Korean Trend

During the first week of September, I was once again in the land of Kimchi. The only car that remains on my to see list is still the Hyundai Genesis Coupe because it is the only proper sports car, not bad looking and most importantly, not available in Malaysia. I did managed to spot a few and one with aftermarket bumper and Brembo brakes in the front. I liked the 2.0 Turbo variant but it seems that they cancelled it just last year and now only the 3.8 V6 variant is available now.

While I was in Seoul, I noticed that there is an increase of hybrid cars roaming the streets, especially the Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. I have known that they do have hybrid models and Hyundai was developing Hydrogen technology with their Hyundai Tucson but I did not expect the awareness has increased to this extent. I thought it would be like in Malaysia, where sales would not be high.

Another trend would be the diesel trend that is hot in Europe. I felt the rising of this trend because of all the Volkswagen Golf that I saw while I was traveling was the GTD variant. For those who are not familiar with the GTD or you are situated in a country where it is not available, it is the Golf's diesel variant's fastest model. Much like a GTi but with a diesel engine. On the exterior it looks the same everywhere with the GTi except the exhaust tip where the GTi have 2 exhaust but GTD has a single twin tip design and different rim designs (I prefer the GTD ones). Both spots a turbocharged engine but the GTD has 36 hp lesser than its cousin but has an extra 30 Nm of torque (depending on market). I would have thought the GTi would be more popular due to its power and driving feel but many GTDs were roaming the streets of Seoul.

GTi (Left) vs GTD (Right)

GTD (Left) vs GTi (Right)