Archive for June, 2010

One Tank 1000 Miles

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Well nearly the Skoda Fabia Greenline II could take you on a trip from London visiting France, Belgium, Holland Germany and finally finish in Poland and all this on one tank.

The model boasts 83.1 mpg and the combined fuel economy rating gives it the potential of the 932 mile range this with the 89g/km it is the cleanest Skoda and the bonus is the road tax if free.

The engine is a three cylinder 1.2 ~TDI and is linked with stop/start technology that enables power to be cut at a standstill and on top of that it has a really clever system that recovers kinetic energy to charge the battery.

September will see the launch of the estate version and will come in at a price of £13740 and the following October the Hatch version will arrive.

Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer 4×4

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Vauxhall are providing an extremely economical not to mention family practical car, this is the first time that Vauxhall has offered a four wheel passenger car with a diesel engine, the Insignia Tourer is the estate version of the Vauxhall’s saloon so provides the important big boot and and a roomy interior.

The obvious market would be for the caravan or boat towing drive with the 2.0 litre CDTi engine provides the required power with the fuel return of 47.1 mpg.

You could have a game of spot the difference with this model and the original as changes are few with a small badge at the rear, and a new trim level called Vx Line that will come on the SRi model, which also comes with 19″ Alloy wheels and a leather steering wheel, there will also be a leather option coming in light brown called Indian Summer.

The Vauxhall Insignia is a firm favourite with the company car drivers it will be interesting to see how sales of the Tourer go once prices are announced.

Mercedes New Electric Supercar Leaked on the Internet

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Racing accross the Internet are full size images of the new Mercedes Supercar the E Cell is based on the SKS AMG supercar but in place of the petrol engine are a series of batteries and four electric motors, with the ability to spin to 12ooo rpm it will produce the same power as the 563bhp petrol engine, but with more torque this will certainly make the E-Cell feel quicker.

With the images being leaked the car will most likely get its official revealing at the Paris Motor Show in September, but the production is not planned until 2013, the images so far have shown that the E-Cell will keep the gull wing door design the bright yellow car seen has a restyled grille at the front and more aerodynamic improvements to help the stability at speed. There have also been changes to the suspension to allow room for the new powertrain and the batteries have been placed down the centre to help with weight distribution.

Overall this version will be heavier than the its petrol cousin and so the 0-62 will be just over the four second mark but although no top speed has been confirmed, it is expected to get mighty close to the 200 mph, all to be revealed it is thought in September

Austin Powers Jag Under the Hammer

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

This E-Type Jaguar one of the most recognisable movie cars now has a cool price ticket of £40000 and the Austin Powers Shaguar can be bought on E-Bay.

The hand painted Union Jack tood over 400 hours to achieve and the interior is clad in a custom blue and red leather, under the bonnet the car is in mint condition and has  a mere 4000 miles on the clock.

Less Speed Cameras

Monday, June 21st, 2010

The government have implemented that there will be no further grants for any new cameras, under the Labour government we saw a massive increase in cameras which generated £110m for the government each year.

The new Transport Minister Mike Penning has advised that he would like to other forms of effective safety measures, rather than more speed cameras he stated ” If local authorities want new cameras they are free to do so using their own resources.” he further added “The public must be confident speed cameras are there for road safety- not as a cash cow under this Government it will not be so.”

A spokesperson for the road safety charity Brake claimed that the organisation would attempt to secure a u-turn saying “It is terrifying that Government ministers responsible for road safety are so set against speed cameras that have been proven to save lives.”

Clio Gordini the Flagship Car

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Renualt has revealed both the specifications and pricing for the Gordini there will only be a limited 500 in the UK and it comes in at £19650.

Where to start well the bodywork comes in a special blue with white racing stripes, an F1 – style blade incorporated into the front bumper, white wing mirrors and a one off set of 17 inch alloy wheels.

Go inside and there are the branded Gordini sports seats with the blue detail being followed onto the doors and dashboard. The centre console is finished in black gloss and there will be an individual plaque displaying each cars build number.

The standards include air conditioning, cruise control blue tooth and automatic headlamps, a further two choices of colour black and white are also available.

The 197bhp Gordini comes with either the standard Sport chassis or with a Cup pack that adds firmer suspension, the standard model Clio 200 boasts 62mph in 6.9 seconds and this special flagship model named after Renault developer Amedee Gordini will be on our roads in July.

Audi A1

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

The new Audi A1 will arrive in the UK in October, successfully Audi have combined the super-mini with the usual high quality build, at a competitive price in the sum of £13145.00 this looks set to be a firm hit for the German company.

Green Hydrogen New Trial

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

The British Company Riversimple has launched a very natty looking two seater which are hydrogen fuel cell car which omit nothing but water.

The test period will be in Leicestershire and user can lease the car for around £200 per month with an additional cost of 15p per mile, there will be 30 cars to test the viability.

The upside is hydrogen in cheap and in abundant supply, downside is it is hard to store and it needs a high strength tank and of course there is the lack of any infrastructure within the UK.

It will be interesting to see how successful this scheme is and if a network of fuelling stations cab be set up the forward planning is that the factory would be looking to produces around 5000 cars each year and this would give employment to around 250 people.

Hugo Spowers formed the Riversimple Company and his aims are to have a four seat hydrogen car capable of higher speeds in production by 2015.

New Suzuki Swift

Friday, June 11th, 2010

The new third generation Suzuki Swift is not that dissimilar to the current model, but the improvement made include a longer but lighter body shell which is also uses a higher strength steel, thus affording both passengers and pedestrians more protection.

The car goes on sale this autumn, the price is yet to be revealed and it will  come with a new 1.2 litre petrol engine available in both manual and automatic.

The 1.2 engine offers 93bhp being slightly more powerful that the retiring 1.3 the co2 emissions comes out 17% better with the offical number being 116g/km.

Chinese sort parking problems

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

The citizen of Beijing having problems parking have come up with a solution your own portable driving space a young woman was filmed driving away in her VW Lupo then suddenly stopping, she then jumped out the car and proceeded to roll up her DIY parking space not only that she then detaches a magnetic parking sign from the nearby street light.

The fake parking bay has white lines painted onto a clear plastic sheet when the car is parked on top it looks like the real thing, the Beijing traffic wardens are notoriously strict and fines are high but they and the police do not find the fake parking bays funny and have assured the locals fines will be implemented for anyone getting caught.