Rotational Banner

Thursday, January 26, 2012

2012 Taipei International Auto Show



Most of you know that Puyang and I went to Taiwan for a short vacation. Personally, I had a lot of fun there, and I can't wait to go back. Some of the things I've noticed while I was there was the sort of cars that were on the road. Suzuki and Mitsubishi took most of the general population, following closely were Honda and Toyota. However, the most suprising thing for me was there were absolutely no GM cars! The largest American brand was Ford, and none of the new ones either. Subarus were suprisingly rare, but I did notice a couple of STIs while I was there.

However, if you've been in Taiwan, or are planning to go, you will notice why there are barely any American cars. The roads are extremely small, and cars and motorcycles are parked everywhere. You will need the small Japanese cars to survive for sure.

The only time I had to document cars was at the 2012 Taipei International Auto Show. It was quite funny, because I think the show girls stole the show. When I first stepped in, I noticed huge groups of men surrounding particular areas. I was curious at which cars would gather such huge crowds. As I approached, I realized they were just surrounding the show girls. I thought to myself, "Wow, this is pathetic guys."

However, after a split second, YOINK, I took out my camera and started to document the babes. lol. Yeah, boys will be boys eh?

Yes, the ladies were gorgeous, but the cars weren't that impressive. The Lexus LFA was probably the hottest car there, and the LFA has been over done in the past year or two. Needless to say, I tried to make this video exciting, but it was quite difficult. This has to be said though, cars and girls are always a good mix!

Check out the pictures below, mostly taken by Puyang. For the full Album, check out the Facebook Page. =D















I got one more piece of exciting news from Taiwan to share with you guys later. I'll post it in a couple of days. That's it for now!

Monday, January 23, 2012

AWD and Winter Tires

In the autumn of 2011, I had prepared for the upcoming winter by placing on a set of Dunlop Winter Tires. In the hopes of filming an awesome snow episode and a full review of the tires, I had waited a long time for snow to fall. Just a couple of days ago, snow had fallen, but there was only five to ten centimeters of precipitation. There was only enough snow for me to drive and test the tires in, but not enough snow for a good shooting location. Therefore, as of now, I cannot deliver a snow episode. However, I could give you guys a written review.


When I had initially put on the new tires, Spades had reviewed that the tires were extremely soft compared to the summer tires. However, since winter tires were made for extremely cold temperatures, it wasn't until the snow fall that I could see how great these tires were. I was able to push the car faster than most cars on the road with the same amount of confidence. It hardly felt like I was driving on snow and ice and if there was a loss in tire traction, the Symmetrical AWD system more than made up for it.

In a small open parking lot, I had an opportunity to test the grip of the tires with a simple skid pad turning excersize. With the steering wheel turned to full lock, I had started to experiment with different speeds, gears, and weight transfers. At speeds enough to swing yourself out of your seat, the car finally started to lose traction. However, you can't even blame the tires or the AWD system, at those sort of speeds, it was all physics baby!

Stop and go traffic on a snow covered incline plane was simple as well, absolutely no loss in traction.


In conclusion, these tires were a very good investment. However, I am pretty sure most winter tires slapped on any AWD Subaru will give you similar results, so feel free to check out other brands and models. Also, just a reminder for everyone that AWD plus winter tires does NOT make you invincible. If you are driving 60 MPH on a snow covered zig zag mountain run, please attempt at your own discretion. More than likely, you will lose traction, and physics will dissapoint you as you drop to your doom. Yes, based on what I said, it sounds like I felt invincible, but I was also driving safely and responsibly.

If there is more snow fall in the coming weeks, I will try to film something. Otherwise, drive safe everyone!

Monday, January 16, 2012

100 Youtube Subscribers

Yesterday Machine Zealots finally hit 100 subscribers! Yay! Eventhough it took us around seven months to achieve this number, it still feels like a huge accomplishment to us.

Polaroid moment!

Thanks to everyone who subscribed, and all of the viewers who come back on a regular basis. As always, if you guys have any questions or comments for us, please leave a comment on Youtube, Facebook, or even the Blog, and we will gladly reply you.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

First post of 2012 =D



Just a little teaser trailer for you guys ;) I know I haven't seemed that active these couple of weeks, there is a reason, mostly personal life, but you wouldn't want to hear about that. Our full Taiwan Special episode will be airing in about two weeks. From here on, I forecast regular airing times. You can expect new videos every other Friday.

In other news, I have seen an increased amount of subscriptions to the Youtube Channel in the past couple of weeks, and nothing but supportive comments posted. I appreciate the on going support. Like I have said time and time again, you guys are what keeps Machine Zealots alive and kicking!

Welcome to 2012 you guys! Let's start our engines, and begin another awesome year!