Cars have never been more fun and easy to drive.
Yes, fewer people will die fiery deaths, but every time we build a suspension bridge, about two workers die on average. And we build them anyway. After all, the few must sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the many.
Bringing it Home I’ve driven in the US and Canada, where these things are being tested. And you know what? It’s easy there. The roads are clear, people follow rules, the lanes are wide, and any clown can drive with almost no skills or attention. There is an assumption that road rules will be adhered to – that’s why it works. But Yangon has its own indigenous unwritten rules of the road, much of it based on a traditional socio-political hierarchy. Computers would have a hard time grasping this. God knows foreigners do. Being programmed by westerners, the self driving systems will be set to a default polite mode that presumes an egalitarian social system with equal social status. Autonomous cars will always brake for rogue pedestrians, which could make for a slow and jerky ride unless the authorities build a lot of pedestrian bridges – which the people may just ignore.
And it is this same technology that is going to take that fun away from us. Yes, lives will be spared. But the world will be a safer, sadder, greyer place for it. We will forever be like child passengers; yearning for a chance to take control, but never getting it... because we can’t be trusted. And as with every new regulation made “for our own good”, life will again become a bit less fun.
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SPORT
Faster and Fastest Ten years after Bugatti made the automotive world gasp with the Veyron, the world’s first production car to crack the 400km/hr barrier, they’ve decided to have a go at beating their own record.
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SPORT
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T
here have been many changes since the Veyron debuted in 2005 – many of them spurred by the audacity of Volkswagen creating it in the first place. This incredibly advanced machine raised the bar on what was thinkable and doable. To the auto industry, it was equivalent of throwing down a gauntlet.
namics, high-performance car drivability (ie: confidently taking your supercar on a supermarket run), top speeds, engine output, handling stability, and more. Bugatti can honestly lay claim to being the inspiration for much of this advancement.
Not that any other brand cared to compete for the title of world’s fastest car, which could quickly devolve into a massive money losing exercise for all concerned. No, the Veyron just let everyone else know that they’d better pull their socks up and push harder into the future of automotive technology.
With the top supercar boys building the McLaren P1, Ferrari’s LaFerrari and Porsche’s 918 (all petrol electric hybrids, vs the pure petrol Bugattis), the Veyron, discontinued in 2014 was becoming a museum piece – still with the fastest top speed, but no longer on the cutting edge.
So it is that the last decade has seen a big leap across the board in aerody-
Speeding into the Future
Enter the Chiron. (Which would make a good title for a Bruce Lee movie, come to think of it) Unlike
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its Veyron Daddy, the Chiron is more ‘evolution’ than ‘revolution’, with higher output, slightly lighter weight and more attractive styling (a point many will argue about – see the photos and judge for yourself – we at DRIVE like it). Most importantly, it achieves a higher top speed (assuming you have a 10km oval test track at your disposal to test it out), at a claimed – and yet to be verified by Guinness – 468 km/hr, compared to its predecessor’s 431 km/hr. Whoo-hoo!
Adding up the Numbers How do they manage that, exactly? For starters, the Chiron has an 8.0itre 16-cylinder quad turbo engine that puts out 1500 horsepower – 300 more than the Veyron Supersport.
SPORT
And it isn’t just about top speed either. It goes from 0-100 km/hr in less than 2.5 seconds, 0-200 km/hr in less than 6.5 and 0-300km/hr in just over 13.5 seconds. At speed, 60,000 litres of air per minute are rammed into the engine, while a pump circulates 800 litres of coolant. There are 10 radiators spread around the car to spill the tremendous heat. At full speed, you can empty the 100-litre fuel tank in 8 minutes (when your tyres would be starting to disintegrate), which is 190lt/100km, or nearly 2lt per kilometre. It probably breaks the world record for highest fuel consumption in a production car, though Bugatti is unlikely to apply to have that distinction certified. It weighs about 2000kg, which is not light for a performance car – or
Not a Loser Anymore
The Bugatti Veyron, discontinued in 2014, was becoming a museum piece – still the fastest top speed, but no longer on the cutting edge.
even a large mover’s van – but at those speeds, you want a little bit of weight to help you stay on the ground).
And this time – unlike last time – they are going to make a profit... no more timidly pricing the car at $2 million and taking a loss – effectively subsidizing the car collections of some of the world’s wealthiest people, no sir. No longer a giant science experiment, the Bugatti now has the reputation and cachet of any of the great and legendary car brands. And with the Chiron, they are standing on the technological shoulders of their own giant. Yes, they had to spend some money on innovation, but nothing like the first time around. Bottom line is it will cost most people $2.7 million – as much as three times that amount in Myanmar. Which is fair enough. A company is entitled to make a little profit, isn’t it? - CC
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FEATURE
Manly Rides:
A Gentleman’s Guide to Automobiles J
ust like French words, there are masculine cars and feminine cars – except with cars you always know which is which. Or, at least, you should. A man’s car should ideally be the ultimate expression of selfishness, the one your wife doesn’t want you to
have. We men seek power through our cars because we have so little of it in every other area of our lives. You have but one life. Live it with both gonads in full operation, or risk ending up a drawn spectre of remorse and resentment on your deathbed, correctly suspecting that
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the first thing your wife will do with her new-found freedom and newly-acquired wealth is run out and buy herself a huge V-8 Lexus. The ideal car must reflect your personality and tell the whole world just what sort of guy you are. Carmakers know this, so there is a car
FEATURE
purpose-built for everyone. So… be totally honest with yourself and use the handy list below to work out which vehicle is the right one for you.
1. The Bonehead Humvee – If you have delusions of soldiery, a tattoo of a snake on your face and see violence as the best way to solve your problems this,
perhaps the most inexcusable vehicle ever made, is for you. Buy the largest model you can afford. No pedestrian will dare exercise their legal rights at crosswalks when they see you coming.
2. The Dude BMW Z4 Hard Top Convertible – Designed by women (it’s true), for the man who wants a brand-new
set of metal muscles, regardless of whether he has any of his own. With its laid-back cruiser driving position, you both feel and look cool driving it. Caution: Not a good choice if you are self-conscious about your bald patch.
3. High Bank Balance, Low Self Esteem, Slope Shouldered Worm Lamborghini Aventador – “The name’s ‘Genitals’… ‘Tiny Genitals’.” There is a good reason 007 has never driven a Lambo in 50 years of Bond films. While it is a hackneyed and annoying cliché that sporty cars are just a penis exten-
Left Page: Humvee Above: BMW Z4 Left: Lamborghini Aventador
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FEATURE
sion, in the case of this overcooked million-dollar compensator of physical shortcomings, no truer words have ever been spoken.
4. The Redneck Above: Ford F-150 Below: Toyota Prius
Pickup Truck. Anything large will do, but go for the Ford F-150, the
best-selling four-wheeled vehicle in the world, and a tribute to Henry Ford’s original vision of the traffic-choked planet we inhabit today. Before you know it, you’ll be helping your Prius-driving friends haul their old stained mattresses to the dump.
5. The Sensitive New Age Guy Toyota Prius – While it is almost a ‘chick car’ (see below), and one of the blandest and ugliest cars Toyota has ever built (and they’ve built a few), this will win you huge points with a certain type of woman who will be lured into thinking you care about the planet, and by illogical extension, will display the same care and sensitivity to her – which you will… at first. - CC
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TEST
Captiva Escape Yangon’s roads are not for the fainthearted. A commanding view and presence, ample safety features, and a compact exterior for its class, makes the Captiva better suited to cityroads than expected.
F
irst things first. During a day of driving around Yangon, trying to avoid smashing into other vehicles or mowing down ambitious pedestrians, I quickly grew to like the Chevy Captiva.
Being a “car guy” – and therefore a bit of an elitist snob – the roaring success of SUVs used to mystify me. I presumed they were cars that in some bizarre psychological mirroring process, grew fat, lazy and con-
spicuously consuming along with their post-youth middle class owners. Family folk – parents who insist on driving their children everywhere –
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soon became addicted to the convenience of these massive machines and their voluminous carrying capacity, even if they did handle like fire trucks and have the turning circle of a rapper’s limousine. Auto manufacturers, seeing the menacing economic clouds on the horizon earlier than your average slob (it takes years to create a new model line, so anticipation of global trends is their bread and butter), began to refine them, addressing the initial inconveniences. Enter the “Crossover SUV”. Crossovers are basically downsized, lower-slung SUVs, usually based on car platforms, that maintain the huge internal capacity while driving more like a car and less like a riverboat. The Captiva is just a such a car that does this job very well. Clearly the engineers had at least as much say as the marketers in producing this eminently practical vehicle, (with maybe a few point-
Its grip is so certain, I was hoping for a freak snowstorm.
ed suggestions from the accounts department). On top of being quite muscularly handsome, the Captiva is a surprisingly pleasant car to drive. The small two-litre turbo diesel delivers plenty of torque, making for nice even power, and though 0-100km/h in about 10 seconds is not exactly like being fired from a cannon, it is plenty for practical purposes, like asserting your rightful place on the highway or passing some driver who needs some space for their mobile phone conversation that is all-consumingly important. And if you don’t get too aggressive too often, this mighty little diesel turns in a respectable aver-
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age fuel consumption of less than 9lt/100km. The handling is equally pleasing. The turning circle is very small for its size, so shimmying through Yangon’s tight lanes and sliding into tight parking spaces is a breeze (the reversing camera a welcome addition in a town where parking nose-out is compulsory). The power steering is very light, and though there is not a lot of road feedback, this isn’t a Maserati, and isn’t meant to be. It feels planted on the road, in large part due to the AWD (all wheel drive) system and reasonably firm suspension – under hard turning, it stays flat with minimal body roll, yet still has a soft enough comfort
TEST
level. You can throw it into corners far faster than you’d imagine – enough to get your wife to shout at you anyway. Its grip is so certain, I was hoping for a freak snowstorm. And there are loads of other cool stuff: rain sensors, electric mirrors that flip in and out (you can break a passing rickshaw driver’s arm if you time it right), cup holders, passive entry, and 8-way electrically adjustable front seats, to name a few. The both rows of rear seats fold completely flat, or fold up into various configurations, creating a space big enough to house a tribe of gypsies – if you are so inclined. And this is the key to the desirability of this vehicle. It is many things to many people. It can hold a large
extended family or heaps of cargo, it handles like a car, it has a handsome commanding presence on the road, yet isn’t as large on the outside as it is on the inside. It doesn’t burn rubber, but it has plenty of power. It’s not an uber-luxury car, but has respectable trim levels and standard equipment that until recently was only offered on the most expensive
German brands. And with its turbo diesel, its fuel economy is similar to a smallish petrol-powered sedan. So if you are looking for a practical car that can change personalities on a whim – and for a reasonable price – this is the one to go for. - CC
Spec Sheet
Chevrolet Captiva LT
Petrol Engine
Four-cylinder 2.0lt turbo diesel
Power
163 bhp @ 3,800rpm
Torque
400 Nm @ 2,000rpm
Acceleration
0-100 km/h in 9.5 seconds
Transmission
Six-speed automatic, All Wheel Drive
Fuel consumption
8.8lt/100km
Weight
1986kg
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 31
ADVENTURE
FOUR HOURS, TWO CENTURIES As Yangon sinks beneath a traffic tsunami, Naypyitaw offers higher ground. By Joe Cummings
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Photos by Dustin Main
ADVENTURE
H
urtling down the six-lane highway at 140 kilometres per hour, I swivel in my seat to peer through the polished windows of the Mercedes CLS 550. The flat terrain offers long, uninterrupted views of the tarmac behind and ahead. There are virtually no other vehicles on the road. It’s uncanny. Is this really Myanmar? The scrubland flanking the highway likewise shows little activity for the most part. And we haven’t even yet reached Naypyitaw, the
new capital, which western writers tend to describe as a ‘ghost town’ or as The Guardian hyperbolised, ‘a super-sized slice of post-apocalypse.’ The contrast with the city we had left less than two hours ago couldn’t be stronger. In Yangon it took our 400-horsepower sedan five minutes to move six meters, on average, along city streets. One afternoon while DRIVE editor Cameron Cooper waited patiently behind the wheel for the gridlock to break loose, I had time to jump out, have
a biryani vendor box up two orders to go and get back in the car well before our ride moved out of sight. In Yangon, the stress of driving across the city was so great that we left the pleasantly distracting frontseat lumbar massagers on constantly. But out on the open highway we’re blessed with clear skies, clear lanes and a feeling I haven’t felt since driving through the American Southwest.
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 33
ADVENTURE
The Road to Somewhere When I first visited Myanmar in 1986, there was no viable road between Yangon and Mandalay. You took the train, and if you were lucky it arrived in less than 20 hours.
So far, this ribbon of cement carving its way through the belly of the nation feels like it belongs in Nevada rather than Myanmar.
Midday rush hour in 'downtown' Naypyidaw
A few years later, just after ‘Rangoon’ and ‘Burma’ lost their official status in favour of Yangon and Myanmar, National Highway 1 made it possible for all manner of vehicles to travel between the former British colonial capital and Myanmar’s last royal capital. Eventually the modest roadway became so bogged down with inter-city buses and heavy trucks that nowadays it takes longer to drive between Yangon and Mandalay on Hwy 1 than it did 15 years ago.
The new modern Yangon-Mandalay Expressway we’re driving on, stretching 587 kilometres from south to north, was completed in 2009, just three years after the latest capital changeover in 200 years. We’re still far from Naypyitaw, the new purpose-built national capital, but so far this ribbon of cement carving its way through the belly of the nation feels like it belongs in Nevada rather than Myanmar. I spot a sign that reads “Life is a Journey. Complete it.” But after
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gridlocked Yangon, none of us is in a hurry to complete anything. We’re pleasantly sealed off from the hot plains in an air-conditioned leather-lined metal carriage, watching the world whizz soundlessly by. Even astronauts have to eat, so at Mile 115, we pull into a sprawling highway rest stop called Feel Express. Several different food vendors are lined up behind a lengthy row of tables and carts heaped with fragrant – in some cases, pungent – local dishes.
ADVENTURE
Photographer Dustin Main has been in Myanmar a few weeks already, and, wearing a longyi knotted tightly at the waist, has gone convincingly native, so Cameron and I allow him to suggest our lunch menu. He points to a countertop filled with noodle dishes, and soon we’re gulping down chilli-laden pasta that rivals that of Shan 999, Yangon’s legendary downtown noodle joint. Then we’re back in the car, speeding towards the Emerald City of Oz and congratulating ourselves on how easy it all is. As it turns out, the main obstacle to driving one’s self to Naypyitaw is leaving Yangon. In the time it had taken Cameron and I to drive from Yangon airport to Strand Road, we had driven more than halfway to the new capital, over 150 kilometres away. Before the Shan noodles fully digest, we’re through the Naypyitaw toll gate and driving along what seems to be an extension of our splendid expressway.
construction – his comments could have been intended for Naypyitaw today: “Spacious avenues that begin in nothing and lead nowhere; streets a mile long that only want houses, roads, and inhabitants; public buildings that need only a public to be complete.”
ernment servants are here, working in offices and sleeping in new multi-storey residential complexes that, from the outside at least, appear to be more inhabitable than their crumbling counterparts in Yangon.
To this latter-day Dickens, these multiple Champs-Élysées, radiating out from huge Parisian-style roundabouts decorated with flowers and fountains, look as if they’re waiting for a massive parade that has yet to arrive. Hence the descriptive phrase I’ve seen duplicated in at least two different newspaper articles on Naypyitaw already, “The only thing missing is people.”
The Seat of Power Picks Up
Except that Naypyitaw is not nearly as unpopulated as many critics have painted it. Any time of day or night people are moving around the city in cars, buses and trucks, and – unlike in Yangon, where anything on two wheels is banned – on bicycles and motorcycles. Thousands of gov-
The Asian Development Bank and World Bank moved their main local offices to Naypyitaw even before the recent democratic elections. Barack Obama and David Cameron have both paid official visits, and in 2013 the 27th Southeast Asian Games were held in Naypyitaw’s Wunna
The new Parliament has already convened at the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and its most legendary elected member, Aung San Suu Kyi, began renting a house in Naypyitaw immediately after winning her historic seat. In March 2016 a new ruling cabinet will hold its first meeting here.
Awaiting the Parade The broad avenues of Naypyitaw take centre stage in most articles published on the capital so far. With widths running between four and 10 lanes – one article cites a 20-lane roadway, but I don’t recall seeing one of that size – the presumption seems to be they’re all about making a grand statement. Or might it be they were designed to handle whatever future traffic might develop over the next two decades? When English author Charles Dickens visited the artificial capital of Washington, DC in 1842 – 30 years after its initial
As close as normal people can get to government house
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 35
ADVENTURE
Village life at the capital's edge continues apace
Theikdi and Zayarthiri sports complexes. That same year the World Economic Forum on East Asia took place at the huge Myanmar International Convention Centre. This was followed by perhaps the biggest international vote of confidence for Naypyitaw so far, the hosting of the 25th ASEAN summit in 2014. Many foreign trade offices, reluctant to relocate during the previous administration, are now considering a transfer from Yangon so that they can stay closer to the centre of power. It is in in the capital city’s sheer scale, relative to its current population, where you begin to sense something surreal. One source I come across claims it covers 4,800 square kilometres, a figure which
Naypyitaw is not nearly as unpopulated as many critics have painted it.
would make Naypyitaw six times the size of Manhattan. A full decade after it was officially opened, the new capital is surprisingly functional, falling neatly and quietly into the plan its designers provided. The city is divided into strict zones across five townships. The Ministry Zone in Zabu Thiri
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Township contains the headquarters for all of Myanmar’s government ministries and departments, the most visually impressive of which is the massive parliamentary complex known as Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. Extending over 800 acres, its 31 separate buildings – believed by
ADVENTURE
some to represent the 31 planes of existence in Buddhist cosmology – are surrounded by tall fences and a deep moat. Alongside is the 100room Presidential Palace. On our first day in town, we drive up to one of the imposing, ornate steel gates of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, where we are met by a surprisingly friendly phalanx of security guards. After we explain that we just want to take photos, instead of turning us away, they allow us to drive our car inside the gates for a better angle from which to photograph. We aren’t permitted to bridge the moat, but the proportions of the parlia-
mentary buildings are so huge that even from a distance they fill the camera lens. Every building in the Ministry Zone is topped by red roofs. I’ve seen the architecture described as ‘brutal’ and ‘Stalinist’, but with the upper walls tapering inward, my overall impression is that Greek or even Tibetan models are just as likely. If pressed, I’ll settle for ‘grand civic’ or ‘bureaucratic nouveau’ as descriptions.
Carrying on one’s daily life means driving 15 to 30 minutes every time you want to move between where you stay, where you work and where you shop
We drive the entire perimeter of the complex, stopping at various points to grab photos. Although
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 37
ADVENTURE
If you build a lake, the fishermen will come... Behind the Lake Garden Resort in the Hotel Zone
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ADVENTURE
we are keenly observed by guards spaced out along the fences, no one attempts to prevent Dustin from setting up his camera gear and shooting.
Getting in the Zone Other zones are dedicated to commercial (shopping and dining), hotel, residential, recreational and military use. Over the two days and nights we stay in Naypyitaw, I come to realise that a noticeable downside of this zoning is that carrying on one’s daily life means driving 15 to 30 minutes every time you want to move between where you stay, where you work and where you shop. In fact, we spend far more time in the car than we do walking around. When we need batteries for the car’s remote, we drive half an hour, past miles of undeveloped lots, to a shopping centre in the Commercial Zone. Feeling a bit peckish? Back in the car to hunt down Capital Hypermarket, where a branch of YKKO, Yangon’s famed kay owe (Burmese hotpot) café, is found. The myth that Naypyitaw is ‘in the middle of nowhere’ is defeated when we motor into the adjacent village of Laeway or township of Pyinmana, both of which have thrived for centuries. These are places where we feel ‘normal’ – Myanmar normal, that is – again. Finding Naypyitaw’s vaunted 612acre zoo and adjacent 300-acre safari garden in the Recreational Zone turns into a very long drive along unsigned roads. By the time we reach the zoo’s main gate, the midday sun is as discouraging as the US$20 entry fee, so we decide to skip it.
We do make it into the Gems Museum and Emporium, guarded by a pair of dancing white elephant statues. Stones from Myanmar are known for their high quality, and the emporium attracts gem merchants from all over the world. Or so we’re told. On the afternoon we visit, we’re among fewer than a dozen visitors perusing the long rows of glass cabinets filled with gleaming sapphires, rubies and jade.
now being used for something else. We can't move back. We can only go forward. And what a relief it is to get away from the traffic.”
This article was written for Issue #1 of DRIVEMagazine, Myanmar’s first and only car magazine by Myanmore. Copies are available throughout Yangon.
We become well acquainted with the Hotel Zone, or at least with one nicely landscaped corner of the zone. Our temporary home, the Lake Garden Nay Pyi Taw, is owned by a Yangon tycoon and elegantly managed by Accor’s M Gallery. The quality of facilities and service rival that of any five-star property in Bangkok. One evening in the hotel bar we meet Zaw Min Yu, a 63-year-old photographer who, after a 24-year career abroad in Australia, Asia and Europe, returned to his native land with a French wife and daughter. Zaw has been commissioned by the Lake Garden’s owner to photograph the resort for advertising and promotion.
Joe Cummings has written or contributed to more than 40 books on Asian travel, art, cuisine, and language, including Burmese Design & Architecture. He currently resides in Bangkok, from which he makes frequent forays around Southeast Asia.
Over glasses of iced bourbon, I ask the smiling, pony-tailed artist what he thinks lies in store for Naypyitaw. “With the new government in power, much more attention is focusing here now,” he says. “Foreign embassies which declined to relocate here from Yangon 10 years ago, under the last administration, are now seriously considering the move. “It’s inevitable. Yangon is so congested. Here they can accommodate. Besides, most of the government offices back in Yangon are
Dustin Main is a documentary and cultural photographer who traveled the world before falling for Myanmar in 2011. His 5 year project "This Myanmar Life," documenting the changes in the country through the stories of the people, will be released later this year.
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 39
CLASSIC
Beastly Beauty We at DRIVE Magazine humbly submit to you one of the most beautiful and sought after automobiles ever built: The Bugatti 57SC Atlantic.
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CLASSIC
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 41
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CLASSIC
F
ew cars are as achingly beautiful as this spectacular example of late 1930s automotive design. It may look like a bat from overhead, but from every other angle, it shows off the sexiest curves of every beautiful woman you’ve ever seen – rolled into one. It makes you want to be a better man. Like all top end cars of its day, the 57 was handmade, with only 710 produced during its run from 1934 to 1940. The lightweight aluminium panels were beaten into those wonderfully curvaceous shapes by skilled craftsmen with hundreds of shapes and sizes of mallet, then riveted together, with that ‘dorsal seam’ on the top – a sort of proto-Mohawk haircut – that displayed a wild streak atop the car’s classy elegance. Exquisite looks aside, the 57 was a monster underneath its skin. The 3.3-litre inline eight-cylinder engine, with its hi-tech (for the day) overhead cams, nestled beneath its lengthy bonnet, produced 135 horsepower – huge at the time. Later supercharged models hammered out just over 200hp, for a top speed of 190km/hr – insane speed when you consider the roads of the time. Despite having all the hallmarks of a Grand Tourer – a high-speed long distance cruiser – its incredibly low weight of 950kg (60kg lighter than a modern Suzuki Swift), sophisticated suspension and hydraulic brakes assured a racing version 57 ‘Tank’ victory in the legendary LeMans 24-Hour race – twice. In the 1939 win, it finished 40km ahead of the second place finisher. Shortly afterwards the car’s father, Jean Bugatti, was killed at the age of 30, crashing this same car – one of only three produced. The elite loved the 57 then and
they love it even more now. Famed clothing, watch and furniture designer and multi-billionaire Ralph Lauren, who has one of the world’s most valuable and stunning car collections, bought a perfect example of the 57SC Atlantic a couple of years back for $40 million. - CC
THE NUMBERS Engine
Inline-8
Position
Front Longitudinal
Aspiration
Natural/Supercharged
Valves
DOHC, 2 Valves per Cylinder
Displacement
3257 cc / 198.8 in³
Power
135/200 bhp
Body / frame
Aluminum over Steel Frame
Driven wheels
RWD
Front & rear brakes
Drums
Kerb weight
950kg
Transmission
4-Speed Manual
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 43
SCHOOL
Fast Times Everyone wants a fast car. Few bother learning how to drive fast. Whether your ride is a Lamborghini or a Toyota Belter, maintaining control on the edge is essential. These tips can help keep your car and your bones in one piece.
D
espite our endless fascination with ever-expanding horsepower and torque figures hitched to ultra-safe computer assisted handling and braking systems, we do not actually encourage our readers to drive like maniacs on public roads. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, but with a little self-control it’s a lifesaver.
all about concentration, control and forging a connection between you and your vehicle.
Speed is relative to your situation, so these tips apply to going 160km/ hr on a smooth open highway, or over a rougher road at 80km/hr, or even just driving around town. It’s
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The Eyes Have It Your eyes naturally seek out those things you most desire and most
SCHOOL
“When you fix your gaze on your goals, your hands and feet naturally do what they need to do to take you there.”
fear. And you will always go where your eyes go – willingly or not. So if it is a beautiful woman your eyes are drawn to, then go ahead, knock yourself out. But if it is a tree on the edge of a fast bend - and you keep looking at it - you will hit it. Instead, keep looking to where you actually want to go, and instead of smashing into it, you should clear it. At all times, look where you want your car to go, not where you are afraid it might. Focus on distant points to keep a straight line. Look through corners to make a smooth arc around them. Whether walking, cycling or driving a car, when you fix your gaze on your goals, your arms and feet naturally do what they need to do to take you there.
Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast If you watch motor racing, you may have noticed that some of the fastest laps on the clock can appear slow to the eye. A driver who is in total control drives smoothly, making speed look effortless. You have to be smooth with your input – cool and progressive. Sudden jerky moves at the controls unsettle the car, causing it to move erratically, reducing grip on the
road, expending energy in wasteful directions and making driving a struggle.
brake, the rear wheels lose grip as the weight shifts forward and the front springs compress.
Shifting, clutching, braking (especially braking) accelerating and steering should all be done slowly and steadily at first. Practice until your muscles have memorized the movements. Things from there naturally speed up and remain smooth.
When cornering, you want to have balanced grip on all four wheels as much as possible – which is why performance cars are built flat with firm suspension.
Think “Smoooooth” and Zen-like the whole time you are driving. Only then will you be able to drive fast while feeling in control.
To control the back-front balance, maintain a neutral throttle as you begin the turn – don’t take your foot off, but hold the pedal down just enough to maintain speed.
Remain Calm
Do Everything Once When cornering or entering a bend, brake once, turn the steering wheel to the apex point once, and accelerate out of the turn once. If you do any of these things more than once, it means you didn’t get it quite right the first time. It also means that the best time to complete that action has passed, which can lead to a loss of control.
Relax. Being scared isn’t fun. Flirt with the edge of fear, and develop your skills gradually. If you go too far and feel frightened, your limbs become unresponsive and your brain will make bad decisions. There is a fine line between thrills and terror. Stay on the right side of it. - CC
Walk the Tightrope Keeping the car balanced is extremely important to high-speed driving. When you accelerate, the front wheels lose some grip as the weight shifts backward. When you
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 45
LUXURY
Rolling in It Rolls Royce. These words have a powerful impact. For those who have heard tell of the marque since childhood, they are like the automotive equivalent of a unicorn; a mythical beast only rarely seen, inspiring awe when finally sighted.
T
he province of the rich, the famous and the rich and famous, the name Rolls Royce conjures images of a monolithic ornamented radiator, a backseat like a king’s parlour, enrobing luxury, solidity and no-expense-spared quality. This is old-school craftsmanship in an era where companies are more
concerned with their brand “image” than their products. Rolls Royce has a longstanding ethic (with a couple of glitches along the way, admittedly) of building the best possible car that can be built and letting the brand take care of itself. The iconic ‘RR’ has earned its imprint on the public consciousness
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“Take the best that exists and make it better: when it does not exist, design it.” Sir Henry Royce
LUXURY
by setting a standard for more than 100 years for luxury automotive excellence – not through obnoxious exaggeration. As co-founder Sir Henry Royce put it, “Take the best that exists and make it better: when it does not exist, design it.” Rolls Royce cars are best viewed in real life. Two-dimensional images don’t properly capture their imposing nature – the combination of blatant solidity and elegant lines. They are big and bold, and yet understated. Aside from their hefty size, you wouldn’t call them ‘flashy’ – unlike similarly-priced sports equivalents like Aston Martin, Lamborghini or Ferrari. The 6.6-liter twin-turbo 560 horsepower V-12 engine hurtles what is essentially a rolling house from 0-100km/hr in less than five seconds – that is Porsche 911 territory, and likely faster than the 99% have ever driven.
Left Page : Roll Royce Phantom
Top speed is electronically limited to 250km/hr, which should be enough for most people, especially on Myanmar’s roads. In the unlikely event you find yourself pursued by contract killers with machine guns, this engine would ensure they eat your dust. But power is just a means to an end. The real star of the show is the coachwork – the attention to detail and the craftsmanship and artistry that go into composing the interior of the vehicle. Inside the back seat of the Phantom, Rolls’ flagship, everything appears
simple and a pleasure to touch, with flawless leather seats, wood trim and thick lamb’s wool carpets, but start pushing and pulling at things, and you discover a world of comforts discretely tucked away. It could take days to discover all the details. Pull down the centre armrest, open the leather-clad lids, and there are champagne glasses and a refrigerator keeping your Champagne at exactly 4 degrees Celsius. The personal table can be folded and adjusted in several ways. If it’s your car, you know where the features are. There is no need to leave them exposed.
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 47
LUXURY
And unlike most modern cars, it is built slowly, by craftspeople who take great pride in their work, offering a range of customised options limited only by the human imagination. For example, you can have your bespoke Rolls customised with a pinstripe or a family coat of arms – hand painted by one man – a gifted local sign painter spotted and hired by Rolls Royce, who uses squirrel hair brushes in total freehand – with no masks or guides. Now that’s old school. Similar talents go into every aspect of the ‘coachwork’ with at least 60 craftspeople building your car, in your image, over the course of 20 days. Some custom options
take longer, like one customer who wanted his Phantom’s wood trim carved from a tree on his own property. Rolls’ carpenters rose to the challenge, as will any of the departments. All this is done onsite in Goodwood, UK – none of it is farmed out to China – or even the company’s German owners, BMW. A few other personalised options you can order are, hand-engraved door tread plates, embroidered headrests, personalised duck feather cushions, the ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ hood ornament in 24 karat gold, fleece-lined car cover, a handmade teak and aluminium picnic hamper designed to slot into a special space in a leather-lined boot, teak wood decking on exterior panels or boot, fitted branded luggage, a glove box humidor, a safe built into the boot
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floor – the list goes on... and on. And the price? Rolls Royce has always personified the adage, “If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it.” But for those who can’t, and want to know anyway, you’re looking at about $400,000 for the base level Phantom outside of Myanmar – and more than a $1,000,000 in country. And for that, you not only spend all your travelling time cocooned in the ultimate in personalised comfort, you also attract the envious slobbering admiration of the masses – and you can’t put a price tag on that. - CC Bottom: The champagne picnic option
ADS
Out Now!
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 49
TECH
Turbos Blow Ever wondered what that turbocharged symbol on your car means exactly? It means it goes faster, but there is even more to it than that. OPTION-1
EXHAUST GASES
EXHAUST GASES
EXHAUST
INTAKE MANIFOLD
EXHAUST MANIFOLD
COOL, HIGH FLOW AIR FROM OUTSIDE
INTERCOOLER
COOL, COMPRESSED AIR
HOT, COMPRESSED AIR
COOL, HIGH FLOW AIR FROM OUTSIDE
T
ime was that turbochargers were once a daring optional extra for speed heads. Now they are seen as the best solution to achieving low emissions, excellent fuel consumption and some useful power, simply by forcing more air into the engine alongside the fuel. Basically, a turbocharger is a tur-
bine unit mounted on your engine with two little turbines – the exhaust turbine and the intake turbine (basically wheels with fins on them) – housed in separate chambers, but connected by a shaft. Hot and fast moving exhaust gases from your engine are channeled into the exhaust turbine, which
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starts spinning at crazy fast speeds – more than 1,000 rotations per second. This turns the shaft, which spins the intake turbine, which draws cool air from outside and, like a powerful fan, pushes it into the engine at high compression. Engines love air. Air makes fuel burn faster and cleaner, so ramming
TECH
it in with fuel produces more power. So where a 2-litre “naturally aspirated” engine might normally produce 130 horsepower, if you add a turbocharger, it can go much higher – even doubling the power – though using more fuel into the bargain. When driving normally in the city or along the highway, you need only a fraction of the power your engine produces. This wastes fuel, as it essentially creates unused power, and the bigger the engine, the more fuel it uses just running normally. With a turbocharged engine, you only create the power when you need it. You need to pass two big trucks on the highway. Hit the gas, the turbo kicks in, air and fuel are forced into the motor and you temporarily have the power of a much bigger engine (and its bad fuel consumption). Then you pass the trucks, lift your right foot, the turbo eases off, and your car’s engine uses less fuel again.
bigger turbochargers. Turbochargers are the future – whether you like it or not. - CC
That’s the basics, anyway. Most turbos also have an ‘intercooler’ to cool down the air before it mixes with the fuel, because cool air is denser and creates more power. The engine also has to be solidly built to make sure it can handle the load. Other than that, it’s mostly advantages, so more and more cars are coming with smaller engines and
May ~ June 2016 / DRIVEMagazine | 51
GADGETS
CES 2016 – The tech tradeshow for the world’s geeks and tech-loving consumers – once again unveiled a mind-boggling array of gadgets performing feats not possible just one short year ago. And this year the toys are getting smarter - so smart in fact, that you no longer need to be. Andreas Sigurdsson reports
Sensitive New Age Camera The new Nikon D5 – the brand’s new flagship DSLR offers the highest light sensitivity to date -- ISO 3,280,000. So if you have $6,500 to spare and like to photograph things moving really fast in near darkness (Vampires, perhaps?), this is the camera for you.
Cooler and Cleverer The Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator is full of good ideas... and milk and cheese. This here is the smartest darn refrigerator you’ve ever encountered, and most likely the first food chilling device to achieve ‘the singularity’. It performs its wonders via a 21.5-inch, 1080p touch screen on the door – like the world’s biggest and heaviest tablet. Use the screen to post new house rules for your family to ignore, share calendar reminders that nobody will heed unless it involves a trip to the zoo, display primitive crayon art, or photos of your ugly children, just like you would on a real fridge. There are even cameras on the inside of the refrigerator door that capture an image every time the door (before the light goes off) – which means that via wifi, you can see what your food really gets up to when nobody is looking – or when you need to buy more cucumbers.
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The D5 is the latest in the series of flagship FX-format professional DSLR cameras, boasting a myriad of powerful imaging innovations, including a Nikon-developed 20.8-megapixel CMOS sensor, an all-new 153-point AF system, 4K UHD video capture and EXPEED 5 image processing to give photographers the best balance of performance, precision and low-light ability.
GADGETS
Keeping Your Bits Fit
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Augmented reality hearing is now within earshot. Starting life as a Kickstarter campaign in mid-2015, Here Active Listening is a reality in the form of smartphone-paired wireless earbuds that let you customize your sonic landscape by taking in audio through onboard mics, processing it and outputting it through its tiny ear speakers – a bit like a super hi-tech hearing aid. Tune out crowd noise in a noisy shopping street – no roaring engines, hollering bus conductors, while still hearing the person beside you. There are also filters for office use, along with noise-cancelling settings for airplanes, subways, cars, buses and cities. And if you really need to shut out something loud, like say your motherin-law or your boss, you can add a layer of white noise.
Fitbits are the trendiest activity trackers on the market – and not. The new Blaze is a modular fitness watch that monitors heart rate, sleep, and workouts. Its colour touchscreen can display different watch faces. With 24/7 heart-rate tracking, you can see trends in your health, stress, and fitness. It also tracks sleep and activities automatically — it can detect if you start running, biking, playing tennis, or even doing a fitness class, and then upload your activity automatically. Battery life is nearly five days, unlike the Apple Watch, which barely makes it through the day.
Smarty Pants Lumo Run is the latest high-tech breakthrough in wearables. Lumo has sewn in a 9-axis inertia measurement unit (IMU) and a Bluetooth LE module into the waistband, which collect data about your run, jog, or walk. It tracks stats like cadence, bounce, ground contact time, stride length, and pelvic rotation, and feeds that information to a smartphone app. If you have your earbuds in, the app can give you real-time audio cues to improve your form and performance. The whole kits costs $99.
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BRAND GUIDE
Welcome to DRIVE Magazine's first Brand Guide. In each issue, we will pick a car brand and give our readers a basic rundown of the models currently available in Myanmar, and their base prices, to help you match up the right car to your needs, desires and budget.
T
his month we feature Mercedes-Benz, which needs little introduction as perhaps the most familiar luxury brand in the world and the builders of the first ever automobile in 1886. Known primarily for luxury, the brand has produced, and still produces some of the world's top performance cars. Even many of its sedans - especially the souped-up AMG versions - are wolves in sheep's clothing. There are variations on the models listed below too numerous to list. For the finer points, drop by the Mercedes-Benz dealership at No.51 Pyay Road, Tel: 09 260 259 996 in Yangon or 66 Street, Sedona Hotel, Tel: 09 505 704 in Mandalay.
GLA 180 and 180 AMG The GLA, based around the A-class hatch, but larger, is bit like a baby SUV, well suited and lavishly comfortable for the city, but surprisingly capable off road as well. And the AMG version offers more performance thrills than you'd expect. Starts at $72,000
GLC 250 Advantgarde and GLC250 AMG The larger sibling of the GLA (and based on similar underpinnings as the C-Class, this is gives all the luxury and options you expect from MB, more interior space and larger engine options, along with the same urban and rough road capabilities. Starts at $108,000
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BRAND GUIDE
GL500 This is the flagship of Mercedes' SUV models, a full sized, fully optioned soft and off-roader that will take you anywhere you care to go in superior comfort. And its 320hp engine and 7-speed automatic transmission delivers blistering performance. Starts at $250,000
CLA 180 One of Mercedes-Benz' more rakish and sporty sedans, styled like a coupe for a younger look. It also has the sporty credentials you'd expect from its looks and the usual luxury of leather and the huge list of conveniences, amenities and safety features. Starts at $89,000
C200 The C-Class is MB's entry-level sedan, but provides you with all the amenities of its larger siblings, and is plenty big enough to be the primary family car. Starts at $110,000
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BRAND GUIDE
CLS400 The slightly more powerful version of this lovely car, the CLS500, is reviewed in this issue. This is a sleekly stylish luxury performance car that is equally suited to the city or grand touring with four adults in total comfort. Starts at $210,000
E200, E300, E400 The bigger brother to the C-Class listed above, this is the classic regal sedan that is still a driver's car, and more than big enough to accommodate a medium-sized family. Comes with as much power as you care to purchase (though the base E200 has more than adequate power for most people), a luxurious interior and all the other top end standard features Starts at $105,000
V220CDI and V250 Probably the least handsome of the MB range on the outside, the V-Class (V for 'van' of course) is the most practical for hauling people and stuff, with a huge and attractive interior space that can be customised for cargo or ultra comfortable passenger seating. With captain's chair leather seating in the rear, it is an ideal chauffeured 'rolling office' for when you are stuck in traffic. Starts at $150,000
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BRAND GUIDE
S500L Loads of power, loads of space, loads of luxury. This is the top of the range (with the S-Class Maybach listed separately below as the jewel in the crown). Intended for those who are driven, rather than those who drive, it is nonetheless surprisingly dynamic and rewarding when its owner takes a turn behind the wheel. Starts at $330,000
Maybach S600L Just when you thought it couldn't get any more luxurious than the MB standard S-Class, Mercedes takes it one step further, with a 6.0-litre V-12 500hp+ engine at its heart, and even longer wheelbase, adaptive suspension, and every available luxury you can imagine – including reclining rear seats with hot stone massage, lamb fleece flooring, and a Burmester sound system. As Mercedes says, it's like your own private jet for the road. And it is a bargain compared to its competition. Starts at $608,888
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Publisher Pyit Thiri Thaw Lychee Ventures (Myanmar) Limited Permit No: 01666 Managing Director Andreas Sigurdsson andreas@lycheeventures.com Chief Editor Cameron Cooper editor@lycheeventures.com Operations Aye Mya Design Kyaw Kyaw Tun Contributors Joe Cummings Andreas Sigurdsson Angus Podgourney
Copy Editing/ Proofing English Edition Charles Turner Ben Hopkins Administration Sandar Min Advertising Sales Aung PyaePhyoe sales@lycheeventures.com 01 375 680 / 0977 900 3702 Printer Shwe Naing Ngan Press Permit No: 00296/00371 No.90(C), Kabar Aye Pagoda Rd., Bahan Tsp., Yangon. Cover Photo: Mercedes CLS at Myanmar Shipyard. Photography by Gerhard Jörén.
Many Thanks We had a lot of help with this debut issue from countless people, but we'd especially like to thank: U Aung Khin Myint and Myanmar Shipyard for arranging the cover shoot. Thanks to the people at Cycle & Carriage for their early input on content. Big Kudos to Gerhard Joren for his affable knack of making the best of every situation, and always getting great photos. Also, thanks to Teddy at The Lake Garden Naypyidaw for the luxury accommodations and excellent advice.
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DRIVE Your Brand Home Advertise with Myanmar´s first and only premium car Magazine! DRIVE is a Myanmar and English language motoring magazine that introduces a new concept in automotive publications to Myanmar. Positioned to be sharp and cutting edge in both content and design, DRIVE grabs the reader's attention by informing and entertaining them on how to make the best purchasing decisions on a range of automotive products, while also getting the most from their car and their driving experience. While remaining accessible and friendly, DRIVE invites the reader to become one of the 'car cognoscenti'. Want to know all about the world of cars? Read DRIVE. Make your brand visible to the nation's car lovers. Contact us for tailored advertising packages and more information. sales@lycheeventures.com 01 375 680 / 0977 900 3702