Criss-crossing Port Dickson in the Cross HEV

KUALA LUMPUR: It was back in February that the latest Toyota Cross HEV GR Sport (Hybrid Electric Vehicle Gazoo Racing) hit our roads, some two years after it debuted at the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show.

Fadly, an IT professional from Indonesia, complained that life for an expat software expert was a daily trek to-and-from work (rumah-kantor-rumah), with no energy left to get out the front door on weekends to go out and see a bit of this beautiful country.

Getting any Indonesian excited about Malaysian travel sites was not going to be easy, I thought, as their own huge country has far, far more interesting natural attractions.

Nevertheless, I decided to take on the role of tourism ambassador, timing this test drive with a trip to revisit Port Dickson – a much-loved weekend-break destination.

First, the car. Visually, there are a few cosmetic changes to the first HEV GR Sport introduced earlier, meant to make it look even sportier.

The new grille comes in a honeycomb design with the addition of a GR logo, which is also found on the sides and rear. The frame for the grille integrates with the headlamp cluster in body colour, making it appear that it ‘floats’. The front skid plate does away with the three-bar design, giving it a simpler ‘vented’ look. It did make the beast look rather dashing to me.

We chose the direct route to Port Dickson, which meant gunning for the Sungai Besi toll plaza for a spirited drive southwards.

The Cross’ Dynamic Cruise Control feature, when activated, allows the driver to keep to the designated speed limit. Incidentally, just so you know, a stretch of the highway between Kajang and Bangi has a 90km/h speed zone.

If you must, this Cross GR Sport has a top speed of 170km/h, but why would anyone want to drive that fast in the first place?

Which therefore brings us to the question of why choose a hybrid vehicle in the first place.

No thanks to Donald Trump and the demented dystopia he is creating as his new American world order, fuel economy is more important today than ever before. A hybrid combines the attraction of pumping in fuel whenever the petrol tank runs dry, as well as battery power to provide added mileage.

This Cross, when fully fuelled to its 36-litre capacity, sips 4.5 litres per 100km to achieve up to 600km of driving range.

The 1.8-litre hybrid powertrain offers a combined output of 122PS – 98PS from the conventional engine and 72PS from the electric motor.

The attraction of the electric motor is the instant torque you get. Drive an EV and you’ll know how quickly it springs to life from a standing start.

In fact, when Fadly took over driving duties – his first in what his Indonesian brethren call a ‘mobil matic’ – he blurted out the universally recognised exclamation of approval in any language: “Wow – ini serupa WHOOSH!”

For the sake of Nusantara amity, WHOOSH is the onomatopoeic name given to the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train that was designed to operate on the premise of delivering ‘Waktu Hemat’ (on time), ‘Operasi Optimal’ (optimal operations) and ‘Sistem Handal’ (reliable system) to speed-starved Javanese commuters between these two great cities.

It has a top speed of 350km/h and takes little to no time accelerating once the electric motor gets going.

Technically, the secret of this Cross HEV GR Sport is the torque – which gives you tremendous twisting power when stepping on the right-foot pedal.

Translated, it was smooth driving all along. In no time, we arrived at the Port Dickson exit.

Instead of taking the first exit into town, we headed straight for Teluk Kemang. The usual landmarks were still there – the PD Polytechnic and PD Hospital – which was reassuring as I have yet to see 40-storey condos blocking my view towards the Straits of Melaka.

It did not take long to spot Teluk Kemang, as even from the road one could see so much activity on the beach as well as in the sea.

While looking for a spot in the vast parking lot, we were rather taken aback by the vigorous effort being taken to trim the tops of the casuarinas, which now offer less shade as a result.

From amongst the ‘firry’ branches, the arborist doing the trimming said this was to prevent crow proliferation. Such a relief to be able to park the white Cross with no worry of crow poop landing on our roof from any aerial bombardment.

A bonus – parking was free – ‘gratis’, according to Fadly.

Credit must be given to the Port Dickson Municipal Council for the effort to spruce up Teluk Kemang. The wide cove just past the main roundabout all the way to Tanjung Tuan (Cape Rachado) remains the best beach between Morib in Selangor and all along the Melaka coast down to Muar.

And beaches being what they are, all manner of beachfront and seaborne attractions are on offer – the usual fare to make a really fun day out for the family.

From there, we had to backtrack in order to get to Port Dickson town, which gave us enough time along the way to check out the camping sites for which PD is noted.

There was even time to watch the efforts of some anglers trying their luck to land the big ones as the tide receded along the beach close to Masjid Abdullah Sijang.

We made our way back towards Teluk Kemang in order to visit Cape Rachado and, at this stage, I was confident enough to persuade Fadly to drive instead.

It was here we met a rather Japanese-looking woman coming down the steep stairs leading up to the lighthouse.

I immediately went into Nippon-go mode.

“Ohayo gozaimasu!”

To which she promptly replied: “Oh, awak orang Jepun ya? Saya dari Kuala Lumpur!”

Fadly broke into a huge guffaw at my attempt at linguistic dexterity.

When we met her again later at the foot of the hill, now renamed Tanjung Tuan, she remarked that we came in a nice car.

She went on to show a bit of knowledge about the brand and said she really liked its evolution from the original Cross she used to own.

When it was time to make the trip back to Kuala Lumpur, I was confident enough to let Fadly continue driving on the highway stretch.

This was also the opportunity to extol the virtues of the Cross Hybrid over its internal combustion engine (ICE) brethren.

Throughout the drive, Fadly kept exclaiming “gampang” and “mantap” – Indonesian words to describe “easy” and “excellent”.

Now down to brass tacks – what did the whole journey cost using the Toyota Cross HEV GR Sport?

Although Port Dickson is just under 100km from Kuala Lumpur, the entire return trip covered just over 300km in total as there were unplanned detours to other destinations.

We were glad the Cross Hybrid sips five litres per 100km of unsubsidised RON95, which costs RM2.05 per litre, so the fuel bill came up to RM30.75.

Add to that total toll charges of RM18.84 and the total trip cost came to just under RM50.

All in all, it was a satisfying trip of rediscovery made more enjoyable by a vehicle that proved both economical and easy to live with.

If anything, it found a new foreign fan, who said he was impressed enough to recommend a hybrid, at the very least, when he settles back into a professional career to tackle the mean streets that are Jakarta.