By AZLAN RAMLI
MITSUBISHI Motors Malaysia (MMM) added some colour to the dull motoring media scene yesterday, when it took journalists on a day trip 130km away, to a glamping resort in Kuala Klawang, in Negri Sembilan’s Jelebu district.
Despite not being an overnight trip, it was better than none at all! There were only a few of such trips throughout this year (by different car companies) and all were short/day trips, instead of the two-day one-night ones or even the occassional three-day or four-day outings.
Even the test drives – where we borrow cars for a few days – were significantly reduced since most car companies halted lending out cars to the media, due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) from March 18 and worse, the Conditional MCO, which made test drives (if any) quite pointless, since we couldn’t really drive around much of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, let alone to other states.
Now that the inter-district and interstate travels are allowed, such an event by MMM is a greatly welcomed!
The very-loose drive (no convoy and no lead cars) started from MMM office in Glenmarie on Wednesday, which covered a short part of the New Klang Valley Expressway, towards the whole length of the North-South Expressway Central Link (also known as Elite Highway) before exiting at the Nilai area of the North-South Expressway southern route, towards our exit point at the Port Dickson toll plaza, right after the Seremban exit.
Throughout that section, the roads were A-grade highway types, where we enjoyed the speed from the Xpander’s compact-but-spirited, aluminium-blocked 1.5-litre Mivec petrol engine, which produces 104hp at 6,000rpm and 141 Nm of torque at 4,000rpm – complemented by a four-speed automatic transmission.
From the Port Dickson exit, it was trunk roads in the kampung areas all the way to the resort in Kuala Klawang, where the Xpander demonstrated its ability to handle the bumps, ruts, potholes, crests and many sharp bends and yet, hold its line. Once in a while, the Xpander reminded me that it is still a seven-seater and not a sportscar, but it wasn’t alarming.
There was even a few hundred metres of dirt road leading to the resort and even in such a condition, the Xpander showed it could handle it, thanks to its high, 205mm ground clearance.
Upon arrival at the resort, there were a few more Xpanders already there, strategically parked for (more) photo and video shoots, during an awesome lunch.
The new Xpander comes in one variant only, with four colours – Titanium Grey, Quartz White, Diamond Black and Red Metallic.
At RM91,369 (for Peninsular Malaysia, on-the-road, without insurance and for private registration, which excludes the sales tax), the seven-seater crossover comes with five-year warranty with unlimited mileage.
More on the new Xpander when I (with a few passengers!) borrow it for a few days...
