Kuantan Trip

Last weekend I attended my friend's birthday that took place around 240 km  away from my place. I took my family's new Toyota Vellfire as I had to fetch a few friends along and wanted to be in comfort. It was a good chance for me to get familiar with the Vellfire and have a good test of the car's capability. The road there consist of a highway that has many winding and sharp corner while the 2nd part is a highway with many straights.

First of all, the Vellfire is the widest and tallest car I have driven to date. It does require a lot of work to get used to it especially in tight underground parking and when maneuvering during parking. Luckily there are sonar sensors around the front and rear bumper along with cameras in the front and rear that helps with the parking. The Vellfire is very heavy becaue of its size and technology on board and the version that I have is the 2.4l variant instead of the 3.5l V6. This contribute to a slow acceleration and lower torque, making it sluggish when pulling away from a complete stop. It is equipped with a 7 speed auto transmission for better fuel consumption and it changes gear quite smoothly in manual mode compared to other cars I have driven before.

During the first part of the trip, the winding roads and sharp corner was difficult for the Vellfire to handle. The high height of the car makes the car highly unstable during those corner and there was high body roll for the passengers especially for those in the third row. The ride of the Vellfire is also very bumpy (due to lowered sports spring) making it even more wobbly when attacking the corners. I had to engage in manual mode and constantly shift between the 5th and 6th gear for better grip during corners.  It is fun and it keeps me awake but nevertheless it makes me feel that this car is not meant for roads like these. I would have more fun with my Celica here.

The second part of the trip were long straight highways. Here I could test the top speed of the Vellfire. The Vellfire easily could reach high speeds on the straights when there are not much car on the road. I went up to 170 km/h easily and not much engine grunt could be heard proving it is a well made car. However, the sport spring is making it bumpy when the road is slightly uneven. One might wake up from a deep sleep when that happens. While I was at Kuantan, it was difficult to catch up to my other 2 friends driving a Perodua Myvi 1.3l and a Nissan Murano 3.5 V6. It would seem normal to not able to catch up with the Murano but not likely with the Myvi. This was due to the difference in weight and the bumpy ride making me unable to drive at high speed.

Overall, the comfort of this car for the passengers is at a luxurious and high level but for the driver it would take someone with high sensitivity especially with body roll to drive this car properly without giving the passengers discomfort. On the way back, I was so sleepy so I let my friend drove the Vellfire and although I could easily fall asleep, not much sleep was attained because every corner he takes woke me up making me feel like I was on a roller coaster. Obviously, he drives with no concern of body roll or the comfort of its passenger. I guess you had to be trained to drive it well. Even my dad with supposedly 30 over years of driving experience manage to dent the front bumper of the Vellfire because it was too low and wide to see. Currently, the Vellfire is away for repair and replacement of the sport spring to the original ones. I hope the ride could be more stable with the original springs.