CIMB Autoworld Car Awards 2010 continues testing amidst festive mood
After a short but successful outing to Malacca in our first round of evaluation, the judges of the CIMB Autoworld Car of the Year Awards 2010 got another seven cars together for a second round of scoring last weekend.
The destination this time was Penang, and despite heavy traffic coinciding with the conclusion of the school holidays, the panel of judges was able to comprehensively test the seven cars’ respective performances over various driving conditions.
“We had to face some pretty heavy traffic because of the school holidays, but on the whole, this has been another smooth outing for us. We are looking forward to complete our evaluations of all candidate cars by November,” said Jaime Cheng, General Manager of Autoworld.com.my.
As if as any proof on the rise of Korea’s car industry is needed, Hyundai models made up for nearly half of the cars tested this round, with the Sonata, Tucson, and Grand Starex Royale being selected for reviewing by our judges. Joining them were the Mazda3, Proton Savvy, Renault Grand Espace, and Chevrolet Cruze.
The convoy of seven cars ploughed through a series of highways and back roads from the Klang Valley all the way up to Georgetown, drawing the attention of curious onlookers. Some even mustered the initiative to come and speak with us, their curiosity no doubt piqued by the specially-designed ‘Nominee’ stickers we emblazoned on the car doors.
Along the way, the judges also took opportunities to sample various culinary delights which our beautiful country is renowned for. The city of Ipoh hosted us for lunch on both days; we were at the classy Indulgence restaurant along Jalan Raja Dihilir on the first day for a helping of Western food.
At Penang, our country’s culinary heaven, we had our customary helpings of char kuey teow, fried oysters, poh piah, prawn noodles and tau sar pneah. To the taste buds of our chief judge, Mr YS Khong, a food connoisseur himself, Penang’s char kuey teow still tastes as good as before, but price-wise, it is very much up on par with KL these days, at an eye-watering RM5.50 per plate.
Our lunch stopover on the return trip saw us returning to Ipoh at Restoran Onn Kee for the city’s famous salted chicken. Before setting off to head home, the judges even found time to stop by at the famous row of pomelo stalls outside the Sam Poh Tong temple. Initial glances might give wrong ideas to some, but the welcoming site was an entire row of nicely dress young girls. We got one stall to sell us the fruits at RM20 each, which to our reckoning translates to RM10 for the pomelo and RM10 for the girl’s education fund.
The much touted online voting for the CIMB Autoworld Car Awards 2010 is slated to commence in mid-October, where members of Autoworld.com.my will get to have their say in the outcome of the awards. An independent Autoworld Members Choice Award awaits the car that garners the most member votes.
