Digital Fugue - Random Thots

Volkswagen Passat 2.0 Turbo FSi

I've been dying to test the Passat. Last week I went to VW Cars Jln Pinang, they said demo car only available in January. So today i decided to head on to VW Wearnes Bangsar which shares the same office as Volkswagen Malaysia HQ. They have the Passat, GTi and Toureg. Lets get on to business.

Exterior
In my opinion, the Passat has a very distictive front and side profile. I would say a kind of conti meets Japanese look. The back however is very Japanese. I think it is the current continental design cue. personally i dont quite fancy the back but i dont know it might grow into you sort of thing. need a little getting used to i suppose.

Interior
The interior on the other hand is very nice. It is spacious for both front and rear passengers. The seats are plush, wide and very comfortable.
the controls are all within reach and the dash is informative and practical. A typical VW/Audi trait. It also has loads of storage space: 2 storage trays on the dash, storage bay on driver side, a big storage under the armrest, back seat armrest, side door storage and a presentable glovebox. the only thing missing is perhaps a storage tray underneath the seats.

The boot is also humungous. it can easily accomodate two golf sets and a suitcase to boot.
The upholstery comes in two trims; beige and black. personally i prefer black. The walnut panel on the dash also adds to the luxury of the interior (unlike the cheap looking wood panel you would find in Hondas and toyotas) and goes well with beige. but i personally prefer if they would have a brushed aluminum panel which goes well with the black interior and adds to the sportiness of the car.
There is also a 12 volt socket on the centre console at the rear and also i was told, in the trunk as well.
The back seats can be folded and also lockable as well. The rear arm rest is huge with two cup holders incorporated into it. There's also a sunglases compartment near the rear view mirror.

The frills
One thing that makes this car different from all the other marques are the little small things that comes in the package. The umbrella storage is well thought of.
The 2 zone climatronic airconditioning is also a plus point although a lot of other makes are going into that.
The front loading 6 CD changer is also a plus. I didnt really have the chance to test the CD audio, but FM radio sounds good. Its not Bose but i can live with it. The only bummer is it doesnt come with iPod connectivity. I was told that if you realy want it, they can provide the cable for an extra RM700. I'd rather use headphones, thank you.
The Bi-xenon headlights are cool, coupled with washer/wiper system and dynamic cornering light. Automatic turning light and the "coming home, leaving home" illumination are also thoughtful features incorporated in the car.
The car also comes with powered rear sunblinds and also if im not mistaken manual sunblind for rear passengers. The car is also equipped with double sunvisors with illuminated mirrors for both driver and front passenger.
The electronic front seats, i was told, also have massage function. i didnt tried it out but i guess it would be helpful during the long festive drives.

The ride
Sitting on the driver's seat gives you a nice unrestrictive commanding view of the road ahead. It is very comfortable and the driver's seat is equipped with electronic controls with memory. Starting the engine is via press and drive start function. Press the bakes and release the parking brake via the parking brake button.
Nifty.
The engine is a typical 2.0TFSI found in the Audi A4 and the VW GTi. It purrs during start up but roars when pressed. However, I must admit that the response is not as punchy as the A4 or the GTi. Perhaps because the Passat weighs more that the two. There is also a notable lag in transmission which i didnt notice in the A4. although not as laggy as the BMW 325, one would notice it. If you want response drive it in sports mode. Perhaps a DSG transmission would address the issue?
I did ask wether there are any Passats with DSG. Unfortunately the only Passat fitted with DSG is the TDi version which will not be coming to our shores.

Handling was excellent. Although the active steering does feel a bit light but i have no qualms about that. I took the car on the windy roads near Sri Perdana and the car handles brilliantly. another cool feature is the auto hold function which i tested o a slope on jalan maarof. it needs a little getting used to but its the little thing that makes like easier for you. We were joking that if one were to drive the car, after sometime you would forget how to drive a manual car.
While the ride on the driver's seat is impressive, the same cant be said for the rear passenger. I felt that the suspension is a bit too firm for the back passenger. Not as stiff as the A4 but one can feel that it is kind of hard. Perhaps it was the 17" wheels. A more comfy suspension (at the back especially) would be perfect.

Final say
I would say it was a satisfying test and the passat is THE mid sized family car. It is user friendly and im sure you'll get pampered by it. The only downside (for me personally) is the back profile, the laggy transmission and the stiff ride for the rear passenger. Other than that all is perfect.

for RM230,000 it is a bit too out of the league for most people. I suppose if VW could lower the price to the reigon of RM 200k on the road WITH insurance, im sure a lot of people would be interested especially those currently eyeing the 2.4 Camry and Accord, and also the Volvo S40/V50/S60. Im sure they can afford to do that if and when they decide to have CKD units.
But if the budget is within your range and you are looking for a nice continental car which will not cast a bomb, i would highly recommend it.

for me its a toss between the Passat and the A4.

This post was first published on Club Audi Malaysia Forum

Doing Business

There are many reasons why people set up their own companies and start doing business. Most would like to be their own boss. Others want to make money and more money. There are some who do it for fun, as a hobby... Some even want to build their own empire.

When I set up a company with a partner, i see that as an opportunity to make a little extra. The company did marginaly OK. Not too bad since i was not doing it full time. That was almost four years ago. Two years ago i embarked on another venture. Now, that venture is an investment holding company. We are still strugling whilst ironing out the inevitable problems faced by startups.

Our "investor" told us that we are here to make money. There should not be any emotional values attached to the business or the company. When the time comes, you might have to sell the company. I have to agree with that. If one could make more money out of that, why not?

The same goes for people who list their companies in the stock market. They might loose a portion of their share, but at the end of the day, you will happilly walk to the bank with a big fat wallet.

Then again, there are people who have the idea of build a legacy so that their children could own a piece of it and be part of it. It is a bold idea but you are limiting your children to your stream of business. What if the children want to embark on other career that might not have anything in common with the family business? Who will then take over?
Also family business, especially in asia, have this tendency to end up in family squabbles. After seeing the ugly side of family business, I would have second thoughts on letting my children inherit the business I built. Afterall one would have to work for success not inherit.

In business there are a lot of uncertainties and ironies. You could make tonnes of money building a successful business empire with your name splattered all over it. But the last thing you would want is that entity coming back to haunt you. Scary indeed.

Managing people

In management, they say the hardest bit is managing humans. The art of People Management. I was once in a big corporation and had the priviledge to be placed in different divisions.

Threading on the corporate chessboard, one can see the different traits within different levels in an organization. The traits are visible not only for the horizontal services, but on the vertical divisions as well.

Try sorting out the senior management with their internal political game, the vertical divisions and middle management trying to align to the most favourable chief (ie. who to suck up to) and the non execs (and their union) with their dissatisfaction about everything that have to do with the office.

I thought that was tough... util i had the chance to manage a bunch of right brained creative people. Now that is tough.

Success

A wise successful old man told me once, in order to be successful, you need to be at the right place at the right time with the right people.

I believe I am at the right place with the right people. I dont think the time is just as right as the other two. It is like being in a race. I'm already on the starting line at the right stadium, with the best coach, sponsors and supporters. But the problem is, I dont know when the race is starting!

Life can be... frustrating in that sense. C'est la vie.

Leech

So here I am, sitting alone on my balcony at two o'clock in the morning. Leeching someone's unprotected wifi connection. :)

Hair cut

I was walking towards my office this morning when I heard some one call my name.
I looked back and saw an old acquaintance hurrying towards me. He looked stunned. After a few seconds he quipped, "Holy creepers, dude... what happened to you... you looked errr... different! You don't look like jesus anymore"

Learning curve

There was this old saying that goes "You should learn from your mistake".

We always learn new stuff every minute of the day. We always make mistakes. Sometimes we learn from our mistakes and look for another solution for the problem. Sometimes we try and try the same solution, despite failing everytime we try it until it finally work.

The solution might not work the first time but after a few times it might work. If that is the case, when do we stop trying and move on to solve the next problem? Had Edison stopped and move on to the next solution, the invention of the light bulb would be years away.

Now things gets more complicated in relationships. Each person we go out with have a different personality. What would be a probable solution to the previous relationship might be a total failure to the current relationship.

I guess in life we are bound to make mistakes anyway... wether we learn anything from our mistakes or not is a different thing afterall. We have to chart our own learning curve be it linear or exponential.

Taking Risk

This post is a continuation of the post on crossroads. Most of the time when we reach a crossroad we are left with many options. While we might have vague ideas on what to expect at the other end of the road, there might be unexpected instances ahead. Perhaps obstruction, detour or maybe accidents. Perhaps we might just pass the accident... perhaps we would be IN that accident. We never know. However, what ever happens always have a reasoning behind it, for better or worst. They say every cloud has a silver lining. Remember that.

In our journey through life, we have goals to achieve. Some are easily achieveable. Others are impossible. Perhaps in our journey we might come a cross rainbows and we strive to get to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Of course there are risks involved. There could be so much obstacles on our way. Perhaps when we get to the end the rainbow would have disappeared... washed away by the rain. Perhaps the rainbow was just a mirage. Perhaps someone else would have reached it first and bag the pot of gold for themselves (and anger the leprechauns in the process!). But we would never know if we did not take that risk in the first place.

Aizuddin wrote an inspiring piece about taking risk... a true story about a man who risked everything and found that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

We should not look at risk as a deterent to to our dreams but look at it as an obstacle that we could overcome.

Trust

Humans are complex beings. Having blessed with a powerful tool that would make them ruler of the world, they somehow indulge themselves in a plethora of complexity; the emotions, feelings, attitude and behaviour. Uncle Ben said, "with great power comes great responsibility". How true...
And responsibility is not something that everyone can bear.

Of late, there are a lot of cases that reflect the darker side of humans. the manipulation of thoughts and agendas to serve only one's needs and desires. Put money and power into the equation and the whole thing is a mushroom cloud of greed, betrayal and whatever comes in between.

How do you trust someone in a relationship and in business?

You court a girl and eventually goes steady with her, only to find out in a couple of months or years, she's been fooling around when you are not around.
You establish a friendly relationship with an individual, only to find out after all these years he's been back stabbing you and continously tarnish your reputation behind your back.
you cut a fool-proof business deal with someone and as time goes he took all you have invested and ran away.

Put two and two together, would you do business with someone who cheats on his wife?
Having had that kind of history, chances are he would, given the chance and/or opportunity, double cross you.
What's stopping from cheating on you?
Would you do business with someone knowing that he had a history in plagiarism.
What's stopping him from plagiarising your trade secrets and sell them to your competitors?

Meesh wrote an excelent post on bloggers stealing other people's blog entries and pass them off as their own.

In business I myself have seen people nick other people's proposals and pass off as their own. Once I attended a presentation by a business associate. A few slides looked all too familiar. It turned out that it was a presentation I worked on some time back, copied word by word including some grammatical error I over looked.

It is a harsh world out there... watch your back and to quote Fox Mulder, "Trust No One"

Crossroads

We bump into it almost every day. Everytime we have to make a decision wether to go straight, left or right. Sometimes we just plough through it without giving much thought. Sometimes we stop, pause and rummage through our grey matter in order to decide which path is the best. With each decision, comes great responsibility and risk. Perhaps we should take that risk. Perhaps we should avoid obvious risks.

Perhaps that path is the best... at that particular moment of time. Perhaps that left turn you should have taken could bring you to better life, better satisfaction, better fulfilment. We never know. Perhaps the risk you avoided, if you manage to overcome it would bring you better returns. We never know.

But the funny thing, you would not be what you are today if you chose the other path. If I had taken the second test for cadet pilot, I would have clocked more flying hours than driving hours. I would not have met my future wife if I had taken that path. Of course, life is funny and God always have a weird sense of humor. She might have taken another path on her own and become a flight stewardess or something and our path would somehow rendezvous. Or things would turn out completely different afterall. We never know.

When we are born into this world, we have two reference points, A at birth and Z at death. In between there is an unfathomable myriad of paths that we need to go through. It could be as easy as A to Z, or as complex as A to B to C to K to D and back to B to M to W to Z. We never know until its over. We never know.