A NEW CITY AWAITS The third generation City was launched at the 2008 Singapore Motorshow

A NEW SEGMENT Subaru courts a new segment of buyers with its first dedicated Multi Purpose Vehicle

SUPERCAR Nissan's iconic GT-R was previewed at the Singapore Motorshow

By The CarBuyer Team

ORGANISERS OF THIS year’s Singapore Motorshow must be wondering about the wisdom of holding the event on the same weekend as the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix, given how the world’s first night race in Formula One managed to completely corner the market on hype.

Held from 26 September to 5 October instead of its customary November slot, the Motorshow was billed as ‘the region’s most celebrated and prestigious motoring event’, and presumably aimed to attract a spillover crowd from the Grand Prix, but there was little doubt that the strategy might have backfired.

Instead of occupying two halls of the Suntec City convention centre, the Motorshow took up just the one, and only three motoring brands deigned to display their wares at the event.

Nevertheless, the carmakers present did their best to put up a good show. The Honda distributor for Singapore Kah Motor Sdn Bhd launched the new City there, along with a facelifted version of the Civic mid-size sedan.

The City is based on the current generation Jazz compact hatchback and has a stylish exterior design that looks sporty and dynamic. Power comes from a 120bhp 1.5-litre i-VTEC engine shared with the Jazz.

All models come equipped with either five-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmissions. In Singapore the City is available in two trim levels, standard and LX.

The facelifted Civic was also unveiled at the show. It features a heavily revised front end comprising a newly designed bumper, a redesigned front grille, tinted headlamps and new foglamps. The rear gets new tail lamps.

Kah Motor’s general manager Tan Kheng Hwee said the new City is Honda’s best compact sedan design so far.

“The Civic has grown in size, moved up to a different price level in the local car market and the starting price for the car hovers around the $70,000 mark. The new City will garner a new target market as it is priced around the $60,000 region and takes the pricing region that was once occupied by the Civic,” she said.

“The new City has many-segment leading features such as its five-speed automatic transmission and 1.5-litre engine that produces a high 120bhp so our customers who have come to expect good performance and excellent fuel economy from the Honda brand will not be disappointed by the new model.”

Also making its debut, this time on a regional scale, was the Subaru Impreza sedan. The car will be available in the Singapore market with three engine variants, starting with the 1.5-litre version, a middle range 2.0-litre and then the 2.5-litre turbocharged WRX tops of the highly anticipated Impreza sedan lineup.

The front end of the sedan retains much of the styling cues of the current Impreza hatchback, and a small extension at the rear end makes the car look better balanced than its hatchback sibling.

The WRX retains the famous bonnet scoop, and is available only with a five-speed manual gearbox while the two smaller-engined variants can be bought with either five-speed manual gearboxes or four-speed autos.

While the Japanese brand has not had much of a track record for building MPVs (or Multi-Purpose Vehicles), the new Exiga, which was first unveiled as a concept at last year’s Tokyo Motorshow, could change all that.

The Exiga 2.0GT is the only 2.0-litre turbocharged seven-seater MPV available in the region, and is equipped with Subaru’s Intelligent Drive (SI-Drive) system that lets the driver control certain settings of the car.

A five-speed autobox with a sequential shifting should make this a worthy proposition for the car enthusiast who has also got to contend with being the family driver.

If you like things a little less rushed, the Exiga 2.0i uses a 2.0-litre engine as well but without the turbo.

Nissan, the remaining carmaker of the trio to be present at the Motorshow, took the covers off a revamped Murano. In the process, Singapore distributor Tan Chong Motor Sales gave the car its first airing in Asia, following the car’s launch in 2007’s Los Angeles Motor Show.

The large Sports Utility Vehicle, built off the new D-segment platform which also underpins Nissan’s Teana luxury sedan, is recognisably different from the first Murano, with shapelier bodily curvature and a distinctive front end that blends the headlamps and grille more intricately.

Scheduled for a fourth-quarter launch in Singapore, the new Murano was unveiled with a 260bhp, 3.5-litre member of Nissan’s award-winning VQ family of V6 engines.

It puts the power though an all-wheel drive system that Nissan dubs ‘4×4-i’, with an Xtronic CVT (or Continuously Variable Transmission) allowing seamless acceleration or a simulated six-speed ‘manual’ mode if the driver wishes to play at gearshifting.

The Murano’s new platform is stiffer than its predecessors and the suspension components are lighter, which should benefit both ride and handling.

In Singapore market spec the V6 model is sumptuously equipped, as well, with a long list of standard items including automatic Xenon lights, an 11-speaker Bose sound system, 6 airbags, keyless entry and ignition, and – most novel of all – powered rear seats with an automatic flip-up folding mechanism.

The Motorshow also provided Tan Chong with an opportunity to preview the Nissan GT-R supercar, which the company hopes to put on Singapore roads by the first quarter of 2009.

The 3.8-litre, twin-turbo giant-killer was built to make warp speed accessible to drivers of all abilities, and roped in all manner of technology to do so: all-wheel drive, six-speed double-clutch paddleshift transmission, active shock absorbers, and so on.

Parallel importers have done a roaring trade with the GT-R so far, with many examples already on Singapore roads, but Tan Chong at least offered showgoers a chance to examine one up close by holding it captive in a booth.

For many fans of this legendary nameplate, this alone might well have been worth the S$8 admission price to the Singapore Motorshow, although it must be said that previous shows tended to offer much more for the money.